Pipeline engineering specialist, STATS Group, has completed a complex isolation of the Forties Pipeline System in the North Sea.
STATS was contracted by Apache North Sea Ltd to safely isolate the Forties Pipeline System (FPS) so that subsea isolation valves (SSIV) and piping spools could be safely installed and leak tested, avoiding the need to depressurise the entire pipeline system.
The 36” main crude oil line is a pre-eminent pipeline network in the North Sea carrying 40% of the UK’s oil, with over 50 offshore assets flowing into the 169km FPS, which runs from Forties Charlie platform to Cruden Bay terminal, transporting approximately 700,000 barrels of oil per day.