Saipem racks up another ‘major’ subsea milestone – this time in pipeline tech

Italy’s engineering, drilling, and construction services provider Saipem has expanded the subsea pipeline offering by revamping an existing technology, created by the U.S.-based United Pipeline Systems (UPS).

While disclosing its new “major industrial milestone” in subsea pipeline technology, the Italian heavyweight explained the achievement was accomplished with an upgrade to enable offshore and subsea use of United Pipeline Systems’ technology initially developed for the internal lining of onshore pipelines. 

As Saipem’s latest subsea pipeline innovation endeavor has earned the statement of qualified technology from DNV, this certification is said to grant “a unique rating on the market as it qualifies the technology for even ultra-deepwater and high-pressure pipelines” of 1,000 bar, or approximately 15,000 psi.

With plastics replacing corrosion-resistant alloys in the inner coating of pipelines, a reduction in the total system cost is expected by up to 40%. The cooperation agreement with UPS enables the Italian giant to market the upgraded technology for water injection pipelines as a first step.

Afterward, the firm underlines that it will be able to do the same for risers in traditional offshore markets like the Middle East and frontier subsea markets with ultra-deep high-pressure reservoirs such as the Gulf of Mexico and Brazil.

The new addition to the subsea toolbox comes only days after Saipem joined forces with another U.S.-based firm, Curtiss-Wright Corporation, to tuck another subsea processing milestone under its belt with an all-electric seabed barrier fluid-less pump.

The Italian firm has secured several new work assignments, including the supervision and provision of subsea intervention services for offshore and onshore sections of a natural gas pipeline connecting Libya and Italy through the Mediterranean Sea. 

Aside from this and the work in Angola with TotalEnergies for a deepwater project worth $3.7 billion, the firm got multimillion-dollar deals on two projects off the coast of Saudi Arabia to assist Aramco in maintaining long-term oil production from the three fields the two projects cover.