Louisiana Offshore Oil Port Project & Raychem Shrink Sleeves

L.O.O.P and Raychem Shrink Sleeves

(this is taken from a Raychem WrapUp newsletter - and is a past Case Study of  a project utilizing Raychem shrink sleeves)

 

     The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, known as the L.O.O.P, consists of a number of pipelines that will connect offshore loading facilities with onshore storage units.  It will be the first facility in the United States built specifically for unloading ultra large crude carriers.

     The LOOP is also a first for Raychem.  It represents the first major installation of WPC in the US with a total of 15,000+ sleeves, in diameters ranging from two to fifty-six inches being used. 

     The LOOP will consist of three constructions.  The offshore platform complex will consist of a control platform and a dumping platform.  The lower deck of the pumping platform will house crude oil pumps that have a 45,000 to 100,000 barrel per hour pumping capacity.  Raychem's WPC will protect the joints on the platforms riser pipe. 

     Each single point mooring station will be connected to the pumping platform by 56" diameter pipe lines, approximately 8,000 feet in length.  A 48" line will extend twenty one miles from the pumping platform to the Flurchon booster station.  The Flurchon station will be located about 2.5 miles inland on the south side of  the Louisiana Highway 1, near Bayou Moreau.

     Next, a 21 mile, 4" diameter line will be laid from the Flurchon station to the platform complex for transporting diesel fuel for the gas turbine generators installed on the platform. 

     Corrosion protection for all the large submarine lines will consist of an asphalt sand mixture (heavycoat) or a semi plasticized coal tar enamel with fiberglass reinforcing and felt wrap.  The small diameter line will be coated with epoxy.  All weld joints will be protected with Raychem WPC or TPS products.  Raychem ALWS/WPC will be used to protect anode wire connections to the pipe.  Also, the WPC product will be provided in special cut lengths to accommodate the cutback of cement coating on the offshore pipe. 

     Two methods will be used to install onshore pipe.  At the push station sites, consisting of lay barges or prepared land sites, the push ditch method will be used.  Here, the pipe will be welded, inspected, coated, floated and then pushed into the ditch.  With the dry land method, standard ditching and backfilling will be used where the environment allows. 

     The buried lines will be yard coated with an asphalt sand mixture approximately 5/8 inch thick.  In addition, the line will be concrete coated to provide a specific gravity of 1.04.

     A 30" diameter, 29 mile long brine disposal line will be installed from the storage facility to the Gulf of Mexico.  This line will extend 2 miles into the gulf to discharge brine from the cavity leaching.

     All joints on the onshore portion will be protected with specially cut Raychem WPC to accommodate the cement coating cutbacks.

     The L.O.O.P. is another challenge that Raychem is proud to be able to meet.

Raychem Wrap Up Newsletter

Raychem WrapUp Newsletter

     I came across an old Raychem newsletter yesterday.  I suppose that is one of the advantages of being from a family that has been involved with Raychem (and Covalence) heat shrinkable sleeves since the mid 1970's; you never know what you're going to find.  Open up an old box or a long ignored drawer and you're likely to come across an old product data sheet; hand scribbled notes from a weekend phone call; a copy of an old technical paper or even Volume 1, No. 1 of the Raychem WrapUp (which might be the only volume ever made and the only copy still in existence (it is in mint condition so if you're into this kind of thing, feel free to make me an offer!)

 

     This was a single sheet (front and back) newsletter thrown together by Bill Mannion who was apparently the head of the division for a few years way back when.  Bill wrote the first article of the page.  In the first article - there is one bit I absolutely LOVE.  Bill says that since so many folks within Raychem travel so much; he is planning to write a little guide to restaurants and hotels around the world so that folks can know where to eat and stay.  One of the restaurants he mentions is USA Seafood in Philadelphia and he goes on to say "the lobster is quite good" there.  Can you imagine a corporation in this day and age, whose division head tells his employees to make sure they try the lobster next time they are in Philly??

 

     Other articles in this newsletter include:

- Raychem's presence at ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers) at which their greatest attraction in the booth was our TWDB product. 

 

- Raychem introducing the "Real Seal" which was (apparently) an advertising campaign designed to shed light on Raychem's sealant technologies.

 

- A write up/feature on Raychem's business in Brasil and how they were beginning to take over as the industry leader there.

 

- A report on upcoming sales tools including literature, movies (available in 16mm and cassette!) and some industry focused brochures (gas, construction, district heating).

 

- An analysis of the year to date numbers versus plan (at that moment the world was at 110% of plan and expected to finish at 135%)

 

     The most interesting article to me though was a case study and project update on the LOOP project which I will be tackling tomorrow.  So, stay tuned!