Several of the world's oil & gas regions, including the North Sea, Australia and Arctic regions, are facing an increasing number of offshore and subsea gas development projects, typically involving installation of new high capacity, large diameter gas pipeline systems for long subsea tie-backs of large gas volumes. These pipeline systems necessitate the introduction of a new generation of large bore subsea diverless connection systems, in many cases with size and capacity requirements exceeding what can be accommodated by the currently available product range within the industry.
These new large bore pipeline connector applications are of a highly critical nature, with the highest possible requirements for in-service performance and reliability. For this reason, the new range of connectors has to be subjected to very careful design validation and extensive qualification testing.
This paper will describe the design and qualification process applied to such new connection systems, currently being developed for supply to major gas development projects offshore Norway and Australia. In addition to describing the design and qualification process, the paper will also address how critical interface aspects related to e.g. offshore installation procedures and pipelay vessel operations have been managed out from a total systems perspective, ensuring an optimized interface and allowing for a maximum degree of flexibility and versatility related to pipelay vessel configuration and installation methodology.
As it becomes available, the new range of large bore pipeline connection systems will extend the size and capacity limit of currently available diverless connections, thereby enabling larger pipe sizes and longer tie-backs, with improved reliability and with optimized installation and pipelay procedures.
