Designs and Uses of Ball Valves for Submarine Pipelines

Designs and Uses of Ball Valves for Submarine Pipelines

The Overview

Together with the rapid continuing development of the offshore oil and coal industry and the requirement for energy, the roll-out of oil and coal fields inside the deep water can be the main focus of development of the offshore oil industry in the foreseeable future. The manufacturing system of submarine oil and gas is hardly afflicted with severe weather and is also highly reliable, which become one of several key facilities for exploitation of gas and oil fields in the deep water. Valves for submarine pipelines include the important parts for equipment of the manufacturing system from the deep water. This article introduces designs, land tests and submarine operation of the submarine valve using the practical application of these two submarine ball valves within a production and growth and development of offshore oilfield project.

The normal standards

The submarine pipeline valve is really a general designation for all the valves that are applied to submarine pipelines, and it’s also mainly useful for terminals of submarine pipelines and oil and coal pipelines. The submarine pipeline valves are mostly the ball valve, the flat gate valve along with the check valve. The submarine pipeline valve mainly adopts API6DSS, API6A, API17D and ISO13628-1 standards.

The operation modes

The principle operation modes with the submarine pipeline valves are mostly hydraulic control, remote device (the ROV-remote Operated Vehicle) and diver operations.

The hydraulic control mode

The submarine pipeline valve, the hydraulic source, the hydraulic control unit as well as the umbilical cable form a process, and the hydraulic control unit is employed for opening and closing the submarine valve. The main benefit of this operation mode is that the submarine valve may be closed and opened automatically and real time monitoring in the submarine valve could be realized on offshore platforms. In the event the hydraulic control system fails, the submarine valve might be controlled through the ROV. However, the hydraulic control is complicated. It’s got relatively more potential leaks and investment costs.

The ROV mode

The submarine valve has got the ROV interface, also it can be divide into top mounted and side mounted two kinds. The torque tool carried by the ROV enter and exit the submarine valve. The benefits of these kinds of operation mode are that the structure in the submarine valve now is easier in contrast to the hydraulic control and also the cost is relatively low. However, the ROV operation are unable to ask for emergency shutdown when an offshore oil platform has to de-activate a submarine valve in the case of an emergency, and the offshore oil platform can’t monitor the status from the submarine valve.
Source: China Valves Manufacturer – Yaang Pipe Industry (www.ugsteelmill.com)