Mike Lavy (left) and Michael Grimm confirm their satisfaction at having delivered a great solution for Expro. When JDR Cable Systems needed to make a 1,500-metre control umbilical for the Expro Group, world market leader in subsea ball-valve technology, it went to the world market leader in high-performance multispiral, wire-reinforced hoses. JDR Cable Systems is a leading international designer and manufacturer of specialist subsea cables, hoses and umbilicals. Umbilicals, consisting of a bundle of hoses, electrical cables and other components, housed in a tough thermoplastic jacket, run from a surface installation platform down to a subsea wellhead, in the offshore production of oil and gas. These umbilicals must often be able to withstand very high pressures and temperatures, over several years, in tough, subsea conditions. They can also be very long. Parker has regularly supplied multispiral, wire-reinforced hoses to JDR for some years, from the Polyflex Division, in Germany. The Expro Group contract involved supplying a control umbilical with jumper, fully tested, flushed and certified, complete with re-termination tooling and spares, for the Boomvang subsea development project in the Gulf of Mexico. Boomvang project operations are handled by Kerr McGee, a major U.S. offshore contractor. The umbilical would contain 19 x 1/4” i.d. hoses and 1 x 3/8” i.d. hose with working pressures of 690 bar (10,000 psi), and require a minimum burst of 2,760 bar (40,000 psi). “The control umbilical is deployed to the wellhead within a marine riser,” explains JDR Design Engineer, Michael Grimm. “This may at times contain a high density completion fluid used to prevent an uncontrolled release of reservoir fluids after a well test. The unpressurised hoses within the umbilical provide an external collapse resistance of over 200 bar, withstanding the difference between the pressure head of the completion fluids and that of the hose fluids,” he adds. Parker Polyflex multispiral, wire-reinforced hoses were able to handle the high internal working pressures and high external collapse-resistance required for the project. “The technological demands of the offshore industry increase all the time,” says Mike Lavy, Parker Account Manager responsible for JDR Cable Systems. “Polyflex Division has the most advanced technology in the world for such applications, so we were able to deliver a superb product ahead of schedule. We also matched JDR’s quality assurance needs with early qualification testing and factory acceptance testing, ensuring they could deliver on time,” he explains. In fact, JDR Cable Systems, was accorded a 96 percent rating under the Expro Group vendor assessment system. “The rapid upsurge in oil and gas activity has put increasing pressure on our clients’ resources,” comments Paul Marsh, JDR Project Services Manager. “We see Parker as offering a service which not only supplies quality product on time but also works well with tight management control, good regular communication and a high standard of documentation. All these aspects are very important to JDR and the Expro Group,” he concludes. “With the need to produce oil and gas from wells in deeper waters, hoses now have to withstand more hostile environments, higher temperatures and aggressive chemicals, explains Graham Ford, Product Manager Offshore at Parker Polyflex. “Parker Polyflex meets the challenge using advanced materials and technology to produce thermoplastic hoses that meet these complex demands. The partnership between Parker and JDR is definitely set to continue in a spirit of great mutual respect,” he confirms.