Marine Technology Reporter Blogs - umbilicals

With the continuous increase of subsea equipment and services companies setting up in Rio de Janeiro, including local companies, The State Government, through its State Office for Local Development (Secretaria Estadual de Desenvolvimento Econômico), has decided to create a subsea center in order to stimulate the sector and bring investments to subsea technology suppliers eyeing the Petrobras orders. Today there are around 35 subsea companies located in Rio (8 offering equipment and 27 offering services). These companies have a workforce of almost 1,200 employees, and the idea behind the subsea center is to attract suppliers and investors for these companies.

In the past all umbilicals were made of thermoplastics, used mainly for transport of hydraulic fluids to open or close valves, with separate hoses connecting to each valve on a subsea tree. As the deepwater production increased, concerns over possible failures on thermoplastic umbilicals mounted, triggering the development of the steel tube umbilical. Efficiency and reliability are the keys for deepwater umbilicals. The modern subsea umbilical used by the O&G industry provides transmission of electric and fiber optic signals, electrical power, hydraulic fluids, and injection of chemical fluids from the surface to the seabed through electric and/or fiber optic cables encased in thermoplastic and/or steel tubes.

Flexibras is Technip Brazil´s flexible manufacturing plant in Brazil and has been operational since 1986. In Brazil, Technip integrates the professional experience of two large engineering and manufacturing companies: Technip Brasil and Flexibras, the flexible pipe plant located in the city of Vitoria, in the state of Espirito Santo. Present in Brazil since 1976, Technip has 2,200 employees and contributes to the development of the Oil and Gas industry. With an Engineering Center in Rio de Janeiro and an operational base in Macaé, Technip offers services and technological solutions for the production of Subsea deepwater fields, Offshore facilities and Onshore processing units, providing full capabilities and a dedicated vessel for pipeline installation.