Offshore staff
HOUSTON – Aberdeen-based buoyancy, protection and insulation specialist, Balmoral, has returned to OTC following the enforced two-year hiatus caused by the global pandemic.
On the exhibition floor, Balmoral says that its representatives have been demonstrating the company’s latest developments in buoyancy, insulation, and protection products as well as promoting FibreFlex, a proprietary offshore wind cable protection system.
In 2021, Balmoral launched a patented buoyancy clamping system that removes the need for separate clamping devices by attaching directly onto flexible flowlines, rigid pipelines, umbilicals, risers, etc.
The new system provides reduced and evenly distributed line contact through customized pads that accommodate expansion and contraction while generating consistent clamping loads.
Balmoral says that the new system, Type Approved to API 17L standards, could be used on a minimum of 80% of distributed buoyancy requirements where a separate clamp solution would traditionally have been specified.
Fraser Milne, engineering and projects director, said: “Significant savings will be realized by a reduction in shipping costs, deck space requirements, and product installation times.”
A major talking point of 2021 for the offshore wind sector was cable failure with a contributing factor to this being a phenomenon known as scour development or erosion.
Balmoral says that its FibreFlex cable protection technology is designed to mitigate creep, and utilizes a novel composite of polyurethane and polyester fibers that effectively creates a braided hose style system for the protection of subsea power cables.
05.03.2022
