Moderated by: Jan-Olav Hallset, As Norske Shell and Ingvar Henne, NORCE

15:10 - 15:30

Implementation of the EHTF technology for the Ærfugl project
Per Kristian Forbord - Subsea 7 

The Ærfugl field is a gas condensate field located in the Norwegian Sea to the West of Skarv and Idun fields. Heat input into the flowline system is required as main hydrate prevention philosophy and the enabling technology Electrically Heat Traced Flowline (EHTF^®) is utilized to enable system start-up and shut down, and to maintain the production fluids outside of the hydrate envelope during tail production.

Starting from a conceptual technology selection to the project delivery, numerous qualifications and analysis were performed to validate the EHTF^® system design and ease its industrialization. The development of a new technology starts from the component design through system qualification up to the installation phase.

This presentation takes you through the challenging journey with its ups and downs, to develop, qualify and implement new technology during a hectic project execution timeline during the C19 pandemic.

The EHTF system is now installed and successfully commissioned.

15:30 - 15:50

Transfer of subsea fiber-optic and high-voltage wet-mate connector technology to floating offshore wind applications; upscaling of technology, reduction in environmental impact, and lowering cost
Rob Wyatt - Siemens Energy, UK 

Subsea wet-mate connectors could be very beneficial for floating offshore wind farms.  They  enable a ’plug and play’ philosophy, reducing the turbine and cable installation effort and risk.  Also they allow the turbines to be more easily removed for maintenance, as well as less costly replacement of damaged cables.

Wet-mate fiber optic connectors have been used in subsea oil and gas industry for around 10 years.  This paper discusses how to transition that technology into the specific requirements of FOSW.

Methods for upscaling the quantity of fibers per connector are explored through a review of existing technology and how new FO ferrule technology can be implemented. 
The environmental impact of the product is discussed through a review of a product life-cycle assessment, and methods to reduce the product-embodied CO2 are discussed.
Also, how costs can be reduced by developing FOSW-specific products is explored.

With the topics discussed in this paper, it can be seen how application-specific wet-mate connectors can contribute to the technical, economic, and environmental viability of FOSW.

15:50 - 16:10

In what extend our activities contribute to increase noise in the oceans?
Jürgen Weissenberger - Equinor ASA 

It appears that the world oceans are becoming more noisy, with potential detrimental effects on marine organisms. There is increasing focus on underwater sound from regulators, science and the public. Our industry has to demonstrate good knowledge on the noise we emit to the environment. Since May 2021 a subsea multiphase pump, located at the Vigdis Field, has been running to increase production to Snorre A. It is of interest to better understand the strength and the frequency of the noise the pump is emitting, how the sound propagates in the water and, if any, its impact on marine life.  At the end of August 2021, the sound measurement campaign was conducted. The data were collected close to, and further away from, the pump and for different speeds. Those data were combined with the known field bathymetry in a sound propagation modelling tool. We now know better in what extend our activities contribute to increase noise in the oceans and how they impact marine life. 

– publication pending license approval - 

16:10 - 16:30

“Light-weight” tomographic monitoring of pipe wall thickness
Audun Oppedal Pedersen - ClampOn 

In the mid-2000s, ClampOn developed its Corrosion-Erosion Monitor (CEM), utilising guided ultrasonic waves (GUW) to monitor wall thickness along a section of pipe. Transducers are permanently installed in two circumferential rings.

Later, the provision of a tomographic wall mapping algorithm operating on the data available from a permanent subsea thickness monitor has been asked for.
Knowing the transducer positions and pipe geometry, the mean wall thickness losses measured by multiple partially overlapping acoustic paths are combined to improve the measurement of depth and location of the maximum wall thickness loss. The short calculation times makes it suitable for interactive post-processing of monitoring data, offering results in near real time.

Standard tomographic wall thickness mapping became an option mid-2010s, with the integration of the software package CorrPRINT. Systems with full coverage of a pipe section provide three-dimensional maps of wall thickness loss, with key results like minimum wall thickness and defect positions transmitted to the control system.
Many wall thickness monitors are equipped with fewer transducers than what is required for standard tomographic wall thickness mapping. The intention and challenge of the “Tomography Light” system is use these simpler and more cost-effective systems and still be able to achieve tomography mapping of a local area where corrosion or erosion is expected to be most severe.

Preliminary numerical and experimental tests yield good results, even with the constraints of the physical measurement principle between CorrPrint and Tomography Light.