Oil and gas leaders highlight cost and conservation at Humber conference
Jacques Berghorst (rear) of Dunlop Oil & Marine at The Deep in Hull with guests (from left) Adam Brown, Daniel Okoye, Saifulbahari Abdul Hamid, Deonarine Nanan and Lewis Sanderman.
A GLOBAL leader in the manufacture of hoses for the oil and gas industry underlined its commitment to costs and environmental concerns as it welcomed delegates from around the world to a technical conference which included a tour of The Deep.
Dunlop Oil & Marine Ltd, part of Continental AG, told delegates how they make high-tech hoses which are more durable and robust at their factory in Grimsby.
Jacques Berghorst, Sales & Marketing Manager at the Grimsby site, said: “The Tetney Monobuoy, which transfers crude oil from tankers in the Humber to a refinery at Immingham, is the first in the world to use sensors based on technology developed by Dunlop Oil & Marine’s engineers to monitor location and behaviour of the hoses in the water.
“We had developed double carcass hoses in the 1970s as a safeguard against leaks and the newest technology is smart hoses. The future is about getting information about the hoses straight to your work station from a cloud-based portal, telling you how long it will be before the hose needs to be replaced. By knowing when we need to order a new one, we have less down time and that reduces costs.”
Dunlop Oil & Marine supplies around 40 per cent of the international market and is recognised as the leader in innovation making submarine hoses, floating hoses, hoses for large reels on vessels and mid-air hoses. Its 46th annual conference took place at the DoubleTree Forest Pines Resort and at The Deep, with more than 100 delegates from 37 countries also visiting the factory in Grimsby.
Kam Zandiyeh, General Manager of Dunlop Oil & Marine, has attended 30 of the conferences and has seen the invitation-only event become a key date for the industry.
He said: “We have operators, suppliers, contractors, research institutes and potential future clients. It has become a forum where they can learn from us and among themselves, learning from best practice to improve the industry.
“It’s important that the quality of our product is absolutely right because if the hoses fail they could cause pollution. We have direct responsibility to improve the quality of the product and to offer solutions to contain the oil in the event of a leak.”
Jacques added: “Each hose has to be tailor made, specifically designed and built for the location and the sea conditions allowing for temperature, sun radiation, things that age rubber.
“A lot of the clients were visiting our factory for the first time. Their activities vary from operating oil terminals to manufacturing buoys. When they do a new installation, they include the hoses and they buy them from us. Our guest speakers outlined their experiences and their challenges. One from Canada told us about very rough sea conditions and another from Houston talked about ship to ship loading.
“The priorities are environmental concerns and cost. We can’t do anything about the price of oil, but we can help with the cost of the transfer of oil. We can help to extend the lifetime of the hoses. It is an expensive piece of capital equipment and every year you can extend the life you can save on boats and divers.”
