With an integrated global approach, Eni is engaged in oil and gas exploration and production, power and refining, and is growing by focusing on innovation, efficiency and the environment. Eni operates multiple deepwater oil and gas fields in the Mediterranean and Adriatic Sea linked to Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessels.
Eni was seeking multiple long-life gas lift jumpers, complete with end fittings, that could combine high performance with low costs for their deep water wells. Flexible hose has been a common choice for temporary subsea wellhead connections, due to price and ability to flex around existing subsea architecture. The challenge is that hose often has a relatively short life, suffers under sour service conditions, and has a risk of collapse in deeper water when it is empty.
Magma m-pipe® is a carbon fibre Thermoplastic Composite Pipe (TCP). Designed for challenging oil and gas environments, m-pipe® is flexible, can handle high pressures, and is fatigue and sour service resistant, making it ideally suited to offshore production applications for water, gas and hydrocarbon transfer.
The key factors in Eni’s decision to use m-pipe® and associated end fittings were low cost, sour gas resistance, light weight and flexibility for ease of deployment using small vessel cranes, and rapid low-load connection onto the subsea wells. Magma was tasked with specifying and manufacturing the jumpers and the engineering for subsea flange end fittings. This included m-pipe® production to customer specification, manufacture of steel end fittings, ballast component design and sourcing and Factory Acceptance Testing.
Magma designed a 2.5in 5ksi m-pipe® 20m kicker line for Saipem, with a full run-through of the PLET connection process on their S7000 deployment vessel, to test in advance of ROV use offshore. What impressed Saipem during the deployment trial was the ease and low load required when connecting up the stab to the PLET.
m-pipe® responds to challenges of deep water and sour service.Combing high quality materials with automated pipe manufacturing, for a continuous high strength carbon composite pipe that does not corrode, and is one fifth the density of steel or non-bonded flexible pipe.
Manufactured in a high precision fully automated laser printing process, combining Victrex PEEK polymer and high grade carbon fibre.
The carbon fibres are laser-fused with Victrex PEEK to form the wall laminate. These superior grade materials offer exceptional performance for sour service, deep water and high pressures and temperatures for flowline, riser and downline applications. m-pipe® can be reeled to small diameters for deployment applications where minimum bend radius (MBR) is important.
Magma has an oil field standard approach to m-pipe® termination enabling the transition from composite pipe to steel pipe, as well as to steel flange, hub or threaded connection fittings.
Magma m-pipe® is deployed with operators around the world and delivers light weight and flexibility for ease of deepwater installation, as well as subsea performance and pipe longevity to ensure low whole-life costs.
Eni’s installation contractor Bourbon deployed the m-pipe® jumpers using small vessel cranes. Detailed analysis showed that, due to its low weight, inherent flexibility and minimum bend radius, m-pipe® could be deployed directly from the back deck of the vessel, with a low crane hook weight, low-load handling and low ROV connection forces. The pipe was lowered 850m to the seabed by crane and guided and connected from wellhead to PLET with ROV assistance.
m-pipe® PEEK and carbon fibre standard construction is flexible and spoolable, and can handle high temperatures and pressures up to 15ksi. m-pipe® integrates with standard oil and gas industry end fittings and most common subsea system and hydraulic connectors. The gas lift jumpers deployed for Eni were 40 metres long and were designed for 5ksi pressure and an operational temperature range from -10oC to +100oC.
m-pipe® gas, water and hydrocarbon jumpers are available in 1.3in to 8in internal diameters. They are designed for water injection and gas and
hydrocarbon transfer, and for high temperature, sour service and deep water environments.
For information about Magma m-pipe® please email Magma at: sales@magmaglobal.com