Dutch pipeline manufacturer Airborne Oil & Gas has secured an undisclosed equity investment from Norway-based engineering company Aker Solutions.
Image: Aker Solutions acquires stake in Airborne Oil & Gas. Photo: courtesy of Airborne Oil & Gas.
Airborne Oil & Gas expects the investment from Aker Solutions to help it further consolidate, integrate and diversify its variety of thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP) solutions for the international subsea industry.
By acquiring the stake in the pipeline manufacturer, Aker Solutions joins other existing shareholders that include Chevron, Evonik, Saudi Aramco, Shell, Subsea 7, Sumitomo and HPE Growth Capital.
Founded in 1995, Airborne Oil & Gas went on to build a full-scale production site for TCP in Port of Amsterdam.
Airborne Oil & Gas CEO Oliver Kassam said: “Today’s announcement demonstrates the growing confidence and the long-term value our qualified and field proven thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP) technology can bring to the oil and gas industry.
“We have a very strong portfolio of organisations invested in the business and the addition of Aker Solutions is significant as there are several areas where we can optimise the benefits of TCP to offer the sector an enhanced range of integrated products, including subsea production solutions.”
The Dutch company said that the collaboration will see Aker Solutions using TCP solutions to enhance field development economics across the world. The two companies are expected to pursue synergies for collaborative manufacturing and production of the next generation of TCP solutions that will target deepwater developments.
According to the pipeline manufacturer, TCP is manufactured from a composite of fibers and polymers to make it flexible and spoolable with continuous lengths up to 4km and beyond. It further claimed that TCP has been shown to outperform steel and other pipeline materials as far as durability, corrosion resistance and total installation costs are concerned.
TCP is designed to withstand design pressures up to 15,000 psi/1,050 bar and temperatures up to 121˚C/250˚F. The pipe’s long length and low weight facilitate much quicker and cheaper installation, thereby giving scope for more options in the overall project development schedule, claimed Airborne Oil & Gas.
The current applications of TCP can be used for greenfield and also brownfield developments across all regions and water depths, said the company.
Aker Solutions chief technology officer John Macleod said: “At Aker Solutions, we constantly work to improve the performance and cost-efficiency of our technology and the materials we work with.
“Acquiring a stake in Airborne Oil & Gas positions Aker Solutions at the forefront in the development of next-generation pipeline materials. We are excited to work with Airborne to introduce existing and new applications of thermoplastic composite pipe solutions into our subsea portfolio.”