News | August 03 2021
Pushing the boundaries of pipeline technology
The TechnipFMC team working on Neptune Energy's Fenja project have extended the capabilities of Electrically Trace Heated Pipe in Pipe (ETH-PiP) technology into new realms.
So it was with a sense of pride that Ed Pratt, Senior Rigid Pipeline Engineer, watched the final length of the 37-kilometer pipe being reeled aboard the vessel Deep Energy in mid-July 2021.
Ed led the pipeline assembly and loadout team at Evanton Spoolbase on a project unlike any he had ever worked on, as the technology was developed for the Fenja integrated Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (iEPCI ) development in the Norwegian North Sea.
This has been a very technology heavy project, lasting almost five years, said Ed. ETH-PiP was developed more than 10 years ago, but Fenja has pushed the technology on and we've had to re-engineer and requalify pretty much everything from scratch. It's been a complex project - something which has been very challenging but satisfying to work on.
No one had attempted anything like this length of ETH-PiP before, or at this kind of voltage and power input. The pipeline also contains a fiber optic temperature monitoring system, all wrapped up in the second-stiffest reeled pipe we've ever made - and at 18 inches, it's essentially the largest diameter pipe that Deep Energy can handle. The flowline is bimetallic - mechanically lined pipe - and has to be pressurized for loadout and pipelay. The combination of so many of our pipeline technologies in one project has proved to be complicated, but we have the skills and knowledge to make each element come together and function.
The design goal of ETH-PiP is to prevent the pipeline waxing up and reducing the fluid flow. Put simply, an electric heating system warms the inner pipe. The technology reduces operational expenditure and downtime by maintaining flow assurance. During maintenance shutdowns, there is also no need to use thawing chemicals before restoring flow as the heating system can maintain temperature or reheat from cold - meaning production can restart much faster than with a traditional pipeline.
The project team based in Lysaker, Norway, led the engineering, with heavy involvement from teams in Aberdeen and Paris. Manufacturing and assembly of the one-kilometer-long stalks that make up the pipeline began in September 2019 at Evanton Spoolbase in the UK. In April 2020, amid the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown in the UK, significant changes had to be made on site as up to eight people at a time were required to perform the assembly work. Changes to personal protective equipment and working practices were employed to allow close proximity working to continue - helping the project progress with no outbreaks on site to date.
The first of the spooling operations took place in June 2020, with five pipelay campaigns taking place during the summers of 2020 and 2021, installing the pipe at a maximum water depth of 324 meters. Tie-ins both on and offshore involved electrical and fiber optic connections and testing, in addition to the standard welding operations. The final pipeline end termination was set down on the seabed on July 28, 2021.
The pipeline, which is due to be commissioned in 2022, is integral to the iEPCI development and will carry oil from the Fenja field to the Njord A platform, about 130 kilometers offshore Kristiansund.
Ed said, It was a proud moment, seeing that final reel head off on Deep Energy. This has been a complicated project both because of the engineering involved, and because COVID-19 meant we had enforced changes on our team as well as to the way we work.
It's also probably the most important project I've ever worked on because of what we have learned and what we are demonstrating with a technology that is stirring interest in the oil and gas industry.
Neptune Energy is the operator of the Fenja field.
Most recent headlines
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
23/12/2025
Taking the Stage at Carnegie Hall-On a Global Scale Boston Conservatory Orchestra students reflect on their epic concert marking the 80th session of the UN Gene...
22/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Neerav Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
22/12/2025
Hitting the bullseye: Sky Sports readies itself for the biggest PDC World Darts ...
22/12/2025
Unique skillset: Bringing new directors to the world of darts at The Worlds with...
22/12/2025
Gravity Media prepares for a flight of fancy with the PDC World Darts Championsh...
22/12/2025
One hundred and eighty: Gravity Media on hitting the production bullseye at the ...
22/12/2025
The Famous Group's Jon Slusser on Fascinating Fans Through Immersive Content...
22/12/2025
ESPN's Meg Aronowitz on Continuing High-Quality Broadcasts of Collegiate Spo...
22/12/2025
ESPN Takes Data-Driven Storytelling to New Heights with MNF Playbook with Next ...
22/12/2025
For a decade, popular German podcast Fest & Flauschig has hosted an annual Chris...
22/12/2025
Paramount Scores Largest Share Increase Among Distributors as Paramount and CBS...
22/12/2025
New multi-year deal integrates Roku's data to fuel Nielsen's measurement suite
Roku gains access to Nielsen's streaming ratings, showing The Roku C...
22/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
22/12/2025
Berklee Wrapped 2025: Our Top News and Stories A look back at a year highlighted by faculty milestones, major film and television projects, Bob Dylan's ho...
22/12/2025
The works of Plato state that when humans have an experience, some level of change occurs in their brain, which is powered by memory - specifically long-term me...
22/12/2025
Partnership integrates complementary satellite data and AI analytics to enhance security, infrastructure, and environmental monitoring solutions for global cust...
22/12/2025
Workflows allow you to create a sequence of planned events which may be added to your template(s) or inserted directly into your sequential or background playli...
22/12/2025
Monday 22 December 2025
Sky extends PGA TOUR partnership until 2029, as Sky Spo...
22/12/2025
Back to All News
Global Anime Hits and New Releases Take Center Stage at Jump Festa 2026
Entertainment
22 December 2025
GlobalJapan
Link copied to clipboar...
22/12/2025
Siobh n McSweeney, Rory McIlroy, Elon Musk, Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin, Ivan Yates and Traitor Paudie Moloney lead new characters for Callan Kicks the Year 2...
22/12/2025
Winner announced in the picturesque surroundings of Wicklow's Avondale Tower and Treetop Walk
Andrew Trimble wins the show in his first series as coach
Th...
22/12/2025
The 2025 winners have been announced today, Sunday 21 December, for Ireland's largest choral competition Choirs for Christmas hosted by RT lyric fm.
Ove...
21/12/2025
Back to All News
Legoshi and Haru's Story Reaches Its Finale: BEASTARS Fin...
21/12/2025
John Shortt named Young Sportsperson of the Year Kerry are the Team of the Year
...
20/12/2025
Atomos announced the immediate availability of a new firmware update for its Ninja TX GO and Ninja TX monitor-recorders, unlocking ProRes RAW recording from the...
20/12/2025
CJP Broadcast has completed the digitisation of the European Gymnastics tape archive, converting 328 tapes containing more than forty years of recorded material...
20/12/2025
Bitmovin, the leading provider of video streaming solutions, today announced the launch of the Stream Lab MCP Server, to give AI agents and large language model...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Share Share by:
Copy link
Facebook
X
Whatsapp
Pinterest
Flipboard...
20/12/2025
Barack Obama Includes Laufey on His 2025 Favorite Music List The former presidents roundup of books, music, and movies includes a song from the Berklee alums ...
20/12/2025
Study reveals a key hormonal circuit in the kidneys Scripps Research scientists identify the protein that helps kidney cells regulate renin, providing foundatio...
19/12/2025
With Playout Release 2025.4, ToolsOnAir continues to push professional playout w...
19/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Jared Timmins on AI for Broadcast Sports and Cre...
19/12/2025
2025 SVG Summit Audio Recap: Say What?The Audio Production and Distribution Workshop at the SVG Summit 20 took on issues including speech intelligibility, Next-...
19/12/2025
Gamified fun: Channel 5 on its NFL Big Game Night ambitions with Hungry Bear Med...
19/12/2025
College Football Playoff Preview: For ESPN, Round 1 is a Fantastic Yet Familia...
19/12/2025
AWS's Jason Dvorkin on Developing Partnerships With the NBA and PGA Tour, Em...
19/12/2025
Netflix Kicks Off Packed Sports Week with Paul-Joshua Fight Before Shifting to N...
19/12/2025
SVG New Sponsor Spotlight: Presidio's Nareev Shah on the Role of Its Captiva...
19/12/2025
Mounted to the pylon of an AH-1Z Viper helicopter, a Red Wolf vehicle successful...
News | August 03 2021 
