Petronas has recently announced that IFL’s 6-inch and 8-inch diameters have been elevated to the highest Technology Readiness Level, TRL 7, after being in continuous service for more than three years.
As per Petronas qualification standards, the TRL 7 level means that the technology is field proven as it has been installed and operating for more than 3 years with acceptable reliability, demonstrating minimal risk of early failures in the field. IFL’s 10-inch and 12-inch diameters are expected to reach Petronas’ TRL 7 in the first quarter of 2018.
The IFL diameter capability range will then be further extended up to 20-inch by the end of next year, as demand for the IFL grows, providing a product diameter range from 6-inch to 20-inch.
The IFL liner matrix consists of a Solef PVDF inner layer, a Kevlar core and a thermoplastic PU outer layer, and is resistant to a wide range of aggressive hydrocarbon mixtures (gas, crude and multiphase) with temperatures up to 110 deg C. The IFL liner can be pulled into existing subsea pipelines over lengths of several kilometres in one single pulling operation, arresting corrosion and substantially increasing the service life of the pipeline.
The InField Liner (IFL) technology is the world’s first full bore internal subsea pipeline rehabilitation system enabling a life extension of existing pipelines of more than 30 years. After a three-year technology development period from 2011-2013, 10 subsea pipelines running from platform to platform have so far been rehabilitated using the IFL technology, reportedly saving Petronas over $100 million.
The IFL system offers the entire subsea pipeline industry with a supremely viable, fast and economic preference when compared against the only other option of a new-lay pipeline replacement. When installed it also offers substantial annual OPEX savings as chemical dosing and internal inspection services are no longer necessary.
Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas) is Malaysia’s fully integrated oil and gas multinational ranked among the largest corporations on Fortune Global 500.
