SHEPSHED, UK—Meggitt’s Bestobell-branded oilfield products unit has received a ‘top supplier’ award from Nexen for its contribution of fire protection products and services to the Buzzard Enhancement Programme. This US$450million programme involved adding a fourth platform, complete with hydrogen sulphide (H2S) treatment facilities, to the existing Buzzard North Sea oil production structure. As well as fulfilling an initial contract for penetration seals, Meggitt’s Bestobell engineers, based at Meggitt Polymers & Composites in Loughborough, UK, helped Nexen identify and resolve additional vulnerabilities to fire. The unit then delivered the seals along with a bespoke fire-protection system within the 18-month time-frame and on budget. The total value of the contract was around US$1.9million.
Bestobell was initially contracted to supply 800 penetration seals, which are placed where pipes pass through walls and decks to prevent fires passing from one side of the barrier to the other. Bestobell Jetfire seals, which made up 95 per cent of the contract, can withstand jet fires with peak temperatures of 1550°C for up to 60 minutes. These fires are caused by gas burning at high pressure and velocity. The remainder were Fireflex seals, which can withstand 1150°C hydrocarbon fires for up to 120 minutes. Bestobell seals are made from non-combustible, heat-resistant materials and coated to protect against seawater, ozone, methane and hydrocarbon fuels.
As Bestobell experts worked with Nexen’s staff to fulfil the order for penetration seals, they became aware that installing the new platform presented additional fire-related challenges. To address these, they used Finite Element Analysis modelling techniques to optimise the design of bespoke deck-level segmented skirt seals for two large vertical H2S-processing columns and a 4m by 3m flexible fabric bellow. The latter was required to prevent fire from penetrating the steel walkway between the existing and new platforms.
“We are delighted to be named as Nexen’s top supplier,” said Bob Smith, Director of Special Projects at Bestobell. “We firmly believe that customer relations are enhanced by providing added-value engineering, and so that is what we offer all our clients. The same level of expertise that we bring to the design, development and manufacture of fire-safe sealing products also carries through to the services Bestobell offers, including product training, installation and service maintenance.”
ENDS
For further information contact:
Fiona Greig, Corporate Communications
Tel: 01202 597587
fiona.greig@meggitt.com
Notes for editors
1. Bestobell Oilfield Products, part of Meggitt PLC’s Meggitt Polymers & Composites division, has more than 75 years’ experience of designing and supplying sealing solutions for extreme environments where safety and reliability cannot be compromised. Bestobell fire and blast seals are independently approved by Lloyds Register and are subject to frequent checks on offshore oil and gas platforms around the world.
2. Meggitt PLC, headquartered in the United Kingdom, is an international engineering group employing some 7,500 people worldwide across North America, Europe and Asia. It specialises in high performance components and sub-systems for aerospace and defence markets primarily but applies its core sensing and controls technologies to land and marine-based gas turbines and the medical, mainstream industrial, test engineering and transportation sectors.
3. Nexen Inc is a Canadian-based energy company with operations around the world. It is the second largest oil producer in the North Sea, and has a 43.2 per cent operated interest in the Buzzard field. Buzzard was discovered in the Outer Moray Firth in May 2001, the UK’s largest new oil find for a decade. The four bridge-linked platforms of the Buzzard rig export oil via an 18-inch, 30km subsea pipeline tied-in to the Forties Pipeline System.
