A system for grit blasting an annular junction portion of a pipeline extending along a longitudinal axis on board a laying vessel, comprises at least one carriage configured to advance along an annular path about the pipeline; at least one centrifugal turbine, which is configured to project grit towards the pipeline, rotates about a rotation axis lying on a plane orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and is supported by the carriage; at least one feed device configured to feed the grit to the centrifugal turbine and comprising a hopper which extends along a respective axis, defines a feed chamber and is coupled to the respective carriage and a guide device configured to act in conjunction with the hopper to feed the grit to the centrifugal turbine at all the operating positions of the carriage.

A pipeline bundle for a riser tower or tie-back is manufactured offshore by suspending the bundle from an installation vessel, adding structural core sections successively to an upper end of the suspended bundle, lowering the bundle after adding each successive core section, and feeding one or more lengths of flowline pipe beside the core sections for incorporation into the bundle. The flowline pipe is coiled on a reel or carousel as a full-length piece before being uncoiled progressively as core sections are added to the lengthening bundle. The flowline pipe is then engaged with guide frames and/or buoyancy blocks supported by the core sections, by movement in a radially-inward direction through a radially-outer opening in a retainer formation. The opening is then closed to hold the flowline pipe in the retainer formation.

A device for jointing elements of a pipeline for the transport of fluids includes a support structure on which a pipeline section to be jointed is intended to be mounted, two parallel fixed rails, four plates each comprising a first element capable of cooperating with a rail and a second element fixed on the support structure. The first and the second elements of each plate is linked by a first cylinder aligned along a first adjustment axis and a second cylinder aligned along a second adjustment axis, and a system for controlling the cylinders of the plates to achieve movements along the first and second adjustment axes and capable of cooperating with a system for guiding in translation the support structure along the longitudinal axis of the pipeline section to allow jointing of the pipeline section and the pipeline element.

A subsea pipeline (14) has a friction-reducing outer coating, treatment or finish (30) that extends along discrete regions mutually spaced along the length of the pipeline. During laying, curvature is imparted to the pipeline (14) along its length, for example by the residual curvature method or by snake-lay, to create expansion loops (26) of increased curvature relative to intermediate portions (28) of the pipeline (14) that join those loops (26). Each of the loops (26) is coincident with a respective one of the regions that bear the friction-reducing outer coating, treatment or finish (30). This facilitates lateral movement of the loops (26) relative to the seabed (16) to mitigate and control buckling in use of the pipeline (14).

Aspects of the present disclosure relates to methods of making a hybrid mechanically lined pipe, and apparatus thereof, such as lined pipe used for reeled pipe operations. In one implementation, a method of making a lined pipe for reeled pipe operations includes determining a minimum weld overlay length for a first pipe joint, and providing the first pipe joint. The first pipe joint includes a first end opposite of a second end, a central opening, and an inner surface. The method includes mechanically lining the inner surface of the first pipe joint with a first section of alloy. The method also includes weld overlaying a second section of alloy and a third section of alloy in the central opening and on both sides of the first section of alloy over the minimum weld overlay length to prevent excessive deformation of the mechanically bonded section during reeling operations.

A method of aligning first and second pipes end-to-end in a position ready for welding. Each pipe has an end bevelled with a shape scanned and stored in memory of a control unit. At least one of the pipes has machine readable codes distributed around their circumference of the pipe. The method includes effecting relative movement of the ends of the first and second pipes towards each other, reading at least one of the codes with a reader, and ascertaining the relative movement required to align the pipes in accordance with a target orientation. The relative movement is ascertained with information provided by the read code and the shapes of the bevelled ends stored in the control unit memory. In other aspects, a closed loop control method and machine-learning may be used to align the pipes. A pipe-laying vessel including pipe handling equipment and the control unit is also provided.

A method of converting a subsea laying system of a surface vessel from a laying mode to an abandonment or recovery mode Includes clamping at least one tubular sleeve in at least one clamp of the laying system. A winch wire can then run longitudinally through the or each clamped sleeve when suspending an elongate subsea element such as a pipe string during abandonment or recovery operations. The sleeve protects gripping pads of the clamp from damage due to dashing with the wire and so makes it unnecessary to remove the pads in preparation for abandonment or recovery.

Aspects of the present disclosure relates to methods of making a hybrid mechanically lined pipe, and apparatus thereof, such as lined pipe used for reeled pipe operations. In one implementation, a method of making a lined pipe for reeled pipe operations includes determining a minimum weld overlay length for a first pipe joint, and providing the first pipe joint. The first pipe joint includes a first end opposite of a second end, a central opening, and an inner surface. The method includes mechanically lining the inner surface of the first pipe joint with a first section of alloy. The method also includes weld overlaying a second section of alloy and a third section of alloy in the central opening and on both sides of the first section of alloy over the minimum weld overlay length to prevent excessive deformation of the mechanically bonded section during reeling operations.

The disclosure provides a pipe-laying vessel including a pipe-laying tower extending upwardly from the vessel, and the vessel includes at least three separate workstations spaced apart along the length of the tower. The disclosure also provides a pipe-laying vessel including a pipe-laying tower extending upwardly from the vessel, and the vessel includes at least two clamping assemblies for clamping a pipeline, the clamping assemblies being mounted along the length of the tower, and at least one workstation mounted on the tower. The workstation is mounted on the tower below a lowermost clamping assembly. The disclosure also provides a method of J-laying pipeline from a vessel, a method of abandoning a product from a vessel, and a method of recovering a previously abandoned product to a vessel.

A pipeline bundle for a riser tower or tie-back is manufactured offshore by suspending the bundle from an installation vessel, adding structural core sections successively to an upper end of the suspended bundle, lowering the bundle after adding each successive core section, and feeding one or more lengths of flowline pipe beside the core sections for incorporation into the bundle. The flowline pipe is coiled on a reel or carousel as a full-length piece before being uncoiled progressively as core sections are added to the lengthening bundle. The flowline pipe is then engaged with guide frames and/or buoyancy blocks supported by the core sections, by movement in a radially-inward direction through a radially-outer opening in a retainer formation. The opening is then closed to hold the flowline pipe in the retainer formation.