The next generation of riser designs will be enabled by materials technology. Thermoplastic pipe, of which the most advanced materials technology to date is carbon fibre PEEK pipe, is setting the industry on a path to a future where composites become commonplace in subsea infrastructure. Carbon fibre pipe enables much simpler and more cost effective alternatives to steel and traditional non-bonded flexible riser architectures.
Magma has been on a journey, together with operators and contractors, to optimise and simplify riser design by exploiting the unique benefits of m-pipe. Our goal is the ultimate, simple, low cost riser design, capable of cost effective deployment in depths of 2000m and beyond, from low pressure up to 20ksi. These configuration minimise the length of m-pipe, as well as buoyancy ballast requirements.
m-pipe with Shawcor’s Thermotite® Ultra™ insulation improves flow by maintaining the temperature of production fluids. The insulation material can be adjusted for weight or buoyancy to manage stability of the pipe in the water column. This further simplifies deep water riser design by reducing engineering and installation time relating to buoyancy and ballast modules.
Charles Tavner, COO: “There is no doubt in our minds that the future subsea infrastructure will be dominated by carbon-fibre composites. We have seen acceptance of this from large contractors, each developing their own solution using m-pipe, which is a natural adoption path. These initiatives will fast forward the delivery of an all-Magma solution.”
Magma’s preferred m-pipe riser design is a single leg offset riser (SLOR). m-pipe replaces the traditional steel pipe in the vertical portion of the riser system. The carbon fibre pipe spans the water column from the seabed to just below the surface where it is connected to a small buoyancy module. The flow path continues to the surface through a dynamic m-pipe jumper.
Traditionally the SLOR has been considered a relatively expensive option; the m-pipe SLOR delivers significant cost saving through much smaller buoyancy units, much simpler lower and upper riser assemblies and significantly reduced turret loadings. It is suited to any deepwater basin and de-couples the subsea architecture installation from the arrival of the host facility.