Shell Oil Co. Includes Enviropeel in Recommendations for Maintenance

The white paper ‘Ageing Infrastructure is an illustration of the dramatic effects that corrosion has had over the years on this platform and highlights the difficulties for operators of facilities that may spend many more years in production than originally planned.

The first photo shows the condition of the substrates on the platform at the time of the application in – it is easy to see how difficult it would be to address these corrosion problems using conventional methods. Blasting and painting would not be enough and, at best, provide a temporary cosmetic solution.

To do the job properly, a minimum requirement would be replacing all the nuts and bolts most of which would require cutting to remove them, and who knows what else.

Inspiration versus degradation

Some of the wellheads were selected for protection using Enviropeel. It seemed like a good idea at the time and now, six years later, it seems to have been inspired.

A senior corrosion engineer from the operator visited the unmanned platform to see how Enviropeel had performed.

His internal report highlighted the degradation of unprotected areas compared with those protected with Enviropeel and concluded: 

… the 2010 application of Enviropeel has, in the writers opinion arrested the corrosion of the flanges examined during the visit. The encapsulation properties of the Enviropeel product has performed as expected in preventing moisture ingress and further corrosion.

At the time, we guaranteed that protection for the substrates would last a minimum of 10 years, a claim which met with some skepticism, given the challenges of the substrate and its environment.

Now, it looks like we underestimated our own abilities. The Enviropeel applications, although weathered and dirty, were unaffected by the years of exposure and will certainly outlast the requirements of the platform.

This report has now been incorporated by Shell into its recommendations for maintenance purposes in atmospheric conditions.

Test applications for Shell in the North Sea overview:

1. The Enviropeel coating system is a suitable surface tolerant coating system for maintenance purposes for atmospheric exposure conditions.

2. Minimum surface preparation is required before application of Enviropeel. It is recommended to have a minimum St 2 surface cleanliness.

3. The Enviropeel coating system can provide a reactive solution to existing corrosion problems on assets, with long-term active effects. Based on track records and long-term testing, the expected lifetime prediction for the coating system is 10 years.