Trelleborgs Offshore Oil Gas Materials and Manufacturing Facilities Achieve Dema

Trelleborg’s offshore operation has received a certificate for material verification for Uraduct® and bend restrictors under the American Petroleum Institute’s specification for flexible pipe ancillary equipment (API 17L1 Ed. 1 2013). In addition, the operation’s manufacturing facilities in Brazil and the UK have been awarded the highly demanding ISO 9001:2008 certification. 

The API17L1 verification for Uraduct® and bend restrictors was completed by global engineering, technical and business services organization, Lloyds Register EMEA, acting as an independent verification agent.

Andrew Garside, Innovation and Technology Director within Trelleborg’s offshore operation based in Skelmersdale, says: “With an ever increasing global requirement for data and product transfer, and the necessity for transfer networks to run through ever harsher environments, the demand for highly advanced cable and flowline protection grows.

“The API assessment is a comprehensive process, which put our material selection and testing through rigorous analysis. Receiving the verification demonstrates the durability of our cable and flowline protection system Uraduct® and our bend restrictors, especially for long term use in demanding offshore environments.”

API 17L1 is an industry standard that determines the minimum requirements for the design, material selection, manufacture, documentation, testing, marking and packing of flexible pipe ancillary equipment.

Alexandre Soares, Manager of Quality at Trelleborg’s manufacturing facility in Macae, Brazil, says: “The oil and gas industry is by nature one of the most challenging environments in the world, so a high level of business integrity is critical to safely keeping operations up and running.

“Achieving ISO 9001:2008 is in-line with Trelleborg’s commitment to continuous improvement in the industry and in response to our customers’ seeking suppliers with the accreditation. A challenging standard to meet, our state-of-the-art new facility took two years to gain certification.” ISO standards are developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization.

Uraduct® is a protection system designed and developed to protect fiber optic cables, power cables, umbilicals, flexible flowlines, rigid flowlines, hoses and bundled products from abrasion, dropped objects and impact. With an established, enviable reputation as an industry standard for cable and flowline protection, Uraduct® can also be used to add ballast to cables and flowlines.

Bend restrictors are designed to ensure the manufacturers recommended minimum bend radius is not infringed during the life of the project. The elements also provide a significant further benefit as their split design allows installation of the restrictor after pipe termination, meaning installation and maintenance is much simpler and more cost effective.

Each bend restrictor is uniquely designed for its environmental application under defined loading conditions. With over 20 years of experience of manufacturing this product, Trelleborg has performed a significant amount of load and destructive loading tests enabling the company to fully understand the behavior of completed strings and the impact, if any, of differing element geometries. Trelleborg’s combined extensive manufacturing experience and testing of bend restrictors enabled them to build in the required safety factors into their design process.