Challenges for the offshore industry

The demand for oil and gas has grown consistently over the last few decades, despite developments in renewable energy. This demand has resulted in a necessity for the offshore industry to explore ever more remotely in order to access these diminishing resources.

Offshore facilities require an enormous amount of resources that must be effective and robust enough to withstand the extreme conditions of these locations. Further to this, the equipment used within these facilities need to be as resistant as possible to these conditions to keep the facilities running smoothly, minimizing the need for any emergency repairs.

Yet, according to Thorn, signal, control, instrumentation and power supply offshore cables are in many ways still at the same level that they were several decades ago due to outdated standards.

“In the past the offshore industry has been limited by the lobbying work of various industry players, which has prevented companies from developing their products to meet the demands of the industry right now,” said Thorn. “New high-tech plastics enable light-weight cables to be constructed that do not fully comply with these old offshore standards but offer better electrical data as well as better safety features.

“HUBER+SUHNER has used its renowned RADOX® material to develop an electron-beam crosslinked high-performance plastic that meets the extreme offshore industry requirements.”HUBER+SUHNER will showcase these developments at OGA 2019, on 18-20 June. Thorn will speak as part of the Technical Talks agenda.

RADOX® stands for "radiation X-linked" and describes the process of crosslinking thermoplastic polymers by means of electron beams. HUBER+SUHNER has used this in-house technology successfully since the 1970s to achieve notable improvements in the thermal, mechanical and chemical properties of the cable insulation material.

RADOX® cables do not melt, possess better abrasion resistance and greater cut resistance than conventional cables and, even with thinner insulation, are much more resistant to various environmental factors. With the recent addition of a fire-resistant cable, the RADOX® cable family provides the offshore industry with a reliable technology that is straightforward to use.

Aside from its extensive electrical cable portfolio, HUBER+SUHNER also has a wide range of fibre optic connectivity solutions for indoor and outdoor connectivity. This technology, designed for the most challenging environments, is ideally suited for monitoring and control, as well as sensor applications on offshore platforms.

A highlight of the HUBER+SUHNER fibre optic portfolio are the Q-ODC®-12 fiber optic connectors. These connectors achieve outstanding results in rigorous industry testing to ensure their durability and performance under extreme outdoor conditions. For example, the connectors endured 30 days submersion in over three meters of water and passed extended IP68 testing.

The Q-ODC®-12 fiber optic connectors have also been subjected to stringent vibration testing without suffering any performance loss, as well as hundreds of mating cycles. This solution and others will also be showcased at the OGA event on booth 2712, alongside the HUBER+SUHNER RADOX® products.