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Agenda

The coming together of individually-strong components to form a single piece can have a beautiful result. In our industry, we see beauty as efficiency, effectiveness, and optimal performance. Therefore, we strive to find the perfect pairing of diagnostics and integrity in order to provide our customers with truly comprehensive asset care .

Join us from 18-21 March 2019 at the 14^th Pipeline Technology Conference in Berlin Germany, where we will feature unparalleled data collection technologies, in combination with integrity solutions, to bring even more confidence to the data.

Crack Management Framework

The Crack Management Framework provides a reasoned and systematic approach that focusses efforts on the critical issues and locations. All available data, from pipeline design and construction methods to ILI data collected with technologies such as UT or EMAT, is integrated and utilized to fully understand the cause and morphology of critical defects. The comprehensive, long-term vision of this framework aims to optimize future integrity management activity, ensuring safe and efficient future operation.

Learn more:
The Framework You Can Trust

RoCorr MFL-A Ultra

Gain a comprehensive and accurate understanding of the pipeline's structure and tap into the full potential of your asset with RoCorr MFL-A Ultra. The ultra-high-resolution service leaves nothing to chance, not only do they detect even the smallest pipeline defects, they also define the exact structure of defect groups and complex features to precisely identify the threats to pipeline integrity. Displaying what until now has often remained unseen, these premium services help minimize field verification expenses and optimize asset performance.

Learn more:
RoCorr MFL-A Ultra Service

NIMA

NIMA, a digital integrity management solution, offers customers a basis for secure decision making by providing an accurate reflection of individual integrity management processes and easily-accessible data. As a uniform approach to asset integrity management is not feasible, NIMA provides operators with the exact level of support that they need. From instant remote execution of tasks via a custom cloud platform, to expert advice on a specific integrity issue, to the training of personnel, NIMA is by your side guiding the way through the integrity management process.

Learn more:
NIMA - Elevating Safety

Visit us at booth #53 of the exhibition to discover how we can best serve your needs.

At the conference, our experts will be giving six technical presentations and one panel discussion on a diverse range of topics, including risk management, pinhole detection, and engineering assessment approaches for unbonded flexible pipes.

Agenda

2019, March 18 - 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

Inspection Technologies for Traditional and Challenging Pipelines

Presenter: Michael Beller

Summary

The course will provide an introduction into the subject and importance of pipeline inspection with a focus on internal inspection using in-line inspection tools. Delegates will be introduced to the different non-destructive testing technologies used in in-line inspection tools as well as their specific strength and weaknesses.

The course provides a broad overview of tools commercially available today for the inspection of traditional and challenging pipelines in the onshore and offshore sector. Inspection procedures and reporting will be introduced, with a focus on typical content of Final Reports and the further use of inspection data.

The course is ideally suited to introduce the subject of in-line inspection, also as a foundation for the special in-line inspection tracks of the Pipeline Technology Conference.

2019, March 19 - 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM

Pinhole Detection with Ultra-High-Resolution Axial Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL-A Ultra) Technology - How the most recent MFL innovation revolutionizes the detection capabilities for previously undetectable threats

Presenter: Johannes Spille

Summary

According to the Pipeline Operators Forum (POF), a pinhole is defined as “localized corrosion with surface dimensions smaller than 1t or 10 mm whichever is greater in length and width direction,” whereas t represents the wall thickness of the pipeline. The detection of these small features is often challenging for in-line inspection tools. Especially pinholes of diameters smaller than 4 mm are not detectable by most of the ILI technologies used in the market, such as high-resolution MFL or UT pitting.

MFL-A Ultra technology now enables operators to reliably detect pinholes of diameters down to 1 mm in gas and liquid pipelines. The unrivalled resolution and precision of MFL-A Ultra in-line inspection tools reveal pinholes caused by internal corrosion (e.g. MIC) as well as pinhole leakages caused by external circumstances.

If small features remain undetected, they can grow over time and have the potential to cause severe damage to pipelines and result in environmental harm, or even worse, loss of life. This paper focusses on the capabilities of MFL-A Ultra technology to put operators in a position to reliably identify even minuscule critical threats to their pipelines while minimizing field verification cost.

By using data examples from recent inspections, the authors of this paper demonstrate how the RoCorr MFL-A Ultra Service can play an important role in achieving operators’ goals to:

identify locations of product loss through pinhole leakages, especially in liquid lines;
minimize cost of field verifications and repairs through highly reliable defect identification and sizing;
and deliver more-conclusive integrity calculations on their pipelines to reduce operational risk.

2019, March 19 - 5:00 PM - 5:30 PM

Defect Tolerance of the Bond Line of Electric Welded Pipe – Test Data and Fracture Mechanics Assessments

Presenter: Neil Gallon

Summary

There has been considerable recent interest in the toughness of the bond line of Electric Welded (EW) pipe. This has been partly due to failures of old pipe, leading to an increased regulatory focus on the inspection and assessment of bond line features. However, other cases have involved modern pipe, apparently produced in conformity with current standards, which has subsequently been found to have a low toughness. In the latter case, the owner may face delays and costs whilst new pipe is obtained, or have to demonstrate that an existing pipeline is fit for purpose.

Fracture mechanics methods can be used in both of these situations to predict the behaviour of a feature in the bond line. These assessments require the fracture toughness as an input; the toughness can be obtained by direct measurement or estimated from the Charpy impact energy. Due to the narrow bond line of EW line pipe, it is important that the fracture toughness measurements are representative of the bond line toughness. A further concern is that there is little validation of the assessment methods, either generic or industry specific, for EW pipe.

This paper reports the results of six full scale burst tests carried out by the European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG) on EW pipe with a low bond line toughness. Five tests used notches spark eroded into the bond line, whilst the final test contained a long natural bond line defect. The results were analysed using the generic fracture assessment codes BS 7910 and API 579 / ASME FFS1, and using the pipeline industry ln-sec (often known as NG-18) method. The fracture toughness was obtained from conventional fracture toughness tests and estimated from the Charpy impact energy as it proved to be difficult to grow a fatigue crack in the bond line of conventional fracture toughness test specimens. The predicted failure pressures were generally conservative.

The work has confirmed that standard methods can be used to assess imperfections in the bond line of EW pipe provided appropriate inputs are used, particularly for the fracture toughness. When using conventional fracture toughness tests the bond line toughness may be overestimated, leading to potentially non-conservative predictions. It is also important to notice that accurate characterisation of bond line defects using non-destructive testing can be challenging. Where this characterisation is used as an input into an ECA, a conservative interpretation of the NDT results is recommended.

2019, March 20 - 11:15 AM to 12:30 PM

A Case Study on Multilevel Assessments of Stress Corrosion Cracking Susceptibility Abstract

Presenter: Ricardo Almandoz

Summary

Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC) is an insidious, complex phenomenon that can be influenced by numerous factors such as pipeline age, steel microstructure and mechanical properties, environment, manufacturing and/or installation-induced stresses, coating type, degradation levels and disbondment, cathodic protection history, soil resistivity, redox potential, and anaerobic activity, to name a few. The availability of current and historical data, sources and format can vary greatly from one pipeline to another, even within the same company. An additional challenge is posed by the several mechanisms that can be found acting individually or concomitantly – along the pipeline and throughout time – as well as the fact that the modelling of some of those mechanisms remains controversial.

A hindrance to the successful implementation of a Crack Management Program, SCC susceptibility assessments have traditionally been considered costly sophisticated analyses that demand a considerable amount of manual labor and expert judgement.

This paper presents an adaptive pipeline data and integrity management platform, called NIMA, which can be used to facilitate the data mining/integration and to execute integrity management processes. To illustrate the framework capabilities, the SCC susceptibility of five pipelines, with different datasets, is analyzed and prioritized through the customizable, built-in library of integrity management technical templates. The assessment of the most critical pipeline is then refined, through input of additional ILI data and modifications to the graphic interface and model algorithms. At both stages, the framework not only expedites the process, but also provides evidential documentation and guarantees the assessments’ reproducibility.

2019, March 20 - 3:45 PM to 5:30 PM

Engineering assessment approaches for unbonded flexible pipes using ILI data

Presenter: Andrew Burton

Summary

Flexible pipes are increasingly popular in the oil and gas industry for the development of deep-water fields – for example offshore Brazil – and small fields in mature regions such as the North Sea. Flexibles are complex structures, and the options for inspection to confirm integrity as they age are limited. At present, no technologies are available to provide a complete picture of the condition of a high-pressure unbonded flexible. This paper provides an overview of the initial development of engineering assessment approaches for unbonded flexible pipes using data collected through in-line inspection (ILI).

The data collected during an ILI run allows for some engineering assessments to be performed, giving some valuable information regarding condition. However, as of yet, a complete picture is not possible. The experience gained in completing limited assessments can contribute to the further development of ILI tools specifically for the more complete inspection of flexible pipe. To get useful information regarding the condition of the flexible pipe and potential threats to the remaining service life, it is necessary to combine specialist knowledge in both ILI data assessment and the operation and failure modes of unbonded flexible pipes. Examples of issues that can be identified are end-fitting issues, denting, carcass buckling, overstress, metal loss, external fitting locations and curvature. Used appropriately, this data can enhance the integrity management of unbonded flexible pipes. Examples from laboratory tests and field-collected data are used to illustrate some of the possibilities of existing technologies. Future plans to enhance the capabilities of ILI tools with respect to the inspection of flexible pipes are also covered.

2019, March 20 - 3:45 PM to 5:30 PM

Using Risk Management to Optimize the Maintenance Plan for Pipelines

Presenter: Gaurav Singh

Summary

Traditionally, the pipeline maintenance plans were mainly based on In-Line Inspection data or visual inspection results where the activities were more reactive than preventive, but the industry has been evolving and , “Integrity management“ appears as a relevant process that emerges to support operators with the maintenance plan definition with the goal of ensuring safety, profitable and continuous operations. After the oil prices dropped in 2014, operators had to maintain their system with reduced budgets without affecting the operations. For this reason, Risk management is an essential element in the pipeline integrity management process that will guide operators through the decision making process of optimizing resources allocation based on the criticality of the systems.

The integration of pipeline data and the implementation of ROSEN’s Quantitative Pipeline Risk Assessment Methodology (QPRAM) enables operators to perform risk assessments of their system, to highlight those segments that require proactive risk treatment. It is important to mention that once the critical segments are identified, several mitigation measures can be implemented, which will depend on several influencing factors, such as the approved budget and available resources; so multiple measures and scenarios could be analyzed to determine the best combination of activities from both a technical and financial perspective.

This paper describes how QPRAM implemented in collaboration with a European liquid pipeline operator could support with the maintenance plan definition and resource optimization, through sensitivity analyses of different scenarios.

Navigation

Agenda

14th Pipeline Technology Conference

Crack Management Framework

RoCorr MFL-A Ultra

NIMA

Agenda

Inspection Technologies for Traditional and Challenging Pipelines

Summary

Pinhole Detection with Ultra-High-Resolution Axial Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL-A Ultra) Technology - How the most recent MFL innovation revolutionizes the detection capabilities for previously undetectable threats

Summary

Defect Tolerance of the Bond Line of Electric Welded Pipe – Test Data and Fracture Mechanics Assessments

Summary

A Case Study on Multilevel Assessments of Stress Corrosion Cracking Susceptibility Abstract

Summary

Engineering assessment approaches for unbonded flexible pipes using ILI data

Summary

Using Risk Management to Optimize the Maintenance Plan for Pipelines

Summary