BUREAU VERITAS STRENGTHENS OFFSHORE ENERGY ECOSYSTEM VIA AYOP MEMBERSHIP
Bureau Veritas, a globally operating B2B service provider in the field of testing, inspections and certification (TIC services), has joined Amsterdam IJmuiden Offshore Ports. “We are seeing a rapid increase in offshore activities with sustainable applications,” says Patrick Bakker, key account manager for industry at Bureau Veritas. “Bureau Veritas is involved in many of these projects as an independent party, including various in the North Sea Canal region. By joining AYOP, we hope to share our specialist knowledge in the early stages of a project and contribute to the companies, society and environment.”
The Bureau Veritas Group was established in Antwerp in 1828 and is currently active in over 140 countries with some 75,000 employees. With a head office in Paris, it has around 450 employees in the Netherlands working from Amersfoort, Groningen and Rotterdam. In total, Bureau Veritas has 1,600 offices and laboratories from which it serves approximately 400,000 clients worldwide with a turnover of €4.6 billion.
Bureau Veritas has been active in offshore activities since the start of oil & gas extraction from the North Sea, making it a familiar party to many AYOP members. The company has a wealth of experience and expertise in energy generation via wind – and more recently hydrogen – as well as pipelines, cables and offshore systems, at the new build, modification and decommissioning stages. This also applies to on and offshore energy production. In addition, Bureau Veritas and its clients are involved in the electrification of offshore platforms, future CO2 storage in abandoned gas fields (CCS) and the safety certification of these installations on the North Sea.
“Developments in offshore are moving fast,” says Bakker. “Due to the necessity of supplying sustainable and environmentally friendly energy, engineering firms, manufacturers and operators have to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions. While the safety of people and the environment obviously take priority, it’s also crucial to reduce lifecycle costs and maximise the availability of assets to make oil, gas or electricity affordable. We can play a role in all these processes.”
Q10 PLATFORM
An example of an offshore project in which Bureau Veritas took care of the full certification is the Q10 platform. With a weight of 500 tonnes and a 600-tonne jacket, Q10 was installed at a water depth of 21 metres in December 2018, some 24 kilometres off the coast of IJmuiden. Vessels from IJmuiden visit the platform for inspections and maintenance. Bureau Veritas also certified the pipeline of Q10a which has a length of 42 kilometres. The project was unique for its short throughput time, from the investment decision in January 2018 to the first gas production in February 2019.
CO2 STORAGE
Bureau Veritas is currently working on a project for carbon capture and storage in an abandoned offshore gas field. As an independent party, it is verifying the design and checking whether this complies with the necessary guidelines and legislation. In addition, Bureau Veritas is working on the certification of the offshore transformer stations for the Hollandse Kust North (and West A/B) wind farms off the coast of IJmuiden.
BROAD RANGE OF SERVICES
The services of Bureau Veritas go beyond the aforementioned projects alone and also include:
- Supporting innovative designs and technologies
- Supporting the development of new designs that save time and money while offering the best performance and quality. Bureau Veritas provides Approval in Principle, certification and classification of new designs, and the qualification of new technologies.
- Certification, Life Time Extension (LTE) and use of offshore platforms, pipelines and wind farms
- Certification of offshore production platforms and LTE
- Certification of offshore pipelines in accordance with NEN3656 and LTE
- Bureau Veritas is an IECRE certification bureau for wind farms. In the Netherlands, Bureau Veritas has certified offshore wind farms and transformers in recent years.
- Subsea
- Bureau Veritas qualifies new, innovative subsea technologies by performing design assessments and providing the qualification of new technology and Approvals in Principle. It also supplies certification for Subsea Umbilical, Risers and Flowlines for a wide range of offshore applications.
- Decommissioning
- Bureau Veritas supports every stage of decommissioning, from portfolio planning to the safe decommissioning of assets.
- Safety and compliance
- As an expert in the field of independent verification bodies (IVB), Bureau Veritas works on some of the most complex projects in the sector to ensure safety and compliance of all types of offshore platforms.
Sylvia Boer, AYOP director: “As market leader in the testing, inspection and certification of renewables, Bureau Veritas is an essential link in the energy transition – one of AYOP’s main focal points. The company is familiar with the firms, EPC contractors, local government bodies and legislation, and can contribute its knowledge and experience in decommissioning to become a major partner in our decom activities. Bureau Veritas is a major addition to our network!”