Articles

As widely recognized, climate change, particularly the rise in global average temperatures, has significantly impacted rainfall patterns, affecting both the amount and distribution of precipitation across various regions. This has led to a growing frequency of intense rainfall events and extreme weather phenomena, such as floods and landslides,…

High-pressure gas pipelines often cross potentially unstable slopes under static and/or seismic conditions. Consequently, their structural integrity may be detrimentally affected by Permanent Ground Displacements (PGDs) due to landslides, leading to pipe failures. Since pipeline rerouting is often unfeasible due to various techno-economic…

Over the past decade, CENIT has strengthened its risk-informed approach to managing pipeline geohazards, focusing on early warnings for hydrometeorological threats. With a network of 90 monitoring sensors along pipeline rights-of-way, the system provides near-real-time data on rainfall and river levels, enabling proactive responses.By integrating…

The effect of chlorides on metal corrosion has been known for a long time, and continues to be extensively studied in order to adopt the best practices with regard to mitigation. The dominant type of corrosion in the presence of chlorides is pitting corrosion.Bromides on the other hand have not been extensively studied, and – after being proposed…

Natural gas has been a key energy source for over 200 years, supporting heating, the generation of electricity and manufacturing. While pipelines remain the safest transport method, maintaining gas operations to meet the varying demands of a wide range of customers has become increasingly complex.Access to scalable computing power enables rapid…

Most operators are aware of the threat that geohazards present to pipelines routed through hilly terrain or subsidence areas and those at river crossings. A range of management systems and tools is available to investigate and address these risks. Climate change is having an increasing but unpredictable impact on the development of pipeline…

A novel wear monitoring concept using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology has been developed for assessing the condition of slurry rubber hoses. This concept involves embedding RFID tags inside the hose liner, correlating their unique identification numbers with tag location information, and tracking the presence or absence of the…

Welcome to the first edition of the Pipeline Technology Journal (ptj) for 2025. As we begin this new year, our focus is on a core aspect of our industry: safety. Safety is both the foundation and driver for inspection and integrity management in our pipeline industry which aims to mitigate loss of containment (LOC) events.History is peppered with…

Third-party interference, particularly construction-related damages, is a critical risk for gas pipeline infrastructure. To address these risks, CSE PreFerenceE, a specialized module within the Pipeline Integrity Management System (PIMS), provides high-precision GIS-based threat analysis and recommends mitigation strategies. Using machine learning…

Pipelines known as culverts cross water bodies and other infrastructures such as roads. They pose a particular challenge for risk management. Especially when verifying the position and depth of cover (DoC) of pipelines crossing water bodies, conventional inspection methods reach their limits. The innovative inspection technology developed by EMPIT…

Women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions, especially in technically oriented industries such as the pipeline industry. Structural barriers, unconscious biases, and limited networking opportunities hinder their advancement. A promising approach to promoting women's careers is mentoring by male leaders, as they can integrate…

Pipelines are crucial to daily life, requiring ongoing monitoring and protection. Vibroacoustic Technology (VT) offers reliable pipeline monitoring by detecting various phenomena through vibroacoustic waves. However, even the best field solutions and software lose effectiveness without a user-friendly interface.Timely detection and localization of…

Subsea pipelines such as in-field flowlines, trunklines, test lines etc. are an integral part of all offshore field developments. This paper covers innovative solutions for carbon footprint reduction from different phases of subsea pipeline life cycle i.e. design, construction and operation. Low carbon field developments are vital and heart of…

Pipeline operators rely on ILI and NDE to ensure system integrity, but these methods face challenges when detecting and sizing off-axis cracking.What if NDE suggests a systematic bias in ILI results? Can this data still support Integrity Management Programs (IMP)?In a Phase 1 case study, NDT Global and Phillips 66 developed a systematic method to…

Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) technology has been widely used for pipeline inspection due to its reliability in detecting metal loss. However, unidirectional axial (MFL-A) and circumferential (MFL-C) tools have inherent limitations in detecting and sizing complex corrosion anomalies. These limitations often result in conservative reporting,…

In contrast to traditional oil industries, the oil sands sector experiences severe wear-related problems due to the inherently abrasive and corrosive nature of the mined oil sands. This wear affects the mining and extraction processes, causing rapid pipe wall loss in carbon steel slurry pipelines over a relatively short period. To extend service…

As part of the Insights series in the Pipeline Technology Journal this article addresses readers new to our industry and possibly not so familiar with the exciting world of in-line inspection (ILI) yet. But hopefully it will also be of interest for the more experienced colleagues by sharing some “insights” and possibly broader perspective or…

Europe is still heavily relying on natural gas supplies via pipelines and keeps diversifying its supplies trying to free itself of Russian deliveries. This is a critical concern for Europeans since 2022 when the flow of gas through the Nord Stream pipelines was halted. Another promising project was in place to provide the same volumes, but as a…

Following the shockwaves to European energy security in 2022 and the subsequent shutdown of gas delivery from Russia, the German government took strong action in securing alternative natural gas resources.An urgent requirement to replace the lost capacity resulted in the OAL project in the Baltic Sea – a 48” pipeline linking a new-build LNG…

Efficient hydrocarbon transportation depends on extensive pipeline networks requiring regular inspections for safety and efficiency. Deadlegs, parts of the system prone to corrosion, pose significant challenges. Traditional manual ultrasonic testing lacks the accuracy needed for effective corrosion assessment. Permanently installed ultrasonic…

The requirements for pipeline construction and corrosion protection are becoming increasingly demanding. For modern construction with sustainable protection, selecting the right materials is both crucial and challenging. Although compliance with product-specific regulations is often seen as a guarantee for the universal suitability of products, it…

The hydrocarbon transportation and distribution industry benefits greatly from in-service welding by reducing operational disruption costs. In-service welding is used to repair internal and external defects, such as leaks, using weld deposition or sleeves (Type A or B) and hot tapping operations. If in-service welding is not possible, then…

Quantitative Risk Assessments (QRAs) are a vital tool for managing risks on the onshore gas network. They provide objective, data-driven evaluations of potential hazards, allowing operators to prioritise high-risk areas and allocate resources effectively. QRAs support regulatory compliance, inform decision-making, and help assess the impact of…

Subsea pipelines, such as in-field flowlines, trunklines, etc., are an integral part of all offshore field developments. Pipeline damage can occur either during construction phase or during the life of field. Critical pipeline damage such as leak, rupture, or crack requires repair to be performed on an emergency basis. Repair readiness is being…

Prediction of external corrosion using data from in-line inspections (ILI) can be instrumental in making proactive pipeline integrity management decisions, especially when integrated with geospatial data. This work investigates how a relationship may be established between the presence of bending-strain areas and the initiation and or progression…