Vallourec Brazil Serra Thermal Insulation Coating Line Commences Construction

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 10, Vallourec held a commencement ceremony at its Serra plant in Espírito Santo, Brazil, for a new subsea pipeline thermal insulation coating production line. The line will be used for the industrial application of the Proxxima resin system and Goldilocks subsea insulation technology (GDLX) licensed by ExxonMobil, serving the production of insulated line pipe required for deepwater oil and gas projects.

The new production line is located at Vallourec's Serra facility. The facility is close to the Port of Vitória and handles line pipe coating and related supporting business for deepwater projects. According to Vallourec's disclosure, GDLX technology has been used in ExxonMobil's Longtail deepwater project in Guyana, and Vallourec will supply thermally insulated line pipe using this technology for the project.

In May of this year, Vallourec received additional line pipe orders from ExxonMobil Guyana Limited for two deepwater projects, Hammerhead and Longtail. The two orders total more than 145 kilometers and approximately 40,000 tons, of which about 90 kilometers of line pipe will use the Proxxima resin system and GDLX subsea insulation technology. Wedoany previously published this order milestone; the new milestone on September 10 is the official commencement of construction of the relevant production line at the Serra plant in Brazil.

GDLX technology is mainly used for thermal insulation of subsea oil pipelines. According to Vallourec's disclosure, the system can extend the cooling time of fluids in the pipeline after shutdown and shorten the construction time of the insulation layer. The company has obtained the license for commercial application of the relevant technology, and this Brazilian production line construction will incorporate the technology into its localized line pipe manufacturing and coating capabilities.

Vallourec previously also obtained a line pipe contract in Brazil awarded by Allseas for the Atapu 2 project, involving 143 kilometers of rigid risers and flowlines, approximately 19,000 tons of uncoated steel pipe. The relevant steel pipes are produced at the Jeceaba plant in Minas Gerais, and the thermal insulation coating is completed at the Serra facility.