RCP will be presenting papers at the International Pipeline Conference in Calgary. Presenting authors from RCP include: Bill Byrd, P.E.; Larry Decker, P.E., and Ken Palmer, PhD. This month’s featured abstracts are by Larry Decker – hopefully you will join us in Calgary for the full presentations.
Pipeline Integrity Management – Estimating and Prioritizing the Risk Resulting from Pipeline Facility Operations
Recent efforts to develop a consistent approach to understanding the risk associated with operating a cross country pipeline have focused primarily on the pipe itself. Integrity management plans often include a prioritized risk profile that all but ignores the specific risks associated with operating tank farms, terminals, pumps and compression. This paper outlines a detailed logical approach that can be utilized to evaluate the relative safety, environmental and cost risk associated with operating diverse types of equipment within a pipeline station. Topics covered include the basic objectives of a facility risk model while providing the detail (granulation) necessary to continuously improve. A specific methodology is suggested as a systematic tactic to make an “apples to apples” comparison of diverse stations, lines and types of equipment, from a risk standpoint.
What tools are available to help maintain a code compliant MAOP for a highly complex and changing gas pipeline system?
Companies that operate large and complex gas pipeline systems face the difficult task of maintaining those assets while complying with code and continuing to operate. Continuous system additions and changes, implemented by diverse groups across the company, result in tedious data driven studies to ensure that operating pressure strictly complies with code. This document presents a model and an approach that utilizes Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data to accurately and efficiently calculate a code-compliant Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP), for systems that have thousands of miles of wide-ranging pipe segments and components.