Offshore

IPU Group provides a wide range of products suitable for demanding offshore applications.

Wintershall

Wintershall, a wholly owned subsidiary of BASF, has been operating in the North Sea since 1965 and today operates a total of 26 platforms, 25 of them in Dutch territorial waters and one in German territorial waters. The company commissioned Pon Power, the Caterpillar dealer in Scandinavia to supply emergency generators for offshore operations. The IPU hydraulic start system was designed to provide a black start system capable of three consecutive starts of 5 seconds each. The complete system was designed in compliance with the Pressure Equipment Directive, which means the system meets essential safety means the system meets essential safety criteria, has satisfied appropriate conformity…

Torpille

IPU were recently contracted to supply the emergency starting system on the fire pump replacement for the mature Torpille Field offshore Gabon. The starting system was designed to as an emergency back up on the CAT C15 engine. As the platform has a constant air supply, the recharging of the start accumulator is achieved with both a manual hand pump and also a pneumatically driven hydraulic pump. Boosting the air supply by a ratio of 60:1 the air driven pump uses the platform air supply to recharge the accumulators to 207bar. On reaching the system working pressure, the air driven pump stalls, only re-starting when pressure in the accumulator falls on start up of the engine, thus making an…

Tapis R Field

Petronas (a Malaysian oil and gas company) are looking to enhance oil recovery in Malaysia, according to Exxon Mobil Corp. The Tapis field, off the coast of Terengganu, will be the main oil field off the coast of Malaysia. This latest contract includes commitments to implement an enhanced oil recovery project at the Tapis field and will be the first ever large-scale project of its kind in Malaysia, including a new 50km network of pipes to distribute the recovered oil and gas. IPU provided the secondary starting system for the CAT 3516 emergency driven diesel generator. The starting system was designed to operate in hazardous areas and to provide six start attempts each of ten seconds. The…

Hibiscus

IPU has supplied a hydraulic start system for the emergency generator onboard the British Gas Hibiscus development. Located in 500 ft of water, the field is approximately 45km off the North coast of Trinidad. The start system was designed to provide extended cranking cycles, critical for the starting of gas engines; that is an excess of 30 seconds cranking from the three hydraulic accumulators. Each start attempt is actuated from an individual solenoid start valve and recharged with a motor driven pump. All electrical components are ATEX certified, for use in hazardous area Zone 2 specification. For environmental protection from the offshore surroundings, the whole hydraulic package was…

Fishcon Chirag

The IPU Starting Service team recently visited the BP Chirag platform that is being built in Baku, Azerbaijan. The undertaking was to commission and test the starting unit attached to the emergency generator, which had not long been installed. The platform itself, is due to be commissioned in the Caspian Sea in the summer of 2013. The Starting unit had been made to BP specifications and certified in accordance with offshore regulations for potentially explosive environments. The process of commissioning involved checking the system over before operation, charging the accumulators and testing the unit; this was all performed by the IPU Servicing team. While on board, IPU staff gave in depth…

Clyde Platform

The IPU Starting Service team visited the Clyde platform in the North Sea to service three hydraulic starting systems, which would be used to power the platforms fire pumps in an emergency situation. To test and service a unit for working order, our engineers have to perform many tasks together with oil and filter changes, sampling and analysis of oil specimens, full inspection of the starter motor and all components including pinions. IPU Group proposed a 12-month annual service contract with platforms management company to safeguard the three hydraulic start systems, and staff members aboard the rig have been informed on the importance of regular testing of the emergency starters.

ATP Cheviot 2

For the Cheviot Semi-Submersible Production Platform in the North Sea, the operators, ATP Oil and Gas, required a hydraulic back up starting system to the intent of NFPA20 for a Caterpillar 3516 diesel engine driven fire water pump. The starting system had to comply with the Mustang Engineering specifications, NFPA20 standards for stationary fire pumps and the pump packager’s particular requirements. This project design required a small footprint so that it could be comfortably installed in a container but still leave adequate space for general operation. Due to the environment, what would normally be stainless steel components were to be Super Duplex 2507, which meant that all tubing,…

Offshore

Wintershall

Torpille

Tapis R Field

Hibiscus

Fishcon Chirag

Clyde Platform

ATP Cheviot 2

Offshore Maintenance Service

ATP Cheviot

Buzzard Field 5