Page 16: of Marine Technology Magazine (April 2011)

WOW! What a wild ride the past few years have been for those of us in the oil and gas industry, the economy tanking, price of oil plummeting, and a terrible oil disaster in the Gulf of

Mexico. But given these occurrences let’s look at what has come out of it all; a demand for more stringent safe- ty guidelines, a movement to save money and a quest for more efficient solutions. ULO Systems LLC is a company with over 45 years of expe- rience in providing safe, economically efficient engineered solutions for: • Pipeline, cable, and umbilical support, stabilization, and protec- tion utilizing fabric formwork and precast concrete mattress solutions • Structural grouting for installa- tion or repair and strengthening of offshore structures, including oil and gas platforms and windturbines.

Fabric formwork solutions can pro- vide the potential for hundreds of thousands of dollars in overall instal- lation costs for offshore fields and pipelines. The equipment footprint and fabric forms require much less deck space and very little crane capac- ity allowing smaller vessels to be uti- lized for installation, thus the dayrates are lower and ULO’s efficiency in installing fabric forms is quicker and more efficient than other alternatives, i.e. standard concrete mats and/or rock dumping. Additionally, long term maintenance costs are reduced based on ULO’s track record of never having to replace a fabric formwork as they do not shift or topple due to cur- rents and fishing activity.

ULO Systems is a leader in struc- tural grouting of new or existing plat- forms. It is imperative in today’s eco- nomic layout that companies look at ways to extend the life and usefulness of their current assets. ULO has the ability in-house to design solutions that will repair and/or strengthen existing offshore structures resulting in a longer design life and therefore allow revenue producing activity beyond its original lifecycle. This is essential as the number of existing platforms that are reaching their orig- inal design life is increasing and in need of repair and strengthening.

ULO Systems accomplishes this in many ways including split sleeve grouted clamps, member/leg infilling, conductor strengthening, reinstate- ment of collapsed tubular, and leak sealing and/or repair and reinstate- ment of corroded pipes or caissons to name a few.

ULO Systems also offers specifically engineered precast concrete mattress solutions that are designed in-house to the client’s exact specifications.

ULO concrete mattresses can be shipped directly to the desired loca- tion (mobilization port) in ‘kit’ form reducing handling and transport costs. They are then assembled and cast utilizing local content under

ULO supervision to ensure QA/QC.

The final step is to load them on the transport and/or installation vessel and proceed to the project work site.

ULO Systems takes great pride in our work and look to engineer solu- tions for our clients that are safe, cost effective, and efficient. We look at the best interests of all parties that are involved and design accordingly.

Over the past 10 years ULO Systems has executed well over 300 projects with zero lost time incidents, a track record that we are proud to share.

Adding to our safety success is that fabric formworks are user friendly stitched textile that significantly increases the safety for divers as they are lightweight and pliable compared to a concrete mattress swinging in the currents on a crane. Furthermore, our offshore Party Chiefs have a min- imum of 25 years experience and work extremely effectively with the dive superintendants and/or ROV operators during the installation process. Efficiency IS the name of the game and ULO Systems LLC offers solutions that can keep your new and existing assets working for you for many years to come. All of our tech- nical proposals are engineered solu- tions performed in-house at no cost to our clients. We ask for all compa- nies in the oil & gas and alternative energy markets to allow us to provide an engineered solution for your proj- ect that can have long lasting eco- nomic and practical effects. www.ulosystems.com 16 MTR April 2011

Subsea Contruction

The Quest for Efficiency

By Jay Stittleburg, Area Manager (Americas) at ULO Systems LLC