Flexlife, an oil and gas industry specialist in subsea integrity and project management, has been successfully contracted by Petrobras America Inc. (PAI), a subsidiary of Petrobras, an integrated energy company that operates in 29 countries, to provide independent assessment services worth up to £862,000/$1.4 million for a project in the Gulf of Mexico.
The agreement involves annulus testing of the flexible risers on the Cascade and Chinook subsea development. The initial week long testing program will occur at the end of October and then regularly every six months as instructed by PAI, in order to ensure that consistent integrity of the risers is retained.
This is Flexlife’s first project with the company following the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Petrobras America in 2011.
Ciaran O’Donnell, CEO at Flexlife, said: “We are delighted to have secured this contract which highlights the significant global demand there is for UK based subsea engineering and technologies. Flexlife is building a strong relationship with Petrobras, and the signing of this agreement to provide integrity services and specialised engineering for its international oil and gas projects offshore is an important milestone for us.
“Should any issues transpire after the initial testing, the contract provides the option to deploy some of our other technologies in order to remedy the issue including FlexGuard, FlexGel and Armadillo. We feel that Petrobras having access to the combined flexible riser expertise and products and services of Flexlife under this contract will be a huge plus in terms of assuring the safe long term operation of the riser system.”
Flexlife’s technologies that will be available include FlexGuard, which acts as an early warning indication system that alerts to any flooding of the riser by using patented ultrasonic (UT) scanning technology; the Armadillo, specifically designed to repair damage on the outer sheath of flexible risers by creating a seal that will prevent sea water entering the riser; and FlexGel, a gel injected into the I-tubes and J-tubes in order to displace any sea water that has entered through damaged risers.
Flexlife’s global HQ is based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Alongside bases in Aberdeen and Newcastle, the company also has centers in the US and Brazil and operates globally.