September 21st 2016 – A major oil operator has recently performed a field trial of 4Subsea’s new autonomous Portable Annulus Tester (PAT™) system for flexible risers. All testing was executed by the operator’s own personnel, hence removing the requirement for mobilising dedicated inspectors offshore.
Digitalisation of integrity management on flexible risers
The Portable Annulus Tester (PAT™) is the latest development in 4Subsea’s strategy to digitise integrity management of flexible risers. The fully automated PAT™ unit has been developed based on 4Subsea’s worldwide experience with offshore inspection and testing of flexible risers.
Fully automated tool to reduce risk and costs
The objectives of such tests are to verify the flexible riser outer sheath integrity and the functionality of the ventilation system. The fully automated and hand carried test unit performs complete annulus tests and re-defined algorithms, enabling the operator to take immediate action if anomalies are detected.
We are extremely pleased with the results from this first field trial. The PAT™ will help operators reduce cost of their operations. This is an important step in our strategy to enable operators to be more cost effective by replacing personnel offshore with fully automated equipment. The PAT™ solution is an “Engineer-in-a-box” system, opening up for more flexible and effective operations.
Peter Jenkins, CEO of 4Subsea
