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HomeMagazine2023January 2023, Vol. 250, No. 1Recognizing Value of Data as
Pipeline Integrity Assets


JANUARY 2023, VOL. 250, NO. 1


FEATURES


RECOGNIZING VALUE OF DATA AS PIPELINE INTEGRITY ASSETS




By Louise O’Sullivan, Director of Digital Solutions, Penspen 

(P&GJ) — Increased investment in infrastructure as a result of higher oil and
gas prices, as well as growing activity in planning for future energy provision,
means that many operators and utilities around the world are seeking ways to
help them improve operational efficiency and access to safe and sustainable
energy for the communities that they serve.



The integrity of pipelines will play a critical role in this development. A
greater focus on improving pipeline integrity management processes and
procedures will be vital in ensuring energy supply effectively reaches customers
and satisfies consumer consumption. 

The global pipeline integrity management market is projected to accelerate from
$8.80 billion in 2021 to $11.26 billion in 20281. In 2020, repair and
refurbishment made up almost 60% of global pipeline integrity activities. 

While current energy demand is high, the oil and gas industry faces significant
longer-term uncertainty.  

Aging pipelines mean greater risks, which are in turn set against a background
of cost reductions and increased regulatory demands. Loss of skills and a lack
of new talent add to the strain on existing resources. The four challenges of
more regulation, reduction in resources, aging assets and questions over
long-term financial outlook represent a quadrilemma for oil and gas operators. 

Digitalization can unlock new ways of thinking to address these constraints,
reduce uncertainty and help minimize unforeseen failures. The development of
flexible, intelligent solutions, including the improved coordination and
interpretation of data, can provide operators with better insights, faster. 

Individual players can achieve cost and efficiency advantages by streamlining
multiple data acquisition systems to create a convergence of information and
much faster data interpretation. 

However, the establishment of an industry-wide common set of standards for data
acquisition, processing and interpretation would generate greater consistency,
clarity and significant operational benefits for all. 

In the oil and gas industry, resources are decreasing, while failures and
regulations are on the rise. Pipeline integrity management must become more
adaptable to meet evolving demands. Services company Penspen has identified four
key challenges that represent a quadrilemma. 

More Regulation 

Around the world, governmental focus on safety and environmental compliance is
placing an onus on pipeline operators to abide by the regulations or face losing
their license. While it is right and accepted that the industry should be
properly regulated, compliance costs are high and regulations are increasing. 

In the U.S., the regulatory framework for the siting and construction of
pipelines, and the services they provide, is complex and divided between federal
and state rules. Greater environmental requirements brought in at the beginning
of 2022 by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission make new pipeline approvals
significantly more difficult to attain2.  

Supporting operators by providing the information they need to fulfill
regulatory requirements is critical. 

The workforce is getting older and the industry faces a considerable challenge
in attracting younger talent. Experienced staff unable to pass on their skills
to younger, recently qualified engineers, who are choosing careers in other
sectors, is creating a knowledge gap. 

Aging Assets 

Pipelines are in operation today that were installed a hundred years ago.
Typically, in the U.S. 55% of pipelines are more than 40 years old. Many
pipelines are still in service for decades longer than originally intended, with
the maintenance issues and costs such extended longevity implies. Extending the
life of assets so they continue to be safe and reliable, without incurring
unnecessary downtime, depends on having a strategy for remaining life based on
associated risk assessment. 

Over their lifetime, assets can be passed from owner to owner. Important
information may not be shared or become lost. New owners faced with a lack of
information about an asset can face considerable challenges. In these
situations, even more data information and interpretation are required.  

Commodity price fluctuations put pressure on operators to reduce costs across
all business streams.  

For pipeline operators, the integrity department is often one of the most keenly
budgeted business areas. When it comes to data acquisition and interpretation,
contract flexibility is important for integrity departments. In situations where
the requirement for integrity software may only be for two or three months a
year, a long term and expensive software license spanning several years can be a
costly overhead. 

A cloud-based system with software as a service (SaaS) functionality along with
an adaptable licensing solution can offer integrity departments important
flexibility and cost efficiencies.  

Developing Data  

Many years ago, engineers used a T-card, paper-based, system to manage time and
materials. From the mid-1980s onward, spreadsheets became the industry norm. The
more recent evolution from electronic systems to digitalization enables faster,
more detailed data analysis.  

However, a reliance on spreadsheet interpretation remains in some integrity
departments.  

The current surge in volumes of data threatens to exceed the practical limits of
spreadsheets. Access to the automated analysis of live data is becoming
increasingly commonplace. Intelligent tools, such as remote sensors, provide a
continuous feed of real-time data, which could easily be expected to total many
gigabytes a day.  

Established and siloed practices in risk assessment, asset integrity and asset
management are changing. Under conventional ways of working, operators can take
months negotiating a framework agreement, sending data for analysis and, after
the subsequent number crunching, reporting and sign-off, are expected to make
decisions based on what has become old information.  

By contrast, a modern data acquisition, interpretation and reporting system can
provide operators with up-to-date analysis of the state of their pipelines
within minutes. 

There is no shortage of data for pipeline integrity management. The challenge is
how best to use it to empower better cost and risk-reducing decisions. Integrity
engineers need to be able to understand the vast array of incoming information
and streamline its delivery to gain a rapid and holistic view of an asset.  

Various proprietary data gathering and mapping solutions exist, but analytics
tools are often linked to this individual software, which can limit the
integrity engineer’s ability to quickly see the full picture. 

Better Decision-Making 

However, there are new industry solutions to this challenge. The latest advances
in digital pipeline integrity management systems, which can obtain and interpret
data rapidly, are providing operators with the ability to manage the integrity
of their assets with greater confidence. 

The development of modern data agnostic systems that can quickly bring together
and compare inspection data from a range of vendors simultaneously are providing
engineers with a holistic view of the project in quick time. Increased
automation, from upload to report generation, can enable the whole process to be
measured in seconds rather than days or weeks.  

Systems that can ingest and manage all available data and integrate with
existing ERP (enterprise resource planning) solutions can provide engineers with
important insights, enabling make better decisions to optimize asset
performance.  

Advanced digital pipeline integrity management systems are already demonstrating
the value of data deployment and interpretation over conventional processes.
Below are two examples where digital systems have provided benefits to
operators. 

Assessing the Andes  

A system comprising 687 miles (1,106 km) of main pipeline with multiple branches
transports crude oil from the Amazonas jungle over the Andes Mountains to the
north coast of Peru. 

The pipeline is a critical national asset. It is more than 45 years old and has
reported several spills in recent years. 

To maintain acceptable risk levels and ensure integrity and reliability, Penspen
was commissioned to update the pipeline’s risk study assessment. The revised
assessment will support the regulatory agency with future supervision projects. 

THEIA enabled Penspen to manage and assess reports documenting 1,000,000
features on the pipeline. Previous in line inspections (ILIs) and reports were
tracked. Corrosion growth rate (CGR) estimates were provided using modules for
welding correlation, matching features, and CGR. Safe working pressures were
calculated using Mod ASME B31G and Kastner modules, and estimated remnant life
was determined based on the CGR outputs. 

The system processed all the information records efficiently and easily. The ILI
data supported the analysis of the pipeline’s condition. Mapping visualizations
supported maintenance decisions. The customer was able to store information in
one centralized document repository, providing easy access to relevant data for
future integrity management.  

Jet Fuel Pipeline  

A pipeline maintained by Penspen takes aviation fuel from a refinery to
Manchester International Airport. A series of ILIs has been completed for the
pipeline. However, manual feature matching between the large ILI data sets to
obtain a CGR is time-consuming. 

THEIA’s feature matching and CGR module was identified as an alternative
approach. All ILI data sets from a range of vendors were uploaded into the
system’s data lake alongside other essential information including pipeline
properties, construction data, ILI dates and tool tolerances.  

Combinations of multiple data sets were selected and run as feature matching and
CGR analyses. A single analysis took a maximum of several minutes to complete.
Manual feature matching and CGR calculations would have taken days of
engineering time. 

Feature-matching statistics and a range of CGRs including the mean and 95
percentile upper bound CGRs were obtained. A credible CGR was selected to
calculate the remaining life of the pipeline and the next ILI date.  

A validation exercise for one of the system’s results versus manual feature
matching and CGR was undertaken. THEIA’s feature matching and CGR module matched
572 external corrosion features between UT ILI and MFL ILI data sets.
Additionally, 532 external corrosion features were manually matched for the two
data sets, taking many hours. CGRs then had to be calculated for the manually
matched features using Penspen’s software. 

A comparison of the external CGRs results from the system vs. those from manual
feature matching was extremely close – within 0.1 mm/year of each other.  

Common Approach 

Having a system that cross-references and codifies swathes of information and
industry standards while rapidly driving through data to deliver greater and
faster project clarity has obvious advantages for asset integrity, risk
assessment and asset management. It can significantly speed up timelines with
the resulting financial benefits. It also frees integrity engineers to focus on
important data analysis rather than number crunching.  

Penspen noted that by using the system, productivity in integrity departments
could increase by up to 50%. Making the acquisition of multiple data sets easier
can also support better decision-making.  

Developments in data interpretation can deliver tangible advantages for
individual operators. However, it is hoped that it may also leverage the
opportunity for a more coordinated and collaborative approach to data use across
the industry. 

An important first step would be for the industry to rethink its relationship
with data so that it is regarded not as a challenge but as an asset or a value
point that must be invested in and managed, just like other assets such as
platforms or infrastructure, to generate optimal returns. 

A second significant development would be for operators to agree a set of
standards for managing data in an agnostic environment, in a similar way to how
integrity standards are clearly defined in the Pipeline Defects Assessment
Manual and accepted by operators across the board.  

It is important for the industry to appreciate more fully the worth of the data
available to it and to establish long-term solutions for improving its
utilization. Significant progress has been made from the days of relying on
t-cards for pipeline integrity management. However, there is still much to do in
the recognition of data as a highly valuable asset. 

References: 

1)
https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/pipeline-integrity-management-market-100961  

2) https://www.ft.com/content/52a35fe6-83f0-41d3-9fad-fb981e6b7958 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author: Louise O’Sullivan is the managing director of Digital Solutions at
global energy consultancy company Penspen. Focusing on developing digital
platforms and solutions that transform efficiencies within business workflows,
she leads the business digital pipeline integrity solution – THEIA. She
specializes in taking disruptive concepts from ideas on paper to reality and
developing successful strategies for going to market. 





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Pipelines a Vital Part of RNG, Cleaner Future
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