Tata has marked an industry first, with its pipeline becoming the first to be laid at more than 3000ft water depth in the Mexican Gulf of Mexico.
The ca.140km of 457mm (18in) outer diameter x 28.6mm WT API 5L PSL2 X65MO line pipe was manufactured at the firm's large diameter 42in DSAW mill in Hartlepool, UK, for the development.
Mexican state-owned firm Pemex has been working on its first deep water project, the Lakach gas development, in the Mexican Gulf of Mexico. Saipem was awarded the offshore engineering and construction contracts, which included two, 73km-long, 18in gas export pipelines, to be installed in more than 3000ft water depth as part of a subsea to shore project. Recent reports have said Pemex has put the project on temporary hold has it looks to defer upstream spending, however.
Tata's mill has been the focus of significant recent investment to enhance technology and processes and increase power efficiency. More than 125 improvements were completed in 2015 to strengthen its overall operational and performance capability, says Tata.
The improvements include significant upgrades to welding equipment using the latest closed loop digital weld control technology to deliver greater weld stability, reduced repair rates, and total traceability of the process. Tata Steel has also invested in a laser profiling system to provide a 3600 point profile to monitor pipe straightness and provide a full dimensional survey of the pipe end. This data can be used to ensure minimum ‘hi/low’ in girth welding for high fatigue and other applications.
Energy efficient inverters have replaced more than 50 traditional transformers/rectifiers on production lines to enable quick and repeatable set ups at industry-leading levels while cutting the mill’s electricity demand by nearly a third, allowing Tata Steel to produce more pipe with less energy.
The mill’s ‘O’ press control has been upgraded to optimize the forming process, ensuring uniform pressing along the full length of pipes to achieve optimum pipe shape. This has benefits for deepwater operations, as both the shape and balancing of the ‘forming ratio’ of the pipe are critical for deepwater collapse resistance.
Richard Broughton, Commercial Manager, Energy and Power, Tata Steel, said: “Our investment in the DSAW mill and our continuous improvement discipline enables us to offer extremely high integrity solutions to our clients for the most challenging of offshore and onshore projects.
“The overall benefit of the investments can be seen in the welding quality performance achieved during the project in the Gulf of Mexico. Where small diameter and thick wall pipe is typically more challenging, on this project a combined repair rate of 0.25% was achieved. This was delivered not only due to the investment in welding technology, but also through a program of continuous improvements in the welding area which has seen similar developments across many sizes of pipe.
“The manufacture also demonstrated a more sustainable approach to production, with reduced energy utilization through the deployment of digital welding control. Our new inverter based power sources have significantly improved welding machine availability and have resulted in an increase in power efficiency from 60% to 95%.”
Tata Steel is exhibiting at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston from 2 – 5 May. Visit stand 2173 to find out how they can help you.