The global energy landscape is undergoing a profound transformation, presenting challenges and opportunities for the UK oil and gas sector. Recent UK budget announcements have underscored uncertainties surrounding future drilling campaigns, driving operators to focus on extending the life of existing infrastructure. This strategic pivot reflects a broader industry trend prioritising operational efficiency and resource optimisation amid economic, regulatory, and environmental pressures. Ensuring asset integrity and maintaining efficiency have never been more critical.
Tackling the Persistent Challenge of Scale
Naturally occurring deposits such as scale and wax, have been a long-standing issue across the energy industry, clogging manifolds, and pipelines, reducing flow efficiency, and compromising operational performance. Left unaddressed, these issues can lead to costly production downtime.
Historically, operators have relied on chemical and mechanical methods to tackle these challenges. However, these traditional approaches are increasingly scrutinised for inefficiencies and environmental impact. Chemical treatments are often hazardous and corrosive, while mechanical tools struggle with complex internal geometries, leading to incomplete cleaning. As sustainability becomes a priority, the demand for innovative, eco-friendly solutions has intensified. Investing in innovative technologies is now crucial to maximise the value of existing assets, navigate market uncertainties, and align with broader sustainability goals.
Revolutionising Subsea Cleaning
As a subsidiary of Ramco Pipetech Holdings Limited (RPHL), Pipetech has established itself as a leader in delivering innovative flow remediation solutions across diverse applications, ranging from topside and subsea oil and gas assets to industrial power plants and refineries. By focusing on customer needs and advanced technologies, Pipetech ensures rapid mobilisation, minimal downtime, and maximum flow efficiency.
Among its innovations, the Deep Water Cleaning System (DWCS) addresses the unique challenges of unpiggable and complex pipeline systems, setting a new standard for subsea cleaning operations. The DWCS is the world’s first subsea-deployed, patented manifold, tree, and pipeline remediation cleaning system. Utilising high-pressure water, it removes deposits such as scale and wax with unmatched precision, restoring full flow efficiency to operating systems.
Key benefits include:
• Precise Deployment: A remotely operated system which deploys a specialist nozzle at a steady rate, ensuring consistent cleaning and minimising risks compared to manual diver-controlled cleaning systems.
• Adaptability: Designed for unpiggable pipelines, it navigates dimensional and directional changes, ensuring thorough network cleaning.
• Circumferential Tracking: Its precise rotational control and innovative nozzle design self-adjusts to diameter changes, achieving complete circumferential cleaning, with the ability to remove any naturally forming scale, including full blockages, creating a back to bare internal finish.
Operational Excellence
The DWCS enables remote cleaning operations, significantly reducing time and resource requirements. Its compact design integrates topside and subsea equipment for seamless deployment. A high-pressure water supply from topside is routed through a large bore downline to the ROV or diver operated DWCS.
With a secure foundation established through a subsea guide frame or bespoke base, the plug and play system ensures precise and efficient cleaning leading to reduced downtime and enhanced operational efficiency. By offering a sustainable alternative to traditional methods, the DWCS exemplifies Pipetech’s commitment to innovation and environmental management.
Shaping the Future of Flow Assurance
Complementing Pipetech’s DWCS and other established product lines, the company’s latest innovation, Downhole Scale Remediation (DSR) technology, addresses scale challenges within any wellbore, including subsea. This patented system uses rotational high-pressure water-jetting to remove stubborn scale deposits, restoring wellbore surfaces back to bare metal and maintaining production efficiency.
The DSR adapts to varying wellbore inner diameters and scale types, ensuring precise cleaning of critical areas like safety valves and side pocket mandrels. Unlike chemical treatments, it minimises environmental impact while delivering superior performance. Together, the DWCS and DSR provide a comprehensive suite of solutions for the evolving oil and gas industry.
In a rapidly evolving energy landscape, advancements like Pipetech’s DWCS and DSR demonstrate how technological innovation drives operational excellence and environmental responsibility. By offering sustainable and efficient cleaning solutions, Pipetech empowers operators to extend life, maximise production, and align with future energy goals.
