Oceaneering Completes Australian IMR Project

Oceaneering completed a challenging Australian IMR (Inspection, Maintenance and Repair) campaign within 3 months that included inspecting an unpiggable in-service pipeline and repairing a second pipeline using a custom diverless solution.

To meet the schedule, a team of experts in inspection, remotely operated vehicles, installation and pipeline repair combined their experience to fully integrate a solution.

To inspect an “unpiggable” pipeline, Oceaneering’s tethered, self-propelled pipe intruders would normally be used. In this case, the non-linear nature of the alignment joints precluded this approach. The Asset Integrity group proposed Neptune, a proprietary ROV-deployed ultrasonic inspection system instead. Neptune is an external inspection system which clamps around a pipeline without interrupting production. Neptune easily delivers the high resolution wall thickness mapping the client required, including fine scan readings to 1mm x 1mm.

Pipeline Repair Solved

A pipeline generating a large temperature gradient required an ROV installed diverless solution. By converting an off-the-shelf diver installed clamp to an ROV installable one with a thermal compensation system included, the fabrication cycle of manufacturing was reduced to 7 weeks.

For the installation phase, the standard water jet coating removal process lacked the precision the client desired. Oceaneering’s Australian tooling group designed and built a new self-contained coating removal tool that uses two high-pressure jetting heads which travel 360 degrees axially along the full length of the pipe in a controlled coating removal process. They dubbed the tool the “Master Blaster”.

To meet the strict 3-5 day window reserved for executing the tasks on a vessel of opportunity, all equipment and personnel were managed through centralized coordination. All the challenges were overcome and the project was successfully executed on schedule.

Press Release, April 16, 2014; Image: Oceaneering