Inspectioneering
Inspectioneering Journal

New Inline Inspection Technology Helps Ensure Terminal & Pipeline Integrity Management Success

New inline inspections and integrity management systems allow operators to understand the complexities and economics of terminals’ and station’s complex aging pipeline infrastructure.

By Ron Maurier, Pipeline Integrity Manager at Quest Integrity Group, LLC, and Dan Revelle, Sr., Sr. Consulting Engineer at Quest Integrity Group, LLC. This article appears in the March/April 2014 issue of Inspectioneering Journal.
6 Likes

Introduction

Every day, oil, natural gas, refined products, chemicals, water, CO2, and other commodities are transported via massive transmission pipeline systems.  Products move from production fields and refineries, through terminals, pumping and compressor stations and hubs, and from there, to waiting tank farms, petrochemical plants and end-user markets.  To ensure safe and reliable transmission operations, pipeline inspection and integrity management (IM) programs have been developed, along with state-of-the-art supporting technologies for capturing and analyzing the resultant data. 

Most of these new technologies were developed for inter- and intrastate transmission pipeline systems comprised of large-diameter pipelines with built-in pig launchers and receivers.  As a result, compressor stations, product terminals and tank farms have been somewhat left out of the loop.  Highly congested terminal and station facilities that include small-diameter pipeline systems can make typical IM programs difficult to implement.  Yet, many terminals, stations and tank farms include vintage equipment and aging infrastructure in desperate need of evaluation and remediation.

Hydrotest, Ultrasonic Inspection, and Replacement Issues

Until recently, station and terminal operators had few choices of inspection methods.  Typically, terminal and station facility pipelines were considered to be too small to be piggable.  Low-tech evaluation methods such as low-pressure hydrotesting and ultrasonic readings were commonly used, but these methods brought their own set of challenges. 

 

This content is available to registered users and subscribers

Register today to unlock this article for free.

Create your free account and get access to:

  • Unlock one premium article of your choosing per month
  • Exclusive online content, videos, and downloads
  • Insightful and actionable webinars
GET STARTED
Interested in unlimited access? VIEW OUR SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS

Current subscribers and registered users can log in now.


Comments and Discussion

There are no comments yet.

Add a Comment

Please log in or register to participate in comments and discussions.