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Test Vessel with Tapping ASME Class 900 Fitting Installed
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Subsea Model 760 Tapping Machine Lowered into Chamber
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Subsea Hot Tapping & Plugging
TDW Services Taps at 1,000-Foot Depth
As exploration for oil and gas moves farther offshore, the exploration moves into deeper water, which necessitates deeper pipelines to pump the product ashore. For example, in 1984, the deepest rig operated in less than 500 feet. In 1998, exploration companies were drilling at depths of 4,000 feet.
Test Vessel with Tapping ASME Class 900 Fitting Installed
Pipeline networks are laid at the time of drilling to collect crude oil and gas from various rigs to be pumped ashore or to loading platforms where tankers load. Problems occur later when it is necessary to tie in a new line, replace a faulty valve, or repair third-party damage to the pipeline on the ocean floor.
T.D. Williamson, Inc., provides fittings for installation on undersea pipelines and equipment for tapping through those fittings into the pipeline and stopping flow while necessary work is done. Through its service company, TDW Services, Inc., technicians are provided to complete the job. TDW Services works with various offshore diving companies to get the work done.
Striving to keep up with deeper and deeper drilling operations, TDW Services has equipment designed to make up to 16-inch taps in depths to 1,000 feet at 2,220 psi. Pipelines at that depth are constructed to withstand external water pressures of more than 450 psi. These factors require the pipe wall to be stronger and thicker, which can be much more difficult to tap through. A tapping machine able to cut a 16-inch hole in pipe at such a depth has to be tough and designed with pressure balancing systems that enable it to accommodate depth and internal pipeline pressures.
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