Deep Sea - High Tech, Collapse Resistant Pipes for the South Stream Offshore Project
Proceedings Publication Date
Presenter
Dr. Hans-Georg Hillenbrand
Company
Author
Hans-Georg Hillenbrand, Christian Schruff, Jens Schröder, Ludwig Oesterlein, Andreas Liessem
Part of the proceedings of
Abstract
The South Stream offshore pipeline for the supply of natural gas across the Black Sea to southern Europe is an extremely challenging project from a technical perspective. The challenges in engineering and design are resulting from a water depth up to 2200 m in combination with a large pipeline diameter, geo-hazardous risks and a corrosive subsea environment. As a leading pipe manufacturer EUROPIPE GmbH was contracted to deliver line pipe material and related components for the first offshore pipeline. The paper describes EUROPIPE´s activities from a project-related and technical point of view: In the beginning a general overview of the project organization with all relevant sub-sections is given. Due to the fact that all required components of the pipeline can be delivered by a single supplier the contractual partner profits from a centralized and experienced project management. Together with it´s sub-contractors, EUROPIPE GmbH covers all business activities from line pipe material, buckle arrestor assemblies, bends, 3-layer PP / CWC coating to transportation and logistics. Subsequently, the pipe manufacturer provides an insight into material selection, -testing and quality control to achieve the advanced mechanical properties for that project. The exceptional demand for collapse resistance in the as-coated condition can be named as an example in that context. As the collapse resistance of the pipes is mainly influenced by compression strength and ovality it is explained how EUROPIPE GmbH ensures to guarantee these desired requirements. The development of a new approach for the inline heat treatment of pipe ring segments before coating is introduced. It is presented which efforts were made and how traceability and quality control over the complete production are ensured. Afterwards production results from both, mechanical and dimensional tests are shown. The latter are determined by laser devices which highlight the importance of high measurement accuracy for deep water offshore pipelines.

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