STATS Group has successfully completed an isolation project on TAQA’s Brent pipeline at Sullom Voe terminal in the Shetland Islands.

BP required to undertake a valve refurbishment operation on the 36” Brent Pipeline Pig Receiver while the pipeline remained in normal operation.

Aberdeen-based specialist engineering company STATS were approached to provide a double block isolation to facilitate the valve works and proposed the use of a 36” Tecno Plug™, controlled using composite umbilical hydraulic lines to allow the valve change out to be carried out safely.

The compact design of the single module Tecno Plug™ allowed the plug to be set in the short section of pipework upstream of the production tee enabling export from the Brent pipeline to continue.

To allow deployment of a tethered Tecno Plug™ a temporary receiver door was used with a Stuffing Box arrangement allowing the umbilical to pass through the system while at pressure. Once a leak test was performed on the receiver, temporary door and stuffing box, the isolation plug was pigged with water to the set location. Accurate plug location was determined by umbilical markings with additional positional verification confirmed by an ultrasonic signaller from outside of the pipe.

Tags: STATS Group