The technology will replace a layer of steel with a lighter weight carbon fibre thermoplastic material that bonds with an inner polymer layer. The pipe retains the steel “carcass”, or inner liner, of conventional riser pipe, as well as the outer layer of steel known as the tensile armour.
The new pipe “will enable certain layout configurations such as free-hanging catenary (risers) to be achieved, which for certain water depths, with the conventional technology, would prove to be quite tough”, says Alberto Matucci, global leader of the company’s Wellstream flexible pipe division.
