Trelleborg Seeks to Connect its Past with its Future at OTC 2018

On this journey through time, Trelleborg visits historical moments that can be looked back on to gain insights into what the future of the offshore industry could be and how it can be shaped for coming generations. Trelleborg is looking forward to more smart products incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT), digital service tools and an increase in the ease of doing business and communications for its customers and employees.

Trelleborg invites OTC attendees to visit its stand, number 3227, to share past, present and future industry moments that they think are important for the timeline, allowing them to take the opportunity to define industry moments! These moments can be from the visitors’ companies, a favorite memorable industry moment, perhaps the first time they attended OTC, or their thoughts on key developments for the future of the offshore industry.

Within the timeline, Trelleborg will demonstrate some of the ways in which its innovative solutions improve safety, optimize productivity, and help to retain competitiveness as barrel prices continue to recover. These include the following:

Drill Riser Augmented Designs

As an augmentation to traditional drill riser buoyancy modules that provide critical uplift to marine risers, Helically Grooved Buoyancy significantly reduces drag and flow-induced motion. Validation test results indicate that the performance is equivalent to fairings, but at a fraction of the total operational cost.

Antony Croston, Business Group Director with Trelleborg’s offshore operation in Houston, says: “We reached a major milestone last year when testing results revealed that, when using the patented helically grooved buoyancy design, vortex induced vibration is effectively eliminated in high currents, with the added bonus that drag loading on the riser is also reduced to a level comparable with fairings.

“For many years, fairings have been accepted as the best technical solution for drag and VIV reduction on drilling risers. Their use has come with an operational penalty in the form of increased running and retrieval time, as well as handling issues, especially in harsh weather. We now have an integral concept, which has been proven to match the performance of fairings, without any issues in drilling riser handling and running methodologies.”

Critical Customization of Seals

Eric Bucci, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Segment Manager Oil & Gas Americas, says: “Maximizing the yield from wells is a high priority for operators. Therefore, accessing unconventional wells, those previously believed to be too deep for existing capabilities, is now being more frequently undertaken. This means processing technology must be able to withstand high fluid pressures while subjected to very high temperature conditions, often coined HPHT.”

Trelleborg Sealing Solutions will be highlighting a new customizable Metal End Cap (MEC) seal engineered for safety and reliability in critical static HPHT wellhead, tubing and casing hanger sealing environments. The metallic components within the seal are chemically bonded to the elastomer sealing element and provide a high level of extrusion resistance and metal-to-metal contact against the hardware. The elastomer sealing element also provides leak tightness against sub-optimal tubing surface finishes and it conforms to NORSOK, NACE, API and Total standards.

Bucci, continues: “We work with our customers to provide a great portfolio of materials and matching the best option to an application can optimize performance and safety. Experts will be on-stand at OTC to discuss visitors’ specific sealing applications.”

Commitment to Innovation in Hoses

Cryoline LNG hoses have been specially developed to address pressing infrastructure challenges in the LNG market. While LNG demand is growing, the cost of developing extensive and conventional transfer infrastructure may reduce or negate feasibility of power generation, terminal and bunkering projects. Infrastructure needs to move quickly to meet demand, and at the same time, ensure that projects are economically feasible, and sustainable in the long term.

Vincent Lagarrigue, Director of Trelleborg’s oil & marine hoses operations states, “Trelleborg cryogenic hoses can create turnkey projects that drastically reduce the capex and environmental impact of LNG import infrastructure. They also open up new locations to ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship transfer, even in challenging weather conditions. This technology was put to the test in October 2017, when it was used in the first sea launch of the Universal Transfer System (UTS), developed with Connect LNG and Gas Natural Fenosa. The success of this launch demonstrated the vast potential of floating cryogenic hoses for unlocking new infrastructure possibilities. These hoses use Trelleborg’s dual carcass design and integrated monitoring systems to minimize boil-off and ensure safety.

“Our Reeline hoses demonstrate how our commitment to innovation in oil transfer solutions underpins maximum operability, lifecycle and safety. Reeline hoses use Trelleborg’s unique nippleless hose technology to create a flexible bonded oil hose that is specially designed for reeling operations, increasing ease of installation, optimizing opex and freeing up valuable space on deck for offshore operations. They incorporate Trelleborg’s dual-carcass structure to ensure safety and long service life, even in the harshest conditions.”

Knowledge Sharing at OTC

Trelleborg is committed to sharing its knowledge with the industry and welcomes the opportunity to speak at industry events such as OTC. Sharing such knowledge is vital for the future of the industry because the discussions and presentations allow the industry and its community to learn from its mistakes and builds on its successes. This year, Trelleborg will be presenting three technical papers during the conference.

Vincent Lagarrigue will be presenting a technical paper titled “Re-Shaping LNG Transfer” on Monday April 30 at 14:00 in room 602 as part of the session on FLNG and Gas Monetization - Innovative Processing and Design.

Collin Gaskill, Product Development Engineer with Trelleborg’s offshore operation will be presenting two technical papers at the conference. The first is titled “VIV-Mitigating Buoyancy Module Performance Characterization Using Computational Fluid Dynamics” on Wednesday, May 2 at 09:30 in room 600 as part of the session on Applications of Computational Fluid Dynamics in Offshore Engineering.

The second technical paper is titled “Technology Qualification of Deepwater Transport Shuttle Adjustable Buoyancy System” which Collin will present on Wednesday, May 2 at 14:00 in room 600 as part of the session on Metocean Advances.

IoT: the Next Big Thing

Looking to the future, the Internet of Things and smart products are undoubtedly going to be the next revolution in the oil and gas industry and Trelleborg aim to be at the forefront of developments in this area.

Antony Croston, says: “The Internet of Things has the potential to transform the way people and businesses operate. As an industry, we acquire vast amounts of data, but we need to overcome the key challenges of empowering that data and transmitting it to truly unlock this potential. When we achieve this, we can use the information in real time and make effective decisions based on it. When we discuss the Internet of Things and machines talking to each other, being an intelligent system, I think that is quite a distance away for offshore oil and gas, however, it is undoubtedly where we are headed.”

OTC Houston 2017

Trelleborg will exhibit its range of innovative offshore solutions at OTC Houston 2018 in hall C on stand 3227. Products are designed with quality, performance and efficiency front of mind and include high performance buoyancy, insulation, passive fire protection, sealing solutions and hoses.