ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 17 -- United States Patent no. 12,313,202, issued on May 27, was assigned to SAIPEM S.A. (Montigny le Bretonneux, France).

"Method and system for direct electric heating of a double-walled pipe for transporting fluids" was invented by Raymond Hallot (Voisins le Bretonneux, France).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A method and system for Direct Electrical Heating of a Pipe-In-Pipe pipeline for transporting fluids includes mechanically connecting the steel inner shell to the steel outer shell at different intervals of the pipeline, establishing an electrical and thermal insulation between the inner shell and the outer shell, applying an alternating electric current between an...