Airborne Oil & Gas, Celanese enter into strategic alliance

Airborne Oil & Gas B.V., the global leading supplier of spoolable thermoplastic composite pipe systems for deepwater offshore operations, and Celanese Corporation , a global technology and specialty materials company, today announced the signing of a strategic supply agreement for the development and supply of composite materials for these pipe systems.

Airborne Oil & Gas, Celanese enter into strategic alliance

“This multi-year alliance promises to further improve materials, systems and solutions that will meet the oil and gas industry requirements for harsh deepwater operations,” said Marcus Kremers, chief technology officer, Airborne. “Together, Airborne, with its expertise in offshore thermoplastic composite pipe systems, and Celanese, a leading global producer of high-performance thermoplastic composites, will be able to drive the development of the right material solutions. This strategic alliance is an important milestone in achieving a robust supply chain, ready for scaling up.”

Michael Ruby, global composites business manager – Celanese said: “Our multi-year supply agreement demonstrates the Celanese commitment to meeting the needs of the oil and gas sector and supporting its future needs. It will ensure a supply of numerous, fully qualified engineered materials that can meet the demand for oil and gas pipes.”

Celanese is playing an important role in helping to ensure efficient offshore operations via engineered materials used in thermoplastic composite pipe. A good example is the flexible pipeline system from Airborne that incorporates Celstran® CFR-TP (continuous fiber reinforced thermoplastic) composite technologies, which is suitable for use in flowlines, downlines, jumpers, intervention lines, risers and other offshore pipe systems.

The durable, spoolable, lightweight composite pipe systems designed and manufactured by Airborne, have high mechanical strength to withstand the extremely high pressures and tensile loads of deep-sea offshore operations, and combine an excellent chemical stability with very good resistance to fatigue, aging and permeation. They are more robust than existing pipe systems used in the offshore industry, and reduce the operational cost because of faster and easier deployment. The absence of corrosion reduces maintenance costs, and the smooth inner bore improve the pressure performance. These pipes are made in a fully automated manufacturing process and can be made up to several kilometers of length in one product. This unique technology has won several innovation awards, including the JEC Europe 2012 Innovation Award.

 

[mappress]
Press Release, March 07, 2014