Cross Country Pipeline Risk Assessments and Mitigation Strategies

Arafat Aloqaily

• Publisher: Gulf Professional Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780128160077
• eBook ISBN: 9780128160084
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Insurance
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Cross Country Pipeline Risk Assessments and Mitigation Strategies describes the process of pipeline risk management and hazard identification, using qualitative risk assessment, consequence modeling/evaluation, pipeline failure rates, and risk calculations, as well as risk mitigation and control strategies. The book evaluates potential causes of pipeline failure in the oil and gas industry based on a wide range of data that cover more than 40 years of operating history. Additionally, it details a consistent approach that allows for proper estimation of potential risk and offers methods for mitigating this potential risk. This approach is then combined with consequence modeling to fully calculate the different forms of risk presented by pipelines. Cross Country Pipeline Risk Assessments and Mitigation Strategies is an essential resource for professionals and experts involved in pipeline design as well as researchers and students studying risk assessment, particularly in relation to pipelines.- Offers a practical risk assessment model for pipelines without the need for complicated, expensive software- Describes a new and systematic approach for pipeline risk control and mitigation that reflects actual pipeline conditions and operating status- Provides examples of all pipeline hazard identification techniques and how they are used to produce consistent results- Includes access to a newly developed Excel tool PipeFAIT for assessing pipeline risk

Chapter 1

Foreword and Book Description

Abstract

Pipelines are used to transfer hazardous materials in different countries throughout the world, and their utilization is growing in the recent years. The pipeline network poses risk to the public communities and the environment, where these pipelines are routed. The risk shall be assessed and managed to acceptable levels in order to maintain proper balance between public safety and environment protection on one side and economic development on the other side. Some pipelines are constructed to transfer strategically important supplies of hazardous material such as oil and gas products across international borders, impacting geopolitics of the region and being affected by it. The scope of this book covers risk assessment and mitigation strategies for cross-country pipelines. The first chapter of this book describes the design and operating requirements of cross-country pipelines including international border-crossing pipelines. It also provides a description of the growing pipeline network in different parts of the world.

Keywords

Pipeline design; Pipeline system components; Pipeline integrity; Pipeline life-cycle management; Pipeline geopolitics; Pipeline inspection; Management of change; Pipeline corrosion management

Pipeline risk assessments are very essential to understanding the actual magnitude of risks posed by pipelines carrying hazardous materials to the general public and environment and pipeline operating personnel. This book is mainly intended as reference that comprehensively describes risk assessment approaches and methodologies in a simple and direct format. The scope of this book covers the cross-country pipelines that are defined as pipelines that transfer hazardous material such as oil and gas products from the production source to the processing/distribution sites. Cross-country pipelines are pipelines that start just outside the limits (fence line) of the production site all the way to the entry/fence line of the receiving end. Pipes or pipelines within the fence line of production or processing facilities are not included in this definition of cross-country pipelines and are not within the scope of this book. Cross-country pipelines are not used to mean international pipelines only, although pipelines that run across international borders are considered cross-country pipelines. This definition is very important to understand while going through the book. Also, it is important to note that offshore pipelines are beyond the scope of this book, although some information and principles discussed in this book are applicable to those as well.

Pipelines are widely considered a safe mode for transporting hazardous material, and the pipeline network has been consistently growing in size throughout the world in the last few decades. Maintaining this vast network of important assets presents a serious challenge to owners of these assets and all other stakeholders involved including the local communities and authorities. The main issue that consistently manifests itself is the lack of credible data that allow for proper evaluation of potential release of hazardous material from these pipelines and assessing the risk from the pipelines. Loss of containment (LOC) of materials transferred via the pipelines, as a result of pipeline failure, is the main event that should be controlled to maintain the safety and protect the environment around communities where these pipelines run. Pipeline failure modes and integrity assessment are critical components in maintaining pipeline safety and managing its risk. This cannot be more critical than when these pipelines carry flammable/toxic material commonly processed/produced from chemical, petrochemical, oil, and gas facilities. In this book, the potential modes and causes of failure of pipelines used in the oil and gas industry are evaluated based on wide range of data available from different databases in the world that cover more than 40 years of operating history. The objective of the analysis is to develop a consistent approach that allows for proper estimation of potential risk and how it can be mitigated. This will then be combined with consequence modeling to fully calculate the different forms of risk presented by the pipelines. Simplified consequence modeling for pipeline risk assessments is presented in this book, as well.

Pipeline professionals and experts must understand the pipeline safety and risk, just the way they understand pipeline design and operations. Some references are available that talk about this concept, but this book describes the fundamentals of pipeline risk management in simple straightforward manner. It provides a simplified model that allows the readers to use the model and get a reasonably detailed assessment of the risk. It also describes general principles on risk control and mitigation. The book presents a detailed description of pipeline failure modes and a simple, yet accurate, approach to evaluate that based on publicly available information. The intent of the book is not to describe theories behind risk assessment but to present a simple easy-to-follow model that allows the reader to understand and assess risk associated with the pipelines.

Background and Historic Perspective

Pipelines are used to transfer hazardous material in large quantities between sources of supplies and consumers/end users throughout the world. Pipelines are effective and economic mean of transfer for hazardous material and are gaining momentum as the preferred transporting tool. Figs. 1–4 show the growth in pipeline network total length in Europe and the United States with time. The data shown in these figures demonstrate the growing reliance on pipelines to transfer hazardous material between different points of interest.

Fig. 1 US total hazardous liquid pipeline length (1000 km). Based on PHMSA data.

Fig. 2 US total gas pipeline length (1000 km). Based on PHMSA data.

Fig. 3 Total hazardous liquid pipeline length in Europe. Based on CONCAWE data.

Fig. 4 Total gas pipeline length in Europe. Based on EGIG data.

Fig. 1 shows that the total inventory of pipelines transferring hazardous liquid material in the United States increased from 270,000 km in 2004 to around 320,000 km in 2014 while the total gas pipeline length increased from 3.3 million km in 1995 to less than 4 million km in 2014 [1]. The European liquid pipeline inventory increased from 14,000 km in 1970 to 34,000 km in 2014, as shown in Fig. 3, while the total gas pipeline length increased from 30,000 km in 1970 to 140,000 km in 2013 [2,3].

The trend shown in Figs. 1–4 indicates that more pipelines will be constructed and used to transport hazardous material around the world. The large network of pipelines poses risk to public communities and the environment where these pipelines pass. The risk should be assessed and managed to acceptable levels in order to maintain proper balance between public safety and environment protection in one side and economic development from the other side.

Pipelines Design and Operation

Pipelines are designed and operated/maintained for one purpose, which is to transfer hazardous material from one location (source or production facility) to another location (end user or consumer stations/facilities). In order to achieve this objective, the pipeline has to be designed and operated per applicable standards and best practices to ensure that its design is appropriate and its operation is conducted to keep it running per design conditions.

Pipeline design includes selecting/calculating the following parameters:

Pipeline Size (Diameter)

This parameter is determined mainly by the amount of material to be transferred through the pipeline (i.e., flowrate). The higher the flowrate is, the bigger the pipeline size is. Industrial best practices provide proper guidelines on acceptable flowrates for a given pipeline cross-sectional area (i.e., velocities) for both gases and liquid fluids. These recommended velocities are a balance between the size of the pipeline and its operational need. If too low velocities are used, then larger pipelines will be needed, which increases the cost of construction and causes operational problems (e.g., accumulation of liquid in low points leading to corrosion problems). High velocities reduce the size of the pipeline but could cause other problems such as erosion, damage to pipeline material, and high pressure loss inside the pipeline. So, it is recommended to follow the applicable standards and best practices to ensure optimum design of the pipeline and proper selection of its size.

Recommended ranges of optimum velocities for different fluids are available in the literature and could be used for pipeline design as applicable.

Pipeline Wall Thickness

The thickness of the pipeline walls depends on several factors including the following:

• ● The operating pressure and temperature: The higher the pressure and temperature is, the higher the required wall thickness should be. High pressure requires higher thickness to ensure that the pipeline does not rupture.
• ● Corrosivity of the material and the required corrosion allowance: Highly corrosive material requires thicker pipeline to ensure that corrosion does not reduce the thickness to the point where a leak occurs. Note that corrosion allowance is not always used in cross-country pipelines.
• ● Design factor: This is a factor used to increase the wall thickness if the pipeline carries hazardous material that can impact the public. The wall thickness increases to ensure safety of the public. Increase in the wall thickness is proportional to the size of public communities exposed to hazardous materials in case of pipeline rupture. Note that design factors can also be modified by changing the operating pressure of the pipeline as well.
• ● Material of construction can also affect the pipeline wall thickness as well. Stronger material (higher grade) can reduce the wall thickness, but the ratio between the diameter and wall thickness has a limit that it should not exceed.

Wall thickness for pipelines is calculated following international best practices and standards such as the ASME 31.4 and ASME 31.8 [4,5].

Pipeline Materia...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Disclaimer
• PipeFAIT
• Chapter 1: Foreword and Book Description
• Chapter 2: Identification of Hazards Associated With Pipelines
• Chapter 3: Introduction to Pipeline Risk Assessments
• Chapter 4: Pipeline Consequence Modeling
• Chapter 5: Pipeline Failure Mode and Frequency
• Chapter 6: Pipeline Quantitative Risk Assessment
• Chapter 7: Pipeline Process Safety Management
• Index