Keeping track of the joints

As part of the oil and gas industry’s drive to reduce hydrocarbon leaks, Hedley Purvis is finding increasing demand for its Joint Data Management System (JDMS) from major operators around the world.

JDMS manages the history of every critical bolted joint from manufacture through to its end of life, including identifying the technicians who have carried out fitting or repair work on the joint.

This latter aspect highlights where additional training may be necessary should faults occur, says the company, and is helping to raise standards of workmanship in this area.

The system is also tailored to take into account each customer’s individual project requirements such as linking into in-house documentation systems.

Already being applied retrospectively on existing platforms and refineries, JDMS is being implemented on the Buzzard platform, currently under construction for its operator Nexen Petroleum UK.

On the Buzzard project, data will be entered into the JDMS for all critical joints on the three Buzzard decks (wellhead, production and quarters/utilities).

The system has been tailored to link into the Buzzard data warehouse, which contains information on spools, gaskets, bolts, flanges and similar equipment.