Hughes Pumps has recently completed a contract to supply eight pumping systems for use on Subsea 7 and Technip Pipelay pipe-laying support vessels (PLSV). The $200-million engineering, procurement, installation, and commissioning (EPIC) contract was awarded by Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) to lay flexible flow lines to the seabed for deepwater oil export in the Campos Basin, offshore Rio de Janeiro.
The Hughes pumping systems being used on the PLSVs include flexible lines hydrostatic test and chemical injection systems (HTCIS) for the pressure testing of flexible flow lines using seawater. In addition, flushing and hydrostatic test units (FHTU) are in use for the flushing and hydrostatic testing of umbilicals with hydraulic fluid used for production control in the offshore oil and gas industry (MacDermid Oceanic HW525).
Commenting on the successful installation of the Hughes pumping systems, Subsea 7 and Technip said: "We have found that Hughes Pumps are delivering exceptional performance and reliability in the demanding environments of the offshore oil and gas industry. With their ease of maintenance and Hughes’ fully certified and factory trained personnel support we can avoid expensive equipment downtime.”
The Hughes HTCIS integrated units filling system is rated to 50m³/hr at 10bar, a mid-pressure system rated to 10m³/hr at 310bar and a high-pressure system rated to 0.4m³/hr at 517bar. In addition there is a chemical injection system (CIS) to meter oxygen remover and biologic inhibitor into the process line. The output of all three pumping systems is fully adjustable and the CIS unit automatically maintains the correct level of chemical dosing irrespective of pump outputs. The system also included flow rate and discharge pressure readings from each pump.
The Hughes FHTU units are used for flushing and hydrostatic testing of umbilicals using hydraulic fluid used for production control in the offshore oil and gas industry (MacDermid Oceanic HW525). Prior to installation, new umbilicals were flushed using two HPS650 pumps, each rated to 50lpm at 400bar. A 3.2lpm at 690bar pump was then used to hydrostatically test the umbilicals. Fluid cleanliness had to meet NAS 1638 class 6 or better necessitating the need for a separate filling and filtering system to permanently filter the fluid.
Other applications for Hughes Pumps in the offshore oil and gas industry include: subsea cleaning and cutting, surface preparation of oil and gas platforms, ships decks and ballast tanks using ultra-high pressure (UHP) water at up to 2,750bar, methanol injection and pumping crude oil.
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