Tracerco announces a live demonstration of Discovery™ during OTC

Tracerco, part of the FTSE100, Johnson Matthey Plc, will hold a live demonstration of the brand new version of Discovery™, developed for ultra-deepwater applications, on May 7th and 8th at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston.

Delegates are invited to witness a full underwater demonstration of Tracerco’s game-changing subsea technology, Discovery™, including a tour of NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) facility, which contains a complete mock-up of the international space station used to train astronauts. The demonstrations will be held between 5:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on 7th and 8th May and delegates can register to attend at http://info.tracerco.com/discovery-subsea-nasa-houston

Launched last year, Discovery™ is a major breakthrough in subsea pipeline inspection. For the first time, oil & gas companies can non-intrusively inspect complex subsea flowlines (including pipe in pipe, risers and pipe bundles) for both flow assurance issues and integrity flaws from the outside of the pipe without removing any protective or insulation coatings.

Discovery™ was developed in direct response to oil companies’ needs. It has the unique ability to take a 360 degree tomographic scan image of pipeline contents and wall conditions. Until now this has not been possible without first removing the protective coating on pipelines to permit conventional inspection techniques. The tomographic scan image produced by Discovery™ is accurate to nearly a millimetre radial resolution, more accurate than anything currently on the market for non-intrusive coated pipeline inspection, with the additional advantage of zero interruption to pipeline operation. Discovery™ can inspect any subsea flow line within its diameter range regardless of design complexity (e.g. pipe in pipe) without any risk of damage to the pipe.

The latest version allows Discovery™ to inspect pipelines at depths up to 10,000 ft and is fitted with a crawler mechanism to propel the scanner along the pipeline taking lateral measurements at multiple positions. Further refinements to the tomographic images are under development, bringing enhanced clarity to output data. Tracerco received investment from a major Gulf of Mexico based oil company in order to assist with development work on the already impressive technology.

Those who can’t attend the live demonstration are invited to register for on demand video footage from the event at http://info.tracerco.com/cant-make-the-live-event. The video content will include underwater video of Discovery demonstrating its unique capabilities as well as an overview of the presentations from lead inventor Emanuele Ronchi who has lead the development from concept to creation and Head of Subsea Services Lee Robins responsible for commercial and operational delivery of the project.

Lee Robins, of Tracerco said, “We are delighted to be able to offer delegates the chance to see a live demonstration of Discovery™ and to bring the ultra-deep water application to Houston, a major hub for oil companies responsible for deep water pipelines.”

Lee added, “As a unique product, we have already seen an unprecedented amount of interest in the technology. Testament to the quality of the instrument we have today is involvement with from a major oil company to develop the ultra-deep-water version. We are thrilled to be working with them on an even more impressive version of the already unique technology.”

Unlike alternative technologies such as ultrasonic and pulsed eddy current, Discovery is a more cost-effective way to provide operators assurance of the integrity of unpiggable coated pipelines as it eliminates the risk of corrosion when removing and reapplying coating.