NACE: Pipeline executive calls for 'zero leaks' industry goal

Christopher E. Smith
OGJ Pipeline Editor

ATLANTA, Mar. 25 -- Colonial Pipeline Co. Chief Executive Officer Tim Felt described "zero leaks" as the only reasonable goal for the US pipeline industry at the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) Corrosion 2009 conference. Saying that companies couldn't simply rely on past improvements as a predictor of future performance, Felt said, "[Pipelines] can't have a goal other than zero" and operate the businesses responsibly, even from a purely bottom line perspective. "The consequence of failure is too high," he said, listing injury, death, environmental damage, and loss of both public and government trust.

Felt went on to say that "we should pat ourselves on the back for our improvement, but we can't keep improving without zero being our goal." The pipeline industry is currently struggling with how to keep improving its incident rates, Felt explained, noting that even sustaining recent improvements would simply create a plateau of mediocrity. "We got the low-hanging fruit and are now looking at how to make the breakthrough" to keep moving in the right direction.

Felt said the industry couldn't be content to keep applying current methods and technologies, because they wouldn't be adequate to keep the movement toward zero leaks under way, instead simply helping to maintain the status quo.

When asked how much of the pipeline industry thinks their goal is zero leaks, Felt declined to quantify his answer but did say, "We're not unified enough to make an industry-wide commitment to this goal yet." He said some companies have made the commitment, keeping public perceptions in mind, especially if they've had a prior incident, but that others continue to look at the proposal more cautiously on a cost-benefit basis. Felt said it was up to those companies already pursuing the zero-leak goal to lead by example and push their own research and development efforts.

Between 1999 and 2007 the number of liquid pipeline spills/1,000 miles/year expressed as a rolling 3-year average has slipped to 0.8 from 2, while the total number of leaks has fallen 59%, Felt said. Of these leaks, 56% are less than 5 bbl. But such trends are now flattening, and leaks caused by material or seamweld flaws have started to move higher again, according to figures cited by Felt.

Felt concluded by emphasizing the need to "make it personal," to think of the effect any spill has on those where it happens, as key moving the question from whether or not zero leaks can be done to the "real question" of how and when it will be done.

Contact Christopher E. Smith at [email protected].