The tool helps companies design and engineer thermoplastic composite pipes. (Image source: Strohm)

Strohm, a leading provider of Thermoplastic Composite Pipes (TCP), has launched TCP Designer, a web-based tool designed to help companies design and engineer thermoplastic composite pipes for their projects

TCP Designer streamlines the complex process of pipeline design and engineering during the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage of projects, enabling engineers to evaluate the suitability of TCP for various applications quickly and accurately. With a user-friendly interface and robust computational capabilities, users can customise pipe design to match specific project needs and environmental conditions.

The online tool helps users ensure their piping systems meet critical requirements for water depth, pressure, temperature, and means of installation – all in one seamless experience. By inputting project-specific specifications, users can instantly generate datasheets with key parameters such as size, weight, stiffness, and minimum bend radius, enabling them to easily and quickly assess factors such as installation feasibility and in-place analysis. For instance, a user can quickly assess the wide range of vessels available to install the lightweight TCP in any water depth.

Supporting the adoption of TCP solutions

The tool simplifies decision-making, reduces design iteration time, and supports the adoption of cost-effective, lightweight, and corrosion-resistant TCP solutions in energy infrastructure, and other industrial projects.

Martin van Onna, CEO of Strohm, commented, "While there is a plethora of information about designing and engineering steel pipes, the same cannot be said for composite pipes. Strohm has an extensive track record, both offshore and onshore, but there is still a degree of hesitation in the industry due to a lack of information about TCP’s capabilities and potential.

“We want to empower our clients, but also engineering houses around the world, by providing the right tools to simplify complex challenges. TCP Designer allows users the independence to design their own piping systems that align perfectly with their project requirements, with the confidence that Strohm’s engineering department is a phone call away if they’d like to discuss specific projects.”

TCP is gaining currency in the oil and gas industry due to its corrosion resistance, spoolability and lightweight nature. Strohm was earlier this month awarded a contract to supply 33 km of its TCP flowline for Saudi Aramco’s Fadhili gas plant in Saudi Arabia. The contract was awarded following material selection studies conducted by Saudi Aramco and its engineering partner KBR, which showed that TCP was the most suitable solution for the flowline, due to its demonstrated fluid compatibility, high qualification standards, lack of corrosion, and low carbon footprint.

The LOOP unit is a dual-purpose innovation. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

ADNOC Gas, in partnership with Baker Hughes, has installed British climate technology firm Levidian’s patented LOOP technology at the Habshan Gas Processing Plant

The installation will help capture carbon from methane to transform it into graphene, a material set to shape the future of multiple industrial applications.

The LOOP unit is capable of producing more than 1 tonne per annum (tpa) of graphene and 1 tpa of hydrogen, making it a dual-purpose innovation aligned with global energy transition goals. Future industrial-scale installations are expected to deliver 15 tpa.

Driving decarbonisation

Mohamed Al Hashemi, Chief Operations Officer of ADNOC Gas, said, "The deployment of LOOP technology is a significant milestone for ADNOC Gas. By transforming methane into valuable graphene and clean hydrogen, we are unlocking new value from natural gas, driving decarbonisation and supporting the UAE’s industrial growth and climate ambitions. This project reflects our dedication to shaping a more sustainable energy future while delivering tangible benefits for the industries we serve."

“This project demonstrates once more how the collaboration between Baker Hughes and ADNOC Gas unlocks the potential of new decarbonisation technologies,” said Alessandro Bresciani, senior vice president Climate Technology Solutions at Baker Hughes. “Bringing innovation from startups and research labs into the reality of complex industrial sites requires technical skills and the highest level of collaboration and focus on health, safety and environment. We are delighted to have brought Levidian's technology into ADNOC Gas’ Habshan plant, as part of our company’s long-term focus in bringing to market and scaling up innovative solutions for our customers."

John Hartley, CEO of Levidian, commented, “We’re seeing huge appetite within the market for our graphene and are excited to be working with Baker Hughes and ADNOC to unlock a new source of this super-material, which will help establish Levidian as one of the world’s largest producers of graphene that is less carbon intensive, more affordable and of a consistently higher quality than anything available on the market today."

The 90-day proof-of-concept trial demonstrated ENERGYai’s agentic AI. (Image source: AIQ)

ADNOC and AIQ has announced proof-of-concept trial of ENERGYai, a novel agentic artificial intelligence (AI) solution tailored for the energy sector

ENERGYai integrates a 70-billion-parameter large language model (LLM) with more than 50 years of ADNOC’s knowledge and petabytes of its proprietary data to drive optimisation and efficiency across the company’s operations.

The 90-day proof-of-concept trial demonstrated that ENERGYai’s agentic AI – AI ‘agents’ that are trained in specific tasks across the energy value chain – can deliver significant improvements in the pace and accuracy of upstream exploration through rapid, precise and detailed seismic survey analysis, alongside relevant, actionable insights to support production optimization at ADNOC’s existing wells. ENERGYai was able to deliver its insights in intuitive natural language, enabling engineers to interact with it effectively and easily.

Sustainable energy production

Musabbeh Al Kaabi, ADNOC Upstream CEO, said, "The successful completion of this proof of concept for ENERGYai has shown extremely promising results, and has confirmed the potential of the solution to be a powerhouse for value creation and sustainable energy production. Building on this initial achievement, ENERGYai will leverage petabytes of data to better empower our people and future-proof ADNOC, as we work to become the world’s most AI-enabled energy company."

Magzhan Kenesbai, Acting Managing Director of AIQ said, “This milestone was made possible through close alignment between ADNOC subject matter experts, the expertise of 100+ specialists, and the establishment of robust and secure AI infrastructure. These factors lay the foundation for even greater accomplishments in the forthcoming phases.”

Virtual reality has emerged as a cost-effective option. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Industry leaders such as Shell, and ExxonMobil are using VR simulations to train their employees in critical operations. This provides a highly safe and cost-efficient approach to introduce personnel to a new facility in both offshore and onshore terrains, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData has released its strategic intelligence report, titled, 'Virtual Reality in Oil and Gas' that looks into areas of application of virtual reality in the industry, from rigs and pipelines to refineries. Oil and companies are now investing on training modules for the workforce and visualising the asset under consideration for planning and decision making.

Ravindra Puranik, Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, said, "VR enhances the operational safety through immersive training programmes. It can help develop safety procedures at production facilities to address smaller accidents as well as for emergency response."

Leading oil and gas companies such as Shell, bp, Chevron, and ExxonMobil, have adopted VR to train as well as aid regular workflows in operations. It offers a cost-effective means to acclimatise the workforce to various environments through immersive training programmes. It also offers safe environment for the workforce to understand the workflows by participating in virtual walk-throughs, without being in proximity of heavy industrial equipment.

Puranik continues, “Industry technicians work in hazardous environments, such as offshore rigs or at a densely packed equipment maze in a refinery. VR can be used to relay important information and instructions to the technician onsite, without the need to fly out experts to that location or carrying detailed instruction manuals for referencing.”

VR plays a key role in the digital twin set up, helping companies recreate scenarios through detailed simulations. During planning and development, the collaborating teams can share information using VR to simulate various scenarios. It is useful in optimizing equipment performance and maximizing the asset life. Digital twins help to design workflows and identify bottlenecks to optimize a plant’s performance. Twins also help to create a 3D visualization of the seismic data using VR simulations.

Puranik concludes: “Various aspects of a production platform can be modeled through VR simulations to enhance the understanding of personnel for on-field tasks. They can simulate the processes using VR before implementing on the operational floor. It thus reduces the scope for human errors during critical operations. Besides, designers and engineers can better visualize the layout under development using VR technology. This can potentially help to improve designs, and carefully plan its execution to optimize the project costs.”