As you peruse our website for information about our offshore cleaning services, you may come across some industry jargon or terms you are unfamiliar with. Here is a quick selection of some offshore cleaning terms you may encounter on our site, and their definitions.

tank cleaning

  • Decommissioning

    The decommissioning process for offshore platforms is the process of ending all oil and gas operations at that platform and then returning the ocean and seafloor in the area to the condition it was in before operations began. This process requires the assistance of skilled, professional offshore cleaners. There are a variety of regulations for when decommissioning must occur and the processes companies must take to properly decommission their platforms, which is why it is so important to have an experienced team handling the process.

  • Degassing

    Degassing is the removal of dissolved gases from liquid entities. Vessel steam degassing is one example of a service frequently implemented as part of an offshore cleaning regimen.

  • Flex Lancing

    Flex lancing refers to the process of cleaning tubes of small diameters. Compare this to rigid lancing, which involves cleaning tubes and pipes of larger diameters.

  • Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (NORM)

    NORM refers to radioactive materials that occur naturally on earth, and in areas where human activities result in increased exposure of people to those materials. It may result from burning coil, oil and gas production or using fertilizers, and also naturally occurs in the soil in the form of radon and uranium. Offshore cleaning services include the removal of NORM in a safe, reliable manner.

  • Pipeline Flushing and Pickling

    Pipeline flushing is a cleaning procedure performed by circulating the hydraulic oil that will later be used inside the system. The circulation of that oil inside a closed unit will create enough friction to clean any particles in the pipe. The process of pickling, also referred to as “acidification,” is performed to remove rust, welding pieces and burrs inside the pipe.

  • Topside Removal

    This is the process of dismantling and removing equipment used on the “topside” of the oil platform. There are several methods that can be used for topside removal, including heavy lift methods with crane vessels or barges, small piece methods and single-lift, in which the topside gets removed in a single piece and lifted on to a vessel for transportation to the shore.

If you have more questions about terms you encounter while researching offshore cleaning services, we encourage you to contact our team at Ecoserv and we will be happy to provide further information.