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PIPE & TUBULAR


GRP Shelters Provide Advanced Protection for Offshore Process Analysers


Shelters fabricated from glass fibre-reinforced polyester are protecting gas metering instrumentation from the harsh North Sea environment on an offshore platform upgrade project engineered by Oil & Gas Systems Limited.


Two outdoor shelters – supplied by Intertec Instrumentation – provide lightweight and corrosion-resistant protection for gas chromatograph analysers and process transmitters mounted above new natural gas export pipelines connecting the platform to an onshore UK gas terminal. The instrumentation provides critical monitoring data on gas quality as part of the custody transfer metering system.


This particular platform upgrade project presented a number of challenges, including the harsh operating environment of the southern North Sea, and the space and weight restrictions of adding the new facilities onto a working platform. Metering systems for fiscal, allocation and custody transfer applications are a significant part of the systems integration work of Oil & Gas Systems (OGS) – which has a reputation for being able to rapidly design and build efficient solutions for complex project requirements.


Glassfibre-reinforced polyester (GRP) materials were specified to protect the instrumentation. This allowed weight to be reduced significantly compared with metal shelters. GRP construction also provided excellent protection against both the harsh weather in the offshore location, and the local environmental conditions. Intertec


Instrumentation was selected to build the custom GRP shelters because of previous good experience of working with them on projects, including shelters and enclosures already installed in the same gas field.


The lightness of GRP compared to steel helped to reduce the size and weight of the metalwork structure that mounts the shelters directly above the export pipelines. The location – in the middle of a crowded working platform – also presented access difficulties. So, natural ventilation according to IEC EN DIN 61285 was specified. This eliminates routine maintenance visits that would be required with other shelter ventilation approaches such as fans or an HVAC system.


To support natural ventilation for safe operation in the hazardous environment, Intertec supplied explosion-proof heaters and installed louvre panels at the top and bottom of shelter walls. This maintains the interior environment a few degrees above ambient temperature, and ensures an efficient convection cycle to meet the air change requirements of OGS. All of the shelter fittings, apart from the


40 www.sosmagazine.biz February 2020


finned aluminium bodies of the heaters, are fabricated from 316 stainless steel for corrosion resistance – including the panic bar door opening mechanism.


“It can be a significant challenge to add new facilities into existing processing plants, and especially so when they are located offshore,” says Anthony Dingle, OGS's Sales Manager. “Intertec's ability to design and build custom enclosure solutions was a big help to us in meeting the design constraints of this complex and fast-track offshore instrumentation project.”


In total, two walk-in shelters and two large cabinets were built by Intertec to meet the custom shape, size and weight constraints. Each shelter houses


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