Webinar

 

Some pipelines cannot be inspected with standard in-line inspection (ILI) solutions and are therefore termed “unpiggable.” A combination of various circumstances relating to pipeline design, operating conditions and/or characteristics of the medium can prevent successful data collection through traditional methods. Modification of these pipelines to enable standard in-line inspection procedures may be considered, but this option can be expensive and technically complicated. To confirm the integrity of these lines, a specialized solution is often necessary.

This webinar explores two different in-line inspection case studies, the challenges that arose, the reasoning behind the selected tethered solutions and, ultimately, the quality of the data collected.

Case Study 1

A 42”, 2.5 km crude oil loading line needed an ILI to inspect for cracks, geometric deformations and wall thickness defects, specifically along the long seam welds.

Challenge: No pumps, no flow, no launcher or receiver.
Solution: Tethered Ultrasonic Measurement (TUM) tool equipped with UT vertical beam wall thickness sensors, TOFD module for accurate sizing of long seam cracks and a robotic tractor unit to precisely control tool progression in and out of the pipeline.
Benefit: No pipeline modification expenses. Real-time data collection with an on-site first report followed by a detailed data analysis of the integrity of the loading line.

Case Study 2

A 10”, 1.8 km riser connecting to a subsea manifold needed to be inspected for wall thickness defects and girth weld cracks.

Challenge: Single access for launching and receiving; data was needed on complete pipe section up to 5 cm of the subsea PLEM.
Solution: Tethered bi-directional crawler unit equipped with a UT geometry and wall thickness measurement unit and a TOFD unit for axial crack detection and sizing.
Benefit: Avoided expensive subsea trap installation and subsea launching operation. Collected data in both directions, precisely scanning each girth weld area for circumferential cracks while providing a real-time data report.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask the presenter questions during the open Q&A session at the end of the presentation.

We invite you to join this free webinar at 10:00 AM CDT (Central Daylight Time) / 5:00 PM CEST (Central European Summer Time) on October 15, 2019.

Presented by

Dipl. Ing. Ulrich Schneider
Business Development Manager, KTN AS, Bergen, Norway

Ulrich Schneider is the business development manager for KTN AS. After earning his master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Hannover, Germany, he spent 7 years as a pipeline operator (Preussag Oil + Gas) where he had his first experience working with an intelligent pig in 1985. In 1988, he moved to the vendor side (Pipetronix, later PII) doing sales mainly for ultrasonic pig inspections. In 2001 he started with NDT Systems & Services (later NDT Global) as director of sales, then EVP business unit EMEA and EVP business development. In January 2014, he started to work in KTN for sales of challenging pipelines inspection. Ulrich has been involved in hundreds of pipeline inspection projects, with various types of tools and technologies, presented many papers at several international pipeline conferences, and has given trainings and seminars around the world. His mission: to find the smartest solution for clients for difficult to inspect pipelines using all technologies.

  

KEY LEARNING OBJECTIVES

• Gain an understanding of available ultrasonic high-resolution data collection methods for non-standard in-line inspections. Methods discussed will include wall measurement, crack detection as well as phased array (PA) and time of flight diffraction (TOFD) applications.
• Learn about the application of tethered technology as an option to overcome so-called “unpiggable” pipelines.

Target Audience

Onshore and offshore oil and gas pipeline operators (upstream, midstream and downstream sectors)