Growing concerns over national security, environmental and human safety, and energy supply reliability are stepping up the pressure on the pipeline industry to strive for a zero-fault standard for pipeline integrity.
At the same time, the industry must contend with ever-growing demand for oil and natural gas, an aging global pipeline infrastructure, a shortfall of skilled talent, and rising costs.
The convergence of these factors have created an extremely challenging environment for industry to formulate new strategies and to develop new technologies to ensure the integrity of existing and future pipelines.
Pipeline integrity philosophy
Ensuring pipeline integrity is about more than just searching for technology solutions-it’s about adhering to a philosophy of sticking to the basics, said Phillip Morrison, vice-president, pipeline integrity products and services, T.D. Williamson Inc. (TDW), Tulsa.
“If you take a close look at the history of TDW, you will clearly see that we are a long-term leader in the development of pipeline maintenance technology, which of course includes tools, products, and service techniques. Many of the most dependable technologies in use worldwide were first developed by our engineers,” he said.
“TDW believes in the pursuit and refinement of technologies that have the ability to provide a clearer analysis of pipeline anomalies. We also place great value in the development of methods that allow maintenance tasks to be performed faster and more efficiently.
“We are constantly in the process of making our existing products and services more efficient, economical, and safe to use. In fact, it is a rare day that our legal department isn’t ushering at least a handful of new or improved equipment through the patent approval process. We are believers in the blessings of technology. However, after many decades of hands-on, practical, in-the-field experience, TDW has gained a very clear understanding of the role technology plays in maintaining a dependable level of pipeline integrity.”
Morrison thinks that pipeline owners or operators that are waiting for a “silver bullet” technology that will simply and easily solve all pipeline integrity issues need to realize that it just doesn’t exist.
“Technology has its place, and that place is within a conscientiously applied maintenance program. There are no shortcuts to heading off integrity issues.”
Morrison contends that the pipeline operators with the fewest integrity situations to deal with typically are those who are good at sticking to the basics, namely regular cleaning, inspection, and corrosion control measures.
“Stick to the basics, and the need for exotic technologies and their related costs are held to a minimum,” he said.
Morrison stressed that every pipeline is different: “The internal and external environment of a pipeline will fairly well dictate many of its maintenance requirements. Maintenance solutions that sustain pipeline integrity are always going to be a combination of technologies that are ‘tuned’ to a pipeline’s characteristics. Pipeline owner and service company personnel need to work together as an integral team to provide ongoing integrity management.”
Innovations
Even with an emphasis on sticking to the basics, Morrison acknowledged that new and developing technologies that have the potential to contribute to the future of pipeline integrity need to be encouraged.
“However, innovation is not limited to new technology,” he said. “Innovation will have occurred when greater system integrity and capacity occurs at a lower overall cost to the industry and is accomplished in less time than present methodologies, programs, and practices allow.”
Morrison contends that industry already has found and defined the problems and has produced technologies to fix those problems, but to achieve improved pipeline integrity, industry’s tactics should shift to doing its best to keep problems from recurring.
“The primary focus of the industry should be on establishing and sustaining preventative maintenance programs,” he said. “Achieving key pipeline integrity and performance objectives is, in large part, dependent on having a clean pipe. Assuring the cleanliness and piggability of pipelines may provide the most significant contribution to pipeline integrity globally.”
Innovative ways to manage information and data are crucial for comprehensively addressing the issue of pipeline integriaty, according to David Edgar, vice-president of the pipeline business unit of Mustang Engineering LP, Houston.
“Pipeline integrity management is predicated on divergent technologies individually performing unique functions-but [at the same time] collectively assessing pipelines without disregarding one area or another. Because of this comprehensive approach, the list [of innovations] could be expanded to include other technologies such as information and database management.”
Environmental concerns
The biggest challenge still facing the pipeline industry is how to prevent leaks and spills that can harm the environment and the public, noted Essam Zaghloul, president and CEO of FOX-TEK Inc., Toronto.
“Keeping the oil flowing is essential for the industry, but doing so with safe operating practices in order to maintain safe facilities is essential to protecting the environment,” he said.
At the same time, the pipeline industry must cope with an often cumbersome regulatory and permitting regime even in its efforts to ensure pipeline integrity.
“Currently, when a pipeline is tested either by hydrotest or smart tool, there is always the challenge of visual inspection and repair. If the area of concern falls within a wetland, state or federal lands, or [has] other ecological significant properties, then a permit is required by one or more agencies that have jurisdiction over these types of properties,” Edgar pointed out. “The process to obtain these approvals can sometimes take a substantial amount of time. This process has to be reviewed and changed to allow pipeline companies early entry for the integrity digs and follow-up with the agencies with an after-the-fact permit.”
Another big environmental challenge for the pipeline industry is an indirect challenge, Edgar added: transporting low-sulfur diesel and maintaining its low-sulfur content without contaminating the product.
Simply increasing public awareness of how excavation often damages pipelines may be the most effective simple solution to preventing environmental damage by pipelines.
“The greatest cause of large releases is third-party damage,” Edgar said. “To minimize this, we need to increase public education programs.”
Morrison concurred: “Every hour of every day, someone somewhere is damaging a pipeline. This cannot be allowed to continue. We need increased awareness, improved vigilance, and the technology to detect damage when it occurs.”
Edgar noted that the industry is inching closer to having a national “811” number for excavators to call before excavating.
“This system will decrease third-party damages because it will be easier to remember and use,” he said. “Hopefully, having a national 811 system will also result in having nationally consistent rules and regulations concerning the requirement to call before you dig.”
New challenges
Posing new challenges for the industry is the fact that pipeline integrity issues are now moving into systems that have not been regulated in the past, Morrison pointed out. “For the most part, these systems are not compatible with technologies used today on larger, longer, and straighter lines. It may soon become evident that creating regulations for these difficult lines is the easy part and proving them safe will be difficult.”
Another area of concern is aging pipelines, he added.
“An entire worldwide generation of pipelines has now become a seriously aged infrastructure. Our current global system for producing and transporting natural gas and hazardous liquids may become unable to deliver the energy needed within the next 10 years.
“Owner company and service company personnel changes over the years have caused a significant loss of corporate memory about each pipeline and how it was built, how it operates, what could be wrong with it, and what could be done to make it better.
“We need to attempt to stop such a tremendous loss of memory and try to preserve this vital information to assure future pipeline performance. The answer could be a focused program established to collect, verify, and maintain essential data on every pipeline.
“Once assimilated, this valuable information can be permanently archived, updated, and passed along if ownership or operational management should change.”
