The Middle East has a large proportion of global proved oil reserves and is the largest exporter of petroleum liquids in the world.
At this major operator’s oilfields, production skids are sited within about eight metres of most wells. Each well and skid has a different geometry, so every wellhead pipe connector is bespoke to the well. Existing rigid steel pipe connectors are expensive and take many weeks to make, and each one must also be refabricated for well workover.
Well pressures are relatively low, but sour hydrocarbons are produced at each of its sites. This means current steel pipe connectors have to be internally coated to protect against the sour hydrocarbons, and regularly inspected for corrosion.
Flexible pipe is the obvious solution to slight variations in wellhead connection lengths, but other flexible pipe types can’t handle hot, sour hydrocarbon service.
Magma m-pipe® carbon fibre and PEEK construction results in a unique, flexible pipe with corrosion and fatigue resistance. Substantially lighter than both steel and non-bonded flexible pipe, m-pipe® is resistant to sour hydrocarbons and gas, making it ideally suited to this type of onshore production application.
Steel pipe connectors have to be manufactured to within millimetres to ensure fit, so they can often take up to six weeks to install from when the well production skid is sited. The operator commissioned two m-pipe flexible wellhead jumpers to replace rigid steel pipes, in order to speed up installation and to allow movement between the well and production skid.
Magma manufactured m-pipe and FAT tested the pipe and connected steel end fittings to DNVGL-RP-F119. Installed at the onshore oil production wells, the light weight and flexibility of the pipes proved easy to connect between the well and production skid, with installation completed in just four hours.
For more information about Magma m-pipe, please contact us here.