Defect Verification-A necessity no matter what the effort, or what the cost??

Unfortunately I have come across situations where the perceived effort and cost of seeking verification on main oil pipeline defects highlighted during planned ILI runs have clouded peoples judgement, to the point where you have to visualize for them oil escaping into the sea and $$ in lost unplanned production not to mention the volume of negative publicity before common sense prevails....a lot of effort believe me .

Even worse again I have come across Integrity leaders who have simply continued to tell management what they wanted to hear to ensure they are seen in good light and have their chance of progression , to the point where one Integrity Team lead I know documented to management that a main oil line was safe to last 35 years without any credible data nor pigging facilities and it subsequently failed in six locations and had to be fully replaced at a cost of over $100 Million .....by this time the integrity leader had moved into corporate and developed "amnesia".

Sub sea pipeline defect verification by Ultrasonic scanning is something I have been involved with previously and has thrown out some excellent results which in fact have "helped" and not "hindered" perceived production downtime whilst successfully managing risk .The role of Integrity leaders is to work side by side with operations and look for practical solutions to potential problems " Tell people what we can achieve , rather than what we can not achieve".

Companies unfortunately get it wrong , I once took over from an Integrity leader who had allocated only $50k to the sub sea inspection budget for his last five years , which when you consider that a fully equipped DSV would cost that amount for one days work without any mobilization charges , you can imagine why this aspect of the integrity program was 100% non compliant and bubbles had started to appear in the water...short term gain in budget costs which would have no doubt been well received at the time , caused some long term pain and costs far exceeded the original savings.

If it goes wrong then lets hope you have established a good emergency pipeline repair procedure and a healthy stock of pipeline repair clamps ? There are many pitfalls and learning opportunities which I have found out when managing sub sea inspections and repairs over the years, and some will save you valuable time and reduce further production downtime .Using the correct equipment , experienced DSV contractor and vendors is critical when you have a problem and being able to quickly react is paramount ... for instance finding a defect in a pipeline by ROV quickly with the aid of a few bubbles whilst de pressuring saves a lot more time than starting in the dark with no reference point or waiting on a ILI company to mobilize.

Detection and Prevention win my vote any day of the week , as deep down management do not like surprises nor high profile unplanned shutdowns so the small pain for long term gain solution is the track we should be taking ....after all "You can not see a rainbow without putting up with a little bit of rain ?"

If you need any help with your sub sea program or defect verification , along with any Integrity needs then contact me in total confidence. [email protected]