SURF budgets go further with accredited products

BV approves Balmoral SURF- related products

Global deepwater buoyancy and polymer specialist Balmoral Offshore Engineering has been approved by Bureau Veritas (BV) in line with American Petroleum Institute (API) specification for its SURF-related bend stiffeners and restrictors.

The API 17L standards cover the minimum requirements for design, material selection, manufacture, documentation, testing, marking and packaging of equipment.

Bend stiffeners are used to support flexible pipe, umbilicals and cables when connected to rigid structures where there is a requirement to control the minimum bend radius of the pipe.

Bend restrictors prevent over-bending at the interface between flowlines, umbilicals, cables and rigid structures by mechanically locking up. They are normally used in static applications but, unlike bend stiffeners, only provide protection once the pipe has achieved the desired bend radius between the flexible line and rigid structure.

Balmoral worked closely with independent body, Bureau Veritas, on a development programme that consisted of four phases: quality audit; design review; material qualification; inspection and testing.

Significant time and money was invested into gaining this accreditation in order to provide clients with leading quality products first time, every time. Such levels of quality recognition ensure clients of minimal risk specification when procuring flowline and umbilical ancillary equipment.

Fraser Milne, engineering and projects director with Balmoral, managed the process and said:

“We were pleased to obtain this latest recognition which complements our distributed buoyancy system approvals gained earlier in 2015.

“Balmoral now offers clients an end-to-end accredited range of SURF-related products. When this is combined with unrivalled engineering design capabilities and global experience it is a powerful market offering, particularly when project budgets are being stretched.

”Clients are recognising that early design involvement can save them hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. We have many examples of driving project costs down by the application of design science and physics.

“I respectfully suggest that clients enquire whether or not their supplier is accredited to such high standards to ensure that optimum products and services for their project are being provided and maximum budget efficiencies are being achieved.”

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/product-news/03092015/surf-budgets-go-further-with-accredited-products/