Trelleborg’s foam buoyancy systems for Shah Deniz

Trelleborg’s offshore operation has been awarded a substantial order for its foam buoyancy systems, for the prestigious second phase development of the Shah Deniz field offshore Azerbaijan.

Contracted by oil and gas company, BP, Trelleborg will supply a buoyancy package; filled with its high temperature syntactic foam.

Lee Roskell, Proposals Manager within Trelleborg Offshore and Construction, said: “There is a growing requirement in deepwater applications for flowlines to perform under high temperature and high pressure conditions. Large cyclic changes can cause expansion of the flowline, resulting in lateral or upheaval buckling. And at a depth of 600 meters / 1,968 feet below the surface, these flowlines will come under significant force.

“However, Trelleborg buoyancy modules will assist in mitigating this. By reducing the self-weight of the flowline and friction against the seabed, a span of lower resistance is established along the flowline, enabling the buckling to occur in known and controlled conditions.”

With a design life of 30 years, DBMs are typically used between a subsea structure and a surface vessel or platform. A specialist clamping solution securely attaches the DBM assembly to the desired location on a riser, allowing the DBMs to be fitted at any point along the length of the pipeline. The buoyancy segments are assembled to mechanically lock around the clamp and are secured with circumferential straps.