Trelleborg Offshore Norway: 114 Years of Leading Innovation in Corrosion, Fire Protection, and Rubber Products

Mobile ambition

With 114 years of experience to its name, Trelleborg Offshore Norway is a recognised leader in the manufacture of corrosion and jet fire protection materials, flexible connections, thermal insulation and impact protection systems, and is Norway’s largest producer of rubber products.

As part of the international Trelleborg Group, which has a reputation for superior engineering in advanced polymer technology and high performance solutions throughout the world, the company has recently been through a number of organisational changes. Previously known as Trelleborg Viking AS, the business now operates as Trelleborg Offshore Norway, which is only one of five companies under the offshore umbrella of the Group that now includes Trelleborg Offshore US that developed out of a merger of two smaller American companies, and Trelleborg Offshore UK, previously known as CRP. This worldwide move has seen the Trelleborg Group come together as a team, spreading the brand name across the world and bringing potential for more collaborative development.

Trelleborg Offshore Norway gains hugely from an international agent network that provides it with links in all of the major oil hubs in the world including Canada, the US, South America, Brazil, Europe, Russia, the Middle East and most recently India. There are also established offshore sales teams that build on existing relationships with clients while working alongside emerging customers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific, there will also be a team set up in South America and Brazil in the near future.

Speaking in March to European Oil and Gas, Stein Hovde, sales and marketing manager at the time highlighted the company’s core strengths: “We are set apart by our widespread knowledge in product development and the broad range of products we supply, some of which are quite unique, especially in fire protection. Everything from the developmental stage to production is done in-house, providing us with a great advantage in terms of flexibility when it comes to product delivery. We have a long experience in solving individual needs, helping customers with special applications and providing a customised bespoke product.”

Trelleborg Offshore Norway’s protection systems are designed and supplied to meet the lifetime of the client’s specific installation. “The products we manufacture are at the high-end of the market in terms of quality, they really are the Rolls Royce of rubber protection products,” Jan-Hugo Nilssen, current sales and marketing manager of the company adds.

The organisation’s portfolio covers a plethora of needs in the passive and active fire protection, thermal insulation, cable and flowline protection sectors, and can be used for both maintenance and upgrade purposes. A focus on research and development is at the core of Trelleborg Offshore Norway’s operations and most recently the company has launched its mobile factory application that brings increased flexibility to international projects. The factory is made up of five 40-foot containers that are currently in use onsite in Korea where corrosion and jet fire protection is being installed onto a new tube line. In the past this activity would have taken place in the factory based in Norway, now Trelleborg can go to the customer and apply the materials in situ, the factory is already set to move on to the next client soon. This development will be ideal for maintaining the strong relationships with its key clients such as Total, Maersk and BP.

The use of rubber materials makes it possible to solve problems to much higher success and with longer life spans, especially compared to alternative traditional materials. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the company’s pioneering and patented flexible piping system, ELASTOPIP. Designed for use in hazardous and corrosive areas, Statoil, ConocoPhillips, BP, Norsk Hydro, the Norwegian Navy and Statsbygg all sponsored its development, which started in 1996 and its unique capabilities have been recognised across the industry ever since. ELASTOPIPE is a flexible corrosion free 150 lb piping system that is both impact and jet fire resistant making it ideal for sprinkler and deluge applications, as well as a range of other piping uses. Its greatest benefit is that it has a minimum lifetime of 30 years and has the lowest life cycle cost of its competitors due to the fact it is 100 per cent corrosion free, is easy to install and reduces water hammer effects. The product has recently undergone a huge rebranding campaign that went out to nearly 9000 people in the oil and gas industry around the world. Trelleborg Offshore Norway has also invested in a new ELASTOPIPE production line, which help it to meet the market demand.

The ELASTOPIPE FOR (Fire & Oil Resistant) is an upgrade on the original product and is designed specifically for hydrocarbon transport utilising the same defensive properties as its predecessor and tackling the harsh environments of the offshore market. “I think ELASTOPIPE is a unique solution that will see us taking more and more market share in the coming years. The ELASTOPIPE FOR is now a commercially-available, approved pipe product having undergone a series of tests earlier in the year and it will be excellent for drain systems, the transport of produced water, the transit of all hydrocarbons and a range of other offshore uses. We have made a number of internal changes at Trelleborg Offshore Norway recently that have resulted in a new business development department, which itself has three sub-departments being markets, products and materials. Our aim is to continue to deliver pioneering products to the industry and I think this restructuring will help us to reach our goal,” Jan-Hugo concludes.

Trelleborg Offshore Norway

Products: Anti-corrosion, fire and thermal protection