Monitoring of flexible oil lines using FBG sensors

Abstract

Thorough the last two decades, oil and gas reservoirs discovered and developed in deep and ultra deep waters have continuously posed challenges to petroleum exploration and production activities in offshore basins. Maintaining optimum flow rates of oil and gas from subsea wellheads to surface processing facilities demands new technological solutions for petroleum companies operating in such frontiers. Integrity assurance of structures, equipment, and flow lines plays a major role in maximizing offshore production systems availability while at the same time keeping safety, operational, and environmental risks at minimum levels. In this scenario, implementation of permanent health monitoring solutions must take into account the environment of oil and gas production facilities, where installations in hazardous classified areas require explosion and fire-proof instrumentation. In this context, optical fiber sensors offer an attractive alternative to electrical sensing technologies, which, until now, have been the primary choice by maintenance personnel at offshore production units.