History

First Subsea currently has over 1000 Ballgrab® connectors in use worldwide. The map beneath shows a range of projects undertaken in the past few years that involve one of our three main products: Pipeline Recovery Tool (PRT), Subsea Mooring Connector (SMC) and Bend Stiffener Connector (BSC).

Pipeline Recovery Tool

Pipeline recovery tools (PRT) was one of First Subsea's earliest ball and taper applications. Since 1983, demand for First Subsea's Ballgrab® PRT has increased year-on-year, with over 150 tools deployed worldwide. These tools typically vary from 2 inch to 48 inch (5 cm to 122 cm) diameter, and are used for abandonment and recovery of subsea pipelines.

Subsea Mooring Connector

In 2001 Ballgrab® subsea mooring connectors were deployed in the first fully polyester rope deepwater mooring system in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). First Subsea currently holds the record for the deepest Spar mooring in the GoM - Shell's Perdido Spar at 2,450m water depth, and also holds the record for the deepest moored floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel - Petrobras' Cascade and Chinook FPSO in the Gulf of Mexico at 2,500m.

Bend Stiffener Connector

Initially developed in partnership with Trelleborg Offshore Ltd, the bend stiffener connector (BSC) provides a diverless and ROVless connection for the installation of flexibles to floating production units and submerged turret production buoys. There are two types of BSCs: Type I BSC for installation in existing I/J tubes, first installed in 2005; and Type II BSC which features our unique Automatic Release Clamp (ARC) system. This system avoids the need for centralisers and tip clamps during the installation process, the first type II BSC was deployed in 2009.