PIPELAY EQUIPMENT
TURNKEY EQUIPMENT FOR OFFSHORE PIPELAY OPERATIONS
Our Special Projects team can count on decades of hands-on experience in the offshore industry, which makes De Pretto Industrie able to assist its clients with inventiveness and practical knowledge. In particular, we support EPC contractors with the supply of turnkey pipelay equipment complete with hydraulic and control systems, always designed, fabricated and tested in accordance with the specific needs of our clients and compliant with the most stringent industry standards. What is more, our support does not stop with the successful delivery of our products, but continues with our onshore and offshore technical assistance during installation, commissioning and for the entire life of our pipelay equipment.
Pipelaying from shallow to ultra deepwater is an activity that requires reliable equipment able to make offshore operations run smoothly and fast, but without compromising on safety. It is with this principle in mind that De Pretto Industrie develops its mission equipment and bespoke installation tools for the major EPC contractors in the offshore oil and gas industry.
In a market where bespoke solutions are the usual outcome, the combination of in-house design and fabrication resources makes De Pretto Industrie able to offer the values that matter the most: flexibility and responsiveness. Since the beginning of the design phase, the full flexibility of De Pretto Industrie engineering team guarantees a constructive exchange of information with our clients, allowing the complete customization of our equipment to their specific applications. In addition, the complete control of the design and fabrication processes gives us the necessary responsiveness to deliver cost-effective solutions within a short time frame, which is something achievable only when design and fabrication work synergistically side by side.
De Pretto Industrie can develop bespoke mechanical equipment for any kind of offshore pipeline installation, including S-lay, J-lay and reel lay. In particular, our systems cover:
PIPE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
In any pipelay vessel, handling pipes is an essential activity that affects pipelay operations performances and safety. Indeed, from the moment that a pipe is taken on board to the moment it is laid on the seabed as a part of a pipeline, it goes through several phases where pipe handling is inextricably connected: on-board joint pre-fabrication, on-board pipeline assembly operations, pipelay operations, to name but a few.
De Pretto Industrie, with its flexible approach to product development and the in-house fabrication resources, can supply turnkey handling equipment and tools fully customized to the specific offshore pipelay operations and suitable for a smooth integration in the existent fleet. Each solution can be delivered with its dedicated hydraulic and control systems for an easier integration in the vessel, or can be designed to be operated and controlled by the systems already available in the vessel.
De Pretto Industrie competences can support your pipe handling operations with the development of tailor-made:
Handling systems for pipe pre-fabrication stations
Handling equipment and conveyors for pipes, double-joints and quad-joints
Bear cages or external line-up clamps (ELUC)
Stinger rollers systems
Pipe handling equipment for firing lines
Feeding elevators for pipes, double-joints and quad-joints
Stingers for J-lay and S-lay
Hang-off modules for J-lay and Reel lay
Friction clamps for J-lay and Reel lay
ABANDONMENT & RECOVERY EQUIPMENT
Abandonment & recovery operations during offshore pipelay projects consist in heavy lifting operations where pipeline catenaries and associated structures are routinely laid on the seabed in either shallow or deep water. The heavy loads involved and the costly offshore operations require smart solutions engineered to mitigate the risk of longer installation campaigns and improve their safety, which is why De Pretto Industrie has proved to be the preferred partner for many EPC contractors. Indeed, our typical approach, which consists in putting our Special Projects team’s inventiveness into action jointly with the in-house fabrication competences, has already provided ingenuous abandonment & recovery equipment and lifting tools to several offshore projects.
Our solutions range from special lifting tools to bespoke mechanical solutions that help manage the cable routing and reduce the cable torque typical of deep water applications. What is more, each product developed by De Pretto Industrie is class approved in accordance with the vessel’s requirements.
De Pretto Industrie with its Special Projects business unit and internal workshop can design, fabricate and test a wide range of products for abandonment & recovery operations:
Active and passive sheave supports
A&R lifting tools
Subsea swivel for A&R
Launch trolleys
A&R hoist systems
A&R sheave blocks
Motorized swivels for cable torque release
Installation aids for buoys
PLET HANDLING EQUIPMENT
Before being laid to the seabed, pipeline terminations need to be prepared. This usually means welding subsea PLETs to the pipeline, also known as pipeline end terminations (PLET), which are heavy structures incorporating part of the equipment necessary to operate the subsea field.
Consequently, the handling of a PLET is particularly critical because:
- PLETs host delicate equipment (valves, subsea connectors, instrumentation, etc.);
- PLETs have to be kept in the correct position while they are welded to the pipeline before being abandoned subsea;
- PLETs bear the whole catenary weight during the abandonment phase;
- unforeseen delays in their handling are costly for the projects.
De Pretto Industrie combines the ingenuity of its skilled Special Projects engineers with the in-house workshop, and offers bespoke PLET handling equipment, such as A-Frames and H-Frames, suitable even for the harshest offshore environments. They can be fully adapted to the available fleet and project requirements, and can be supplied as turnkey products complete with hydraulic and control systems.
STINGER HANDLING EQUIPMENT
During offshore pipelay operations, when the pipeline is being laid continuously, there is physical continuity of the pipeline from the seabed to the vessel. Indeed, in order to ensure that the loads applied to the pipeline are within the limits during J-lay and S-lay operations, it is necessary the use of a special pipe handling equipment to guide and drive the pipeline subsea: a stinger complete with its rollers system. Water depth, pipeline features and many other environmental and operational factors require the stingers to be set with the correct angle, which can vary according to the specific project. Therefore, pipelay vessels need to have dedicated stinger handling systems to control the position of this critical equipment.
De Pretto Industrie can deliver not only the stinger and its rollers system, but also develop dedicated stinger handling equipment complete with mechanical jacks, hydraulic and control systems, and give assistance during the installation and commissioning activities.
Contact directly our Special Projects business unit team.
