AN IDEA IS NOT GOOD UNTIL IT HAS BEEN THOROUGHLY TESTED!
Initially, the idea was relatively simple. But – would it work as planned? In practice? Would it produce the right results? Everything would be decided during an extensive test carried out close to Butler's premises in Jorpeland, not far from Stavanger in Norway.
The Jotun FPSO has been producing oil from the Balder field in the North Sea since 1999. In 2020, the ship was brought ashore for extensive upgrading at Rosenberg Worley in Stavanger. The upgrade of the Jotun FPSO is part of Vår Energi's major investment in improved recovery of oil from the Balder field in the North Sea (PL 001). The Balder Future project will extend the lifetime of the field to 2045, and give Norway's oldest licence a lifetime of 80 years. The project aims to recover 136 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe).
Now the ship is almost ready for further duty in the North Sea.
An important task
In addition to Rosenberg Worley, Baker Hughes and Ocean Installer, both based in the Stavanger region, have been selected to carry out engineering, procurement, construction and installation of new subsea systems (SPS), umbilicals, risers and transport pipes for the Jotun FPSO. The proportion of Norwegian suppliers in the project is 70%.
An important task when the Jotun FPSO is in place out on the field is to raise the many risers up through the ship's various I-Tubes, 30-metre-high pipes that are about 1 metre in diameter. During this operation, great forces are set in motion. The thick wires that lift the risers up can inflict extensive frictional damage on the ship. The wires can also be damaged themselves.
Those responsible for the project company Ocean Installer, which is responsible for this particular part of the project, wanted to find out if they could find a solution that would reduce wear and tear. In 2023, they therefore contacted Butler. "Can you find a smart solution that would work on the Jotun FPSO?"
Say hi to Wire Centralizer!
After a while in the thinking box, and a close collaboration with the clients in Ocean Installer, the engineers in Butler had come up with an idea they thought would do the job. They called it the Wire Centralizer. Simply put, it is a cylindrical construction that is placed inside the I-Tube. Since the different I-Tubes have different diameters, Butler has developed different clamps that allow one and the same Wire Centralizer to be used throughout the operation. This saves time and money.
Thorough testing
What remained now was to find a way to test this idea in practice? Butler had a solution for this as well. They built a mock-up I-Tube where the Wire Centralizer was placed. A thick wire was passed through and attached to a large crane. At the other end of the wires, they attached a heavy truck, which, using braking force, created a resistance equivalent to 3 tons. The truck was then pulled backwards with the help of the crane. Afterwards, the wear and tear was measured. The result was that the wear and tear was well within the requirements that had been set in advance.
Signe Moltu and Åsmund Voster
Signe Moltu (left in the picture) is one of the people who leads the work at Ocean Installer. She emphasizes that the collaboration with Butler has worked smoothly.
"It's been very easy to just be able to call Butler and discuss big and small things along the way," she says. We have had weekly meetings, and I would say that the collaboration has gone very well. I'm impressed! sier hun. Vi har hatt ukentlige møter, og jeg vil si at samarbeidet har gått veldig bra. Jeg er imponert!
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