The submersible motor pumps made by Andritz Ritz in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany, meet the world's most stringent certification standards. A contract for a platform in Vietnam is perfect for showcasing the company's competence.

Andritz Ritz has been contrac-ted to install water-supply pumps on an oil platform in Vietnam. The project is the result of a reorganization within the company to create a separate business unit for offshore services. Submersible motor pumps from Andritz Ritz boast the highest quality standards and deliver the ultimate in reliability. They also have a long track record in fulfilling the exacting criteria placed on them by customers and certification authorities, year in and year out, all over the world. Thanks to their design, these pumps create an extremely valuable commodity on platforms everywhere: space!

"Space on the deck is the most valuable thing you can have on a drilling or wellhead platform," remarks Günther Reichl, area manager for Southeast Asia at Andritz Ritz. "Our submersible motor pumps are designed with all the technology submerged in the water, so we can bring up water without taking up space on deck," he continues. The pump experts at Andritz Ritz have been providing the challenging offshore sector with solutions for years. A recent restructuring has rolled the company's experience and expertise into a strategic business unit called Offshore.

Thomas Wagner, head of business development, explains the thinking behind this move: "Given our experience in fitting over 30 drilling and wellhead platforms around the world, we want to drive our growth in this area and show our customers all over the world that we're capable of delivering the insight and first-rate technical solutions they need." The company's long list of clients boasts many leading industry names including Chevron, Petrobras, Schlumberger and Total.

Downtime costs hundreds of thousands of euros per day Petrovietnam, a Vietnamese oil company, recently commissioned Andritz Ritz to install three SU 16-500 4-pole submersible motor pumps to convey service water to the platform. The ocean water is primarily used to cool the array of machines and equipment on the deck. Installed in the platform's columns, each of these submersible motor pumps transports a volume of 500 m3/h x 67 m at its operating point using tried-and-tested underwater technology.

The 4-pole submersible motors are designed for rough offshore environments and deliver 145 kW at 1,755 rpm. To help the motors cope with the extreme thermal and mechanical demands, the winding is insulated with PE2/PA, which can withstand greater temperature extremes than conventional PVC. The casing material also needs to be especially sturdy - and 100% waterproof when in the ocean. This is why Andritz Ritz places its trust in nickel-aluminum bronze, a tried-and-tested aluminum bronze alloy known for its especially long service life in ocean environments.

The aim of all this hard work is to guarantee the flawless reliability that maintenance-free submersible motor pumps from Andritz Ritz are known for. "Lower it, switch it on and forget it's even there - that's what we like to tell customers when they ask what makes our pumps so special," asserts Reichl. "And they definitely agree." This is an important factor for platform operators. Given the overall investment in building a platform, submersible motor pumps are "a C item in terms of price, but in terms of functionality, they're an A item," remarks Reichl. If the pump fails, all machines and equipment on the platform come to a standstill - and no value is generated. "Depending on the platform, costs caused by downtime can quickly amount to hundreds of thousands of euros per day," continues Reichl.

Andritz Ritz solutions create valuable space Electricity is supplied to the motors by means of incredibly resilient 130m long submersible cables. These are then connected to the motor using new subsea cable connector plugs, which are flexible and 100% waterproof. So users can quickly and easily separate the motor from its power supply by simply unplugging. On deck, the cable only needs to be hooked up to the electricity supply. Unlike other kinds of pump technology in which the motor is above water and installed on the platform, Andritz Ritz pumps do not require a pumping station. This frees up space for more important processes - and that's greatly appreciated on deck.

Source: ANDRITZ Ritz GmbH

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