Polymer reinforced pipelines safe for the Arctic are used in the East Messoyakha

GlavGosEkspertiza (Main department of state expertise) issued the positive conclusion to the company “Messoyakhaneftegaz” on use of polymer reinforced pipelines. Their use will allow the company significantly to reduce time of construction and installation operations and increase profitability of exploration and production in the northernmost continental oil field of the country.

Polymer reinforced pipelines can be used to transport a variety of raw materials: gas-saturated or watered oil, systems of injection of reservoir waters, saline solutions and chemical reagents. They are mobile at assemblage, safe in operation and do not have technogenic influence on permafrost soils of the Arctic due to the low coefficient of thermal conductivity of the material. This information was given to the news agency “Sever-Press” in the office of corporate communications of the company “Messoyakhaneftegaz”.

“Polymer reinforced pipelines have the wide range of advantages. Their use can significantly reduce time of installation of a structure and, most importantly, to involve low-yield, unprofitable well stock and conserved exploration wells to extraction. Earlier economic effectiveness of extraction on majority of exploration wells was unachievable because of considerable costs of arrangement. Now the team of Messoyakha faces the challenge on search for technologies to involve more than 300 million tonnes of oil of remaining recoverable reserves, where use of polymer reinforced pipelines can be one of the main tools in solving the issue of effective transportation of production fluids”, the executive director of “Messoyakhaneftegaz” Vadim Stolyarov said.

With all the advantages of alternative pipeline transport its use has not been regulated yet: there are no requirements for design, construction and operation of polymer reinforced pipelines in the existing normative and technical base. In this regard the company carried out work on preparation of special technical conditions and their approval in the Ministry of construction of the Russian Federation. The conclusion from GlavGosEkspertiza of Russia actually transferred use of polymeric pipelines into the legal field. The cross-functional team of “Messoyakhaneftegaz” and “Gazprom Neft” was working on the project. Expert support was provided by the research design institute “Neftegazproekt”.

Polymer pipes with the diameter 100-125 mm, through which oil from Messoyakha will go from wells to the central collection point, consist of four layers. The inner jacket of a pipe is made of high-strength metal band by the reinforcing method, what increases resistance of a pipe to external and internal pressure. The next, anti-wear layer minimizes risk of structural damage and provides gas drainage. The outer jacket of flexible pipes is made of polymer material and guarantees the maximum degree of protection against UV radiation and mechanical damage. To ensure heating of a pipe it includes the thermal insulation layer with heating and signal conductors. In general, polymer reinforced pipelines can withstand temperatures from minus 60 to plus 60 degrees Celsius and pressure from 40 to 180 atmospheres. The service life of the new type of structures is at least 20 years. Domestic manufacturers will made polymer reinforced pipes for “Messoyakhaneftegaz”.

“Improvement of efficiency of technical solutions being used in arrangement of extractive fields is one of the key tasks of the company in the current conditions of decrease in quality of hydrocarbon reserves and in size of extractive fields. The suggested solution and coordination of its use as a permanent one from the side of the state authorities is an important step towards this goal. The experience of “Messoyakhaneftegaz” will be interesting for many assets and can be replicated not only in new, but also in mature extractive fields of the company”, Sergey Kartaviy, the director for development of the function “Major construction” of the science and technology center of “Gazprom Neft” said.