Asiaflex Products to Facilitate Subsea Sector

Asiaflex Products, Technips new factory, located in Johor (Malaysia) is progressing on schedule and is designed to cater to the growing demand for deep water solutions in Asia-Pacific. It will have a capacity of production of 200 km of flexible pipes and umbilicals per annum. This article will give a description of the factory and its significance to the Asian subsea sector.

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Subsea Feature CIA 2005

siaflex Products, Technips new factory, located in Johor (Malaysia) is progressing as planned and is currently being commissioned. Manufacturing activities shall progressively start from July 2010 and delivery of the first flexible pipe project is planned for February 2011. The plant, built to cater to the growing demand for deep water solutions in Asia-Pacific, will have a capacity of production of 200 km of flexible pipes and umbilicals per annum. Asiaflex Products has been recording outstanding safety performance since the construction started. The team has recently celebrated their 1,500,000 manhours without LTI. This is a tangible result of Technips explicit commitments to instill strong safety values among its employees and contractors. The 20-hectare site is being developed as a onestop hub where manufacture, fabrication of auxiliary equipment, Site Integration Testing (SIT) and mobilisation can be fully integrated. The facility includes a dedicated 130m long quay and a 300-tonne crane providing facilities for the regions deepwater installation vessels while optimising mobilisation cost and time efficiencies. Flexible pipe has been used successfully for many deep water developments in Asia, but now that it can be manufactured and delivered locally makes the product also becomes a credible alternative to rigid pipeline installed by S-Lay for both shallow and deep water development. Recent case studies have shown that flexible pipes can bring significant costs savings (20% to 40%) for water,

gas and corrosive production applications of diameter 12 or less.

Flexible Pipe
In the early 70s Technip pioneered flexible pipe design and manufacture and has now accumulated more than 35 years of field experience worldwide. Flexible pipes are key elements for offshore oil production, enabling connection of subsea wellhead to floating platforms in shallow to ultra deep water fields. Design of these products is well defined in relevant codes and standards such as API 17J / ISO 13628-2: Specification for unbonded flexible pipes or API RP 17B / ISO 13628-11: Recommended practice for flexible pipes. Flexible pipes are versatile, corrosion resistant products that are easy and quick to install, retrieve and re-use for small, marginal or evolving field architectures. They have carved out their place not only for floating facilities but also for shallow, medium and deep water field developments that were once the exclusive domain of rigid steel flowlines. Since the carbon steel reinforcement wires are not in direct contact with the conveyed fluid or the seawater, flexible pipes exhibit excellent corrosion resistance and do not require the same level of maintenance than rigid pipes, thus reducing OPEX costs for operators. Flexible pipe can be designed to resist all fluid pressures currently encountered in the most severe subsea applications, including kill and choke lines for drilling (up to 15,000psi), to resist to high

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temperature (up to 130 deg C) and for ultra deep water (up to 3000mwd).

annulus where the carbon steel layers are. Thermal insulation layers can be added to meet specific Uvalues. Figure 2 presents some complex flexible pipe structures which have been specifically designed to overcome the challenges of some recent projects.

Asiaflex Products: The Malaysian Deepwater Hub

Asiaflex Products is located in the Tanjung Langsat Industrial complex, near Johor Bahru Malaysia. This strategic location places the manufacturing facility

Figure 1: Typical Flexible Pipe Rough Bore (Left) and Smooth Bore (Right)

Figure 1 shows typical flexible pipe construction. Flexible pipes are tailor made to suit the exact requirements and conditions of the development. It is therefore possible to adjust the internal diameter of the line to the exact flow assurance requirements. Depending on the application, the innermost layer would either be a stainless steel interFigure 2: Complex / Tailor-Made Flexible Pipe locked carcass for a rough bore Insulated flexible pipe (left), Smooth Bore High Pressure riser (Center) and Integrated flexible pipe or an extruded plasProduction bundle IPB (Right) tic tube for a smooth bore pipe. For a rough bore pipe the carcass provides resist- close to both major international shipping routes ance to the hydrostatic collapse or crushing loads and close to the major oil and gas development and provides a hard wearing internal surface for areas of the region, thus considerably reducing pigging requirements and sand erosion resist- cost and lead times. ance. Smooth bore pipe are particularly well suited to water injection applications. Pressure sheath is then extruded on top of this carcass and ensures internal fluid containment. The carbon steel layer above the sheath is the pressure vault which has a low pitch to withstand hoop stress due to internal pressure and then cross wound armour layers, Figure 3 - The strategic location of the Asiaflex Products plant which provides resistance to axial and end cap effect loads. The outer jacket is made from an extruded plasAsiaflex Products capitalises on the know-how tic sheath which prevents water ingress in the and skilled workforce of Technip which has been

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o High collapse resistant hoses continuously developed over the last 35 years. This o Low voltage electrical signal and power cables, facility alone will have a manufacturing capacity medium voltage power cores, optical fibres of 200 km of products per year, supplementing o Flying leads Technips existing capabilities across the world for Fabrication Services both flexible pipe and umbilical products. o Rigid spools, FLET, PLET and in-line tees Asiaflex Products is Technips third flexible pipe Offshore Base factory, coming as an addition to Flexi France, Le o Vessel mobilisation and load-out from deep Trait, France and Flexibrs, Vitria, Brazil. Since draft quay 1974, Technip has been producing over 9,000 km of o 300-tonne crane risers and flowlines with diameters ranging from o Installation equipment storage and mainte2 to 19 internal diameter, with working pressures nance up to 20,000 psi, operating temperature up to 130C o Seafastening services and operating depth to 3,000 m. Manufacturing activities shall progressively start Designed to cater for the Asia Pacific and Middle East markets and to serve an extensive and diverse from July 2010 after the commissioning phase and scope of national or international clients, Asiaflex successful completion of the manufacturing qualiProducts will use the same qualified raw materials fication trials. Delivery of the first flexible pipe and manufacturing processes developed by Technip project is planned for February 2011. in the last 35 years. Asiaflex Products will also be capable of manufacturing umbilicals, supplementing Technips current umbilical manufacturing units Duco Ltd in Newcastle (UK), Duco Inc. in Houston (US) and Angoflex in Lobito (Angola). Figure 4: Asiaflex Products plant jetty (left) and reel carrier (right) The 20-hectare site will be developed as a one-stop hub, where the manufacturing Benefits for Field Development or Field of flexible pipe and umbilicals, the mobilisation of Rejuvenation in Asia The fact that flexible pipe can now be manufactransportation and installation vessels and the fabrication of auxiliary equipment will be fully integrated. tured in Asia provides the double advantage of lower This facility, unique to the region, is equipped with a manufacturing costs and lower transportation costs, dedicated 130 m long quay and a 300-tonne crane, compare to a manufacturing in Europe. Recent case providing facilities for the regions deepwater instal- studies have shown that flexible pipe is a cost effeclation vessels and making mobilisation both cost and tive alternative to conventional rigid pipeline even time effective. for shallow water application, specially for Water The facility provides the following from a sin- Injection lines and Gas Injection lines (typically with gle site: diameter less than 12inch) or Production pipelines Flexible flowline and riser manufacture from designed to transport extremely corrosive fluid, with 2.5 to 16 high level of H2S or CO2. o Shallow and deep water The lower CAPEX come from the characteristics o Sour and sweet service of the flexible pipes, which combines low bending o Design pressure up to 15,000psi radius, allowing tight curvature on the seabed and o Design temperature from -5C to 130C making crossing extremely simple and quick instal Umbilical manufacture lation makes it particularly well suited to field rejuo Full range of Technip qualified thermoplastic venation or pipeline replacement. Because flexible hose pipe comes as a finished product, tested in a factory

Subsea Feature

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and delivered in a continuous length, laying speed offshore commonly averages 500 m per hour. Furthermore, offshore work is reduced to the strict minimum as direct tie-in to the host removes the requirements for discrete spools and metrology; free span correction is not required, etc therefore minimising exposure to weather downtime. Inherent corrosion resistance of the flexible pipe also allows minimisation of the OPEX costs during service, as no maintenance is required during service and less chemical injection is required. This is particularly true for water injection lines, for which the inner most layer of the flexible pipe is a polyethylene plastic tube, removing any risk of corrosion. Moreover, flexible pipe is the only product which can be recovered and reinstalled several times to be used successively for several marginal or evolving fields as regularly done in Brazilian waters.

Conclusion
Developed in the 70s, flexible pipes have carved out their place for all types of subsea developments and are being used everywhere one the globe, and have proven themselves as a cost effective alternative to rigid steel pipelines. The new Technip factory, Asiaflex Products, capable of manufacturing both flexible pipes and umbilicals, will be fully operational by Q3 2010. This state-of-the-art facility, being developed as a one-stop hub where manufacture, fabrication of auxiliary equipment and mobilisation will be fully integrated, will re-inforce Technips commitment to deliver always more cost effective solution to its clients in Asia-Pacific, for shallow PET and deep water developments.
ENQUIRY NUMBER:
05/06-07

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