Robotic Inspection System for Unpiggable Pipelines

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Torbin ◽  
William Leary ◽  
George Vradis
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Sensor Technology ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
Distributed Intelligence ◽  
Sensor Module ◽  
Upstream Direction ◽  
Pipe Geometry ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Pipeline Safety ◽  
Transmission Pipelines

Much of the existing natural gas infrastructure was designed and built without pigging as an operational consideration. There are many physical obstacles in pipelines that make the passage of SMART pigs impossible. The most intractable obstacles include: • Elbows with tight bend radius. • Back to back combinations of elbows. • Partially ported values. • Reductions/expansions greater than two pipe sizes. The use of pigs is totally dependent on the availability of pressure to “push” the pig through the pipeline. Unfortunately, the operation of many utility owned transmission pipelines is at a pressure too low to support the operation of a conventional pig. Although most interstate pipelines are many miles long, many high consequence areas along transmission pipelines are usually extremely short. Many of these pipeline segments are only one to two miles in length with no installed local traps. With the advances in robotics and sensor technology, the Office of Pipeline Safety has recently endorsed the concept that all oil and gas transmission pipelines should be capable of 100 percent inspection. The cost to replace just unpiggable valves and sharp bends has been estimated at over $1.5 billion (gas only). Therefore, the ability to inspect unpiggable pipelines presents a formidable technical and financial challenge. The inspection of unpiggable pipelines requires the marriage of a highly agile robotic platform with NDE sensor technology operating as an autonomous system. Foster-Miller and PII are developing a robot that is essentially a battery powered, train-like platform. Both front and rear tractors propel the train in either the downstream or upstream direction. Like a train, the platform includes additional “cars” to carry the required payloads. The cars are used for various purposes including the NDE sensor module(s), the power supply, and data acquisition/storage components. The onboard distributed intelligence gives the platform the capability of an engineer steering the train through the complex pipe geometry. The robot is designed with a slender aspect ratio and the ability to change shape as required by the physical obstacle presenting itself. The MFL sensor module must also morph itself through the physical obstacles, and thus, will require some level of segmentation. The system requires a very simple launch and retrieval station that is significantly less expensive to deploy.

Study on Oil and Gas Pipeline Leakage Real-Time Inspection System Based on Distributed Optical Fiber

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Feng ◽  
Shijiu Jin ◽  
Yan Zhou ◽  
Zhoumo Zeng ◽  
Pengchao Chen
Keyword(s):  
Optical Fiber ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Optical Fibers ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Inspection System ◽  
System Construction ◽  
Fiber System ◽  
Distributed Optical Fiber ◽  
The Cost

A distributed optical fiber system used to detect pipeline leakage and lawless excavation is put forward in this paper. This system is based on Mach-Zehnder optical fiber interferometer theory, which uses three monomode fibers in one optical fiber cable to compose two Mach-Zehnder interferometers. Vibrations from leakage point and lawless excavation along the pipeline can be acquired by the optical fibers, so the vibrations occurred on the pipeline can be detected in real time. In this paper, the principle and the system construction are introduced, and the way of the fiber cable to influence the sensitivity is studied. And also, the polarization on the optical path is studied in this paper, and a new technology to eliminate “Polarization Debilitating” is put forward. With principle analysis and experimental results, it is demonstrated that the detection system’s measuring sensitivity and location accuracy for detecting leakage and lawless excavation are greatly improved when adopting this technology, and furthermore the cost is very low.

Main approaches to estimating the cost of shareholder equity of oil and gas producers

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 685-697
Author(s):  
O.V. Shimko
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil Prices ◽  
Minimum Cost ◽  
Free Cash Flow ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Oil And Gas Producers ◽  
The Cost

Subject. The study analyzes generally accepted approaches to assessing the value of companies on the basis of financial statement data of ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Occidental Petroleum, Devon Energy, Anadarko Petroleum, EOG Resources, Apache, Marathon Oil, Imperial Oil, Suncor Energy, Husky Energy, Canadian Natural Resources, Royal Dutch Shell, Gazprom, Rosneft, LUKOIL, and others, for 1999—2018. Objectives. The aim is to determine the specifics of using the methods of cost, DFC, and comparative approaches to assessing the value of share capital of oil and gas companies. Methods. The study employs methods of statistical analysis and generalization of materials of scientific articles and official annual reports on the results of financial and economic activities of the largest public oil and gas corporations. Results. Based on the results of a comprehensive analysis, I identified advantages and disadvantages of standard approaches to assessing the value of oil and gas producers. Conclusions. The paper describes pros and cons of the said approaches. For instance, the cost approach is acceptable for assessing the minimum cost of small companies in the industry. The DFC-based approach complicates the reliability of medium-term forecasts for oil prices due to fluctuations in oil prices inherent in the industry, on which the net profit and free cash flow of companies depend to a large extent. The comparative approach enables to quickly determine the range of possible value of the corporation based on transactions data and current market situation.

ABOUT NECESSITY OF MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF THE BUSINESS PROCESS OF COST ESTIMATE CALCULATIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF OIL AND GAS FACILITIES

2017 ◽  
pp. 139-145
Author(s):  
R. I. Hamidullin ◽  
L. B. Senkevich
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Modeling ◽  
Quality Assessment ◽  
Business Process ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Construction Organizations ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Cost Of Construction

A study of the quality of the development of estimate documentation on the cost of construction at all stages of the implementation of large projects in the oil and gas industry is conducted. The main problems that arise in construction organizations are indicated. The analysis of the choice of the perfect methodology of mathematical modeling of the investigated business process for improving the activity of budget calculations, conducting quality assessment of estimates and criteria for automation of design estimates is performed.

A Review on Oil and Gas Pipeline Safety

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakesh Yarlagadda ◽  
M. Affan Badar ◽  
Boris Blyukher
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Shock Waves ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Manufacturing Defects ◽  
Material Defects ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Pipeline Safety ◽  
Day By Day

The safety of oil and gas pipelines has increasingly considered day by day to their vulnerability. Pipelines play a very critical role in the transportation of oil and natural-gas. As they have become the veins of oil industries, the productive design and analysis became more important. This made them more vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Although it is impossible to design pipelines to withstand any conceivable damage due to external (terrorist attacks, seismic effects) and internal effects (design and manufacturing defects), it is possible to improve the performance of pipelines. By understanding the design criteria, it saves lots of money and more over human lives and also protects the product in pipelines, which cannot be recovered and which is more and more scares day by day. This research aims: 1) to understand the different types of pipeline damages, reasons for their occurrence and their effects on the pipelines, such as mechanical damages, material defects, cracks, manufacturing defects, 2) to understand the explosions in pipelines, internal or external explosions and seismic distress, 3) to do research and literature review in analytical and numerical methods which allow researching the influence of shock waves (explosions, seismic), 4) to develop description of experimental research of pipelines subjected to shock waves (explosions, seismic), 5) to establish an effective methodology (develop mathematical model) to study the risk management in pipeline exploitation which can be subjected to such conditions like shock waves (caused by explosions, seismic, as well as mining activities) on pipeline systems (buried, on surface, or underwater), and 6) to establish criteria for risk management. This paper includes a review of the related literature covering the first two goals.

Agile framework for capital projects

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 422
Author(s):  
Polly Mahapatra ◽  
Paris Shahriari
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Hybrid Approach ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Quick Response ◽  
Capital Projects ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Response To Change ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
The Ideal

Under the increased pressure of rapidly changing market conditions and disrupting technologies, continuous improvements in efficiency become indispensable for all oil and gas operators. Traditional project management principles in the oil and gas industry employ rigid methods of planning and execution that can sometimes hinder adaptability and a quick response to change. Considering the potential that Agile principles can offer as a solution, the challenge, therefore, is to identify the ideal, hybrid, approach that leverages Agile while incorporating the traditional linear workflow necessitated by the oil and gas industry. This paper seeks to assess pre-existing literature in the application of the Agile principles in the oil and gas industry with a focus on Major Capital Projects (MCPs), backed by the successes experienced as a result of specific pilot projects completed at Chevron’s Australian Business Unit. In particular, this paper will focus on how agility has resulted in improvements to the cost, schedule, teaming and cohesion of MCPs in the early phases as well as key learnings form the pilot agility projects.

scholarly journals Investing in community: community land trusts and affordable housing in Calgary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Dow
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trust Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Land Trusts ◽  
Land Trust ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
Community Land Trust ◽  
The Cost

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.

scholarly journals Investing in community: community land trusts and affordable housing in Calgary

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leah Dow
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trust Model ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Land Trusts ◽  
Land Trust ◽  
Viable Solution ◽  
Community Land Trust ◽  
The Cost

The cost of affordable rental units in Calgary is amongst the highest in Canada, despite a rental vacancy rate that is 3 percent higher than the national average (Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2017). Nearly 1 in 5 Calgary households are struggling to pay for shelter costs and as of 2016, more than 42,000 households were spending more than 50 percent of their incomes on shelter, putting this population at a greater risk of becoming homeless due to job loss or from some other unexpected financial hardship (City of Calgary, 2017). Counter to popular belief, economically depressed communities with weak rental and housing markets such as Calgary following the 2015 collapse of the oil and gas sector can be subject to a critical lack of affordable housing. A soft housing market cannot make up for an insufficient range of affordable and non-market housing options. In other cities facing similar challenges, especially those in the United States, the formation of Community Land Trusts has proven to be a viable solution for providing both affordable rental and affordable ownership opportunities for residents who are struggling to afford the cost of housing in their area. This paper explores whether the Community Land Trust model is an appropriate tool to augment Calgary’s limited supply of affordable housing and will end with five recommendations to encourage the adoption of the Community Land Trust model in Calgary. Key Words: affordable housing, affordable ownership, Calgary, community land trust, small-scale affordable development.

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