Serimax investing heavily in R&D and harsh environment welding procedures
Nick Terdre - Contributing Editor
Welding specialist Serimax, a supplier to the oil and gas pipeline sector, also is adapting its technology for the more recent needs of the energy market.
“Whatever the application, clients expect higher productivity, consistency, reliability, and safety,” says chief technology officer Frederic Castrec. “We therefore decided to reorganize our R&D with more focus on operational requirements. The process started 14 months ago and has provided us with opportunities in new markets.” Among those the company is targeting are LNG process facilities.
Serimax gives high priority to technology development, plowing around 5% of its annual turnover back into R&D. It is best known for its two main automated welding systems: Saturnax, a dual-torch GMAW bug-and-band system used both onshore and offshore on pipelines from 4½-in. (11.4-cm) diameter upwards, and Saturne, a frame-mounted eight-torch system used offshore on pipelines of 34 in. (86.4 cm) and above.
Welding pipe with Serimax’s Saturnax dual-torch welding tool.
As part of the heightened focus on operational requirements, the Saturnax and Saturne systems have been adapted to enable them to perform different kinds of welding processes, such as single and dual-pulsed, and single and dual-tandem, in all cases using the same carrier. The tools have been digitalized and a complementary integration of both systems has been achieved based on a PLC system. Their capabilities also have been expanded to meet growing and more demanding quality control requirements.
Serimax has the advantage of owning its technology, says Castrec. This means it can bring its own capabilities to bear to meet technical challenges. Current work is being undertaken not only to develop the technology needed in new markets but also to meet the changing needs of the company’s pipeline business. Here, technology development is focused on three main areas: steel catenary risers (SCRs), exotic steels, and low or very low temperature applications.
The company also is investing to develop welding procedures for the high-specification steels and alloys selected by the industry to address issues such as wellstreams with high temperatures or sour content. The range of stainless steels with which Serimax is working includes duplex, super duplex, and 13% chromium, as well as all types of cladding materials including 316L and Inconel 625 and 825.
Low temperature applications arise in pipeline welding in arctic areas. An illustration is two onshore pipeline projects which Serimax is currently performing for Gazprom in Russia. These involve gas trunklines of 48-in. and 56-in. (122-cm and 142-cm) diameter, one for the Yamal project and one in eastern Siberia, where welding takes place in temperatures down to -45º C (-49º F).
For the LNG market, the use of exotic materials such as an alloy with 40% nickel content is combined with a very low temperature application, as the liquefaction process occurs in temperatures down to -163º C (-261º F).
Qualifying welding processes and consumables for deepwater SCRs is a continuing process – the resistance of these risers to fatigue depends greatly on the quality of the welds. Developing this technology has involved Serimax in some major R&D programs with contractors such as Stolt/Acergy and Technip, and oil companies such as Shell, BP, and Total. As owner of the technology, Serimax can develop fit-for-purpose features to adapt equipment such as the ILUC – internal line-up clamp – with the working and control modules.
The company has delivered SCR projects involving both onshore welding at a spoolbase and offshore welding on the lay-barge. Its references include BP’s Thunder Horse and Dorado projects, Eni’s K2, and Shell’s Nakika in the Gulf of Mexico, Shell’s Bonga and ExxonMobil’s Erha off Nigeria, and BP’s Greater Plutonio off Angola.
Serimax has a steady flow of offshore work under long-term contracts with both Technip and Acergy. It manages Technip’s three spoolbases at Mobile, Alabama, in the US, Evanton in Scotland, and in northern Angola. In Angola, Serimax is gearing up for two deepwater pipelay projects where Technip will install reeled pipelines: BP’s block 31 development and Pazflor, Total’s latest development in block 17.
Serimax also is at work on a current project for Acergy in Angola, where last month the lay-bargeAcergy Polaris was laying an 18-in. (45.7-cm) pipeline for ExxonMobil in block 15.
With the diversified capability now being put into place, Serimax has traveled some way from its origins. Serimer, the French side of the business, was present in the early days of offshore pipeline welding, beginning life as pipelay contractor ETPM’s welding department in the 1970s. In 1998, it was spun off as a separate company within the ETPM group, which itself was acquired by Stolt, as Acergy was then named. In 2004, Serimer passed into the ownership of Limerock Partners and Global 4D, becoming a fully independent company.
The desire to broaden its area of activity was one of the motives behind Serimer’s acquisition of Umax in 2006. Umax brought spoolbase expertise to add to Serimer’s offshore expertise. The businesses were integrated, as were the names.
While Serimer had largely seen itself as a welding subcontractor, Serimax has taken steps to re-brand itself as a solutions provider, and now works in partnership with its customers, becoming involved in projects at an early stage.
