Oceaneering Cuts Subsea Wellhead Downtime With Enerpac Cylinders
Enerpac cylinders are a key component in a subsea wellhead tree, marine growth cover removal tool developed by leading subsea engineering company, Oceaneering Australia, to remove broken covers. The cylinders allowed the covers to be extracted in one piece without damaging the tree.
Mounted on the wellhead, subsea trees control the flow in and out of the well to the surface platform. The tree features several receptacles that are used to connect tubing for the injection of chemicals, add electrical flying leads and install wellhead maintenance connections such as IWOCS, for example. Marine growth covers prevent the build-up of marine growth that could block the receptacles. Usually, the cover is removed by a ROV pulling the cover handle.
Rapid Tool DevelopmentFaced with several marine growth covers with broken handles that prevented access to receptacles, Engineered Solutions team at Oceaneering Australia moved quickly to develop a tool to remove the damaged covers. The tool works in two parts: a gripping action, and a pulling action to lift the cover clear of the receptacle. The development team turned to Hydratight for assistance with the pulling action.
Two Enerpac BRD46 double acting cylinders, providing 35kN capacity combined with a 155mm stroke, were chosen for their reliability in demanding applications.
Operated by ROV and powered by hydraulic fluid, the tool is interfaced with the broken cover. A central steel tube with rows of teeth is positioned inside the cover’s inner wall, and a cylinder in the centre of the tool actuated, pushing the rows of teeth against the inner wall to grip the cover. With the teeth locked in position, the two Enerpac cylinders on the sides of the tool are activated to push against the surface of the tree and pull out the broken marine growth cover. The Oceaneering’s tool has been used to extract several broken marine growth covers, allowing the well to continue production.
Oceaneering developed and deployed the marine growth cover removal tool in just 6 weeks. “Bespoke tools are key to solving any unexpected project issues where speed of response is of the essence,” said Daniel Ahmadi, Project Engineer, Engineered Solutions OPG – Oceaneering Australia.
“Thanks to Hydratight expediting delivery of the Enerpac cylinders we were able to complete assembly and testing of the tool and get it offshore on time.”
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