Fluids Handling

Amarinth extends pump lifespans with rotatable bare shaft strategy

Amarinth 6 minutes ago

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Amarinth has expanded its lifecycle asset management offering with a rotatable bare shaft pump programme designed to help oil and gas operators extend the service life of critical centrifugal pumps in demanding offshore and onshore applications.

The strategy provides operators with a plug-and-play alternative to complete pump replacement, using strategically held bare shaft pump assemblies that can be rapidly installed during planned maintenance windows.

The approach is intended to reduce lead times, limit disruption and avoid the capital expenditure and plant modifications often associated with replacing complete pump units.

Amarinth has engineering experience across offshore and onshore oil and gas, nuclear and renewable energy generation, defence, desalination and process and industrial applications.

Managing pump wear in mature oil and gas fields

As oil and gas fields mature, operating conditions can change significantly over the lifetime of an installation. Increased sand entrainment and more aggressive produced fluids can accelerate erosive wear in process pumps, potentially affecting equipment reliability and increasing maintenance requirements.

For offshore facilities in particular, replacing an entire pump can involve considerable engineering and logistical challenges. Complete pump replacements may require significant capital expenditure as well as modifications to structural supports, pipework and associated equipment.

Such work can also result in extended maintenance outages and reduced production availability.

Amarinth’s rotatable bare shaft strategy is designed to provide an alternative for operators looking to maintain ageing pump assets while minimising disruption to operations.

Rotatable pump spares provide a maintenance loop

The system is based on maintaining strategic bare shaft pump assemblies as ready-to-use spares.

When an installed pump reaches a condition where replacement is required, the bare shaft assembly can be installed during a maintenance window. The removed pump is then returned to Amarinth for detailed inspection and refurbishment before being returned to the customer’s strategic spares inventory.

The refurbishment process includes a complete strip-down, non-destructive testing and inspection reporting followed by OEM refurbishment.

This creates a continuous rotation of pump assemblies between the operating asset, the customer’s spare stock and Amarinth’s engineering facilities.

The approach can allow operators to maintain a ready supply of refurbished pump assemblies without having to purchase complete replacement pumps each time an installed unit reaches the end of its useful service condition.

Glen Lyon FPSO demonstrates rotatable pump strategy

The technical and commercial application of the lifecycle model has been demonstrated through a contract from a North Sea operator of the Glen Lyon Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.

The Glen Lyon is located approximately 110 miles west of Shetland in the North Atlantic Ocean and serves as the central offshore processing hub for the Quad 204 redevelopment, covering the Schiehallion and Loyal fields.

Amarinth originally supplied bespoke API 610 OH2 centrifugal pumps for the FPSO in 2012. The pumps were used in produced water treatment and reservoir pressure maintenance re-injection packages.

The original pump architecture has operated under demanding deepwater conditions. However, as field life has progressed, increased sand ingress within the produced stream has resulted in more severe erosion.

Rather than replacing the complete pumps or undertaking major modifications to the FPSO, the operator contracted Amarinth to supply two new bare shaft API 610 OH2 pumps.

These pumps establish a rotatable maintenance loop intended to provide greater flexibility when managing pump wear.

Reusing existing pump maintenance spares

An important part of the project was the integration of the operator’s existing maintenance spare inventory into the new pump assemblies.

The operator supplied existing warehouse stock, including mechanical seals and couplings, for incorporation into the new bare shaft pumps. This allowed usable components already held within the operator’s inventory to be utilised rather than replaced unnecessarily.

Amarinth carried out comprehensive quality inspections on the client-supplied components. Degraded wear components, including gaskets and secondary seals, were replaced to ensure the completed assemblies met OEM requirements and provided the required performance and operating reliability.

This approach combines pump refurbishment with existing spare-parts management, helping operators extract further value from inventory already held on site.

Reducing pump replacement downtime

Following the successful implementation of the initial project, the operator returned to Amarinth to extend the rotatable bare shaft pump strategy to additional pumps.

The approach provides a structured way of managing centrifugal pump assets where operating conditions have changed during the life of a field.

For offshore operators, having a prepared replacement assembly available can be particularly valuable when access to equipment is constrained and maintenance opportunities are limited.

Rather than waiting for a replacement pump to be manufactured following equipment failure or severe wear, a strategically held bare shaft assembly can provide an established route to replacement.

The removed assembly can then enter the refurbishment cycle, allowing the spare inventory to be replenished.

Circular engineering for centrifugal pumps

The rotatable pump strategy also provides a means of incorporating circular engineering principles into pump lifecycle management.

Instead of treating an ageing pump as an asset that must simply be replaced, the approach combines inspection, refurbishment, reuse and strategic spare management to extend the useful life of existing equipment.

Oliver Brigginshaw, Managing Director of Amarinth, commented:

“Operators worldwide are balancing the need to extend the economic life of offshore assets with intense pressure to control operating expenditure and lower lifecycle emissions. The challenges experienced on the Glen Lyon FPSO for example, where changing fluid compositions introduced severe sand erosion years into the equipment design life, are common across the global energy and process sectors. Our bare shaft supply and circular refurbishment programme gives operators a structured, low-risk mechanism to manage asset integrity. By rotating bare shaft assemblies and recertifying client-held spares inventory, operators can maintain uncompromised process uptime under severe conditions while extracting full economic value from existing assets. This approach proves that sustainable, circular engineering and operational resilience can go hand in hand across multi-decade operating lifecycles.”

The model can therefore address several aspects of pump lifecycle management simultaneously, including equipment availability, maintenance planning, spare-parts utilisation and the extension of existing asset life.

API 610 and ISO 5199 pump refurbishment

Amarinth’s rotatable bare shaft pump and re-engineering service is available across its portfolio of API 610 and ISO 5199 centrifugal pumps.

The service can also be applied to many obsolete or third-party legacy pump installations where hydraulic or dimensional interchangeability is required.

This gives operators with ageing pump fleets an option for managing equipment that may otherwise be approaching replacement while retaining compatibility with existing plant configurations.

For mature offshore and onshore assets, where changing process conditions can accelerate equipment wear, the rotatable bare shaft strategy provides a way to combine planned maintenance with pump refurbishment and strategic spare management.

For further information contact:

Alex Brigginshaw
Tel: +44 (0)1394 462131
Alex.Brigginshaw@Amarinth.com
www.Amarinth.com

Contact Details

Amarinth Ltd

01394462120
enquiries@amarinth.com
http://www.amarinth.com
Bentwaters Parks, Rendlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 2TW GB

About us

Amarinth is a world-leading company specialising in the design, application and manufacture of centrifugal pumps and associated equipment to the offshore and onshore oil and gas exploration, production and refining industry, petrochemical, chemical and industrial markets.

We provide engineered-to-order solutions on the shortest lead times in the industry, often manufactured in exotic materials, and customised to fit your exact requirements according to the highest international industry standards, including API 610 and ISO 5199. Combining our depth of experience in the manufacture and supply of pumps and spares with our dedication to customer-oriented solutions, our aim is to deliver innovative products and services that help you meet and exceed your business goals.

From our design and manufacturing headquarters in the United Kingdom, we provide support to our clients throughout Europe, the Middle-East and Asia and our engineering expertise is often deployed into the furthest corners of the world to assist with the installation and commissioning of our products. Furthermore, we have fostered strong relationships with specialist organisations within these regions to provide additional in-country services to best meet our customers’ needs.

Where we supply to

Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, North America

Industries we supply to

Automation, Chemicals, Consultants, Components Electronics, Energy and Power, Food and Beverage, Glass Ceramics Cement, Metals and Minerals, OEM, Paper and Pulp, Pharmaceutical Cosmetics Toiletries, Plastics and Rubber, Recycling, Textiles, Tobacco, Water and Wastewater