Deformation and Fracture Behaviors of Polyethylene Coatings on the Natural Gas Transmission Line With Ultraviolet Exposure

The effect of carbon black, ultraviolet (UV) stabilizer and color pigment on the mechanical property of polyethylene (PE) has been investigated. The transition of fracture mode from ductile to brittle upon UV exposure is identified through microscopic examination of fracture surface. This transition is responsible for the degradation of mechanical properties. The carbon black doped PE shows excellent UV resistance regardless of the presence of UV stabilizer. The mechanical properties of the PE remained unchanged even after 50-days UV exposure. The ductile fracture mode is also maintained in this case. The addition of red color pigment exhibited a very poor UV resistance.

Building a 5000hp, VFD Controlled, Pump Station in 105 Days: “Fact or Fantasy”

On March 17, 1997 Robicon Corporation was requested, by a large Alberta based oil company, to provide a proposal to manage a turn-key, crude oil, pump station project. The oil company had identified an immediate need to expand their North Eastern Alberta Pipe Line system to allow a higher thru-put into the Hardisty, Alberta area: • the pipe line was capacity restricted and customer demand indicated an immediate requirement to increase pipe line thru-put by 70%; • the capacity increase was required by June 30th or earlier.

Development and Implementation of the NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. Conservation and Reclamation Standard

Currently, under Alberta’s Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act and regulations, all pipelines transporting natural gas with an index of 2690 or greater require an approval (Conservation and Reclamation Approval) for the conservation and reclamation activities associated with construction and reclamation of a pipeline. Administratively, Alberta Environmental Protection considers a pipeline requiring an Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act approval as a “Class 1” pipeline. The index is a calculation of length of pipe (in kilometers) multiplied by the outside pipe diameter (in millimeters). NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) has developed and implemented a Conservation & Reclamation (C&R) Standard to streamline the provincial C&R Application process. By re-formatting the currently accepted C&R Application into a Standard document, textual information submitted for an individual project has been reduced, without affecting the quality of environmental planning. The Standard document compiles NGTL’s environmental standard practices and mitigative measures undertaken for all pipelines. It also explains NGTL’s decision-making processes during the design phase of a project. The project-specific document presents issue focused site-specific environmental details in a simplified format The C&R Standard in combination with the project-specific submission form the NGTL C&R Application. NGTL’s C&R Standard was developed within a concept which uses key building blocks to achieve industry accountability. This concept requires an organization to have performance measurement tools in place, and to demonstrate commitment to that performance in order to earn public confidence. Once this confidence is established and maintained, an organization can realize industry accountability. Considering this concept, NGTL leveraged past performance and experience by documenting our consistent approach to pipeline design, and our performance measurement criteria into the C&R Standard. Fundamental to the development of the Standard was NGTL’s Platform Design Concept. Initially this design concept was adopted as an integral component of NGTL’s business need to reduce and streamline internal processes. This concept was then applied to external processes in an effort to meet business needs. The Standard includes two primary components, Guiding Principles and Platforms. By combining NGTL Guiding Principles (‘What’ and ‘Why’) and NGTL Platforms (‘How’), the Concept provides a systematic design guide for all projects that allows NGTL to make the right decisions based on the right design criteria. NGTL submitted the C&R Standard document to Alberta Environmental Protection for review in July 1997 and is currently implementing the Standard for all C&R Applications. This paper describes the development of the document as well as the implementation process and experience of the Standard.

The Australian Petroleum Pipeline Code AS 2885 - 1997

The Australian Standard AS 2885 - 1997 Pipelines Gas and Liquid Petroleum contains mandatory risk assessment procedures which are deeply integrated into route selection, design and operation and maintenance. The procedures require systematic identification and assessment of threats which are specific to the pipeline, the location, the threat itself and its effect on the pipeline. External interference protection design is one fundamental step in the risk assessment procedure which involves formal specification of physical measures for the prevention of damage and procedural measures for the prevention if incidents with the potential to cause external interference. A land classification system based on land use and design which separates the design factor for pressure containment from the requirements for other engineering parameters combine to ensure that economy, reliability and public safety are optimised together. A fracture control plan is required as part of the integrated design process and the plan requires formal and systematic treatment of fluid composition and type and fracture arrest length. The welding section of the standard differs significantly from API 1104 and includes fitness-for-purpose defect acceptance limits based on the EPRG guidelines.

Effect of Flow Conditioners and Pulsation on the Performance of 8 Inch Multi-Path Ultrasonic Meters

The performance of two 8inch multi-path ultrasonic meters provided by Instromet and Daniel Industries is evaluated in the presence of a 19 tube bundle and the CPACL’ flow conditioner. These flow conditioners are placed downstream of a single elbow and two elbows out of plane. The ultrasonic meters are tested at several locations downstream of the flow conditioners. NOVA’s gravimetric meter prover is used to evaluate the performance of the meters. The present measurements indicate that the use of CPACL flow conditioner results in a near baseline performance of ultrasonic meters. The two meters were also tested for pulsation effects using some of the solutions suggested by the manufacturers. Present tests indicate that the solutions were not effective enough and the meters are subject to errors when exposed to a pulsating flow.

Material Assessment of Canadian SAW Line-Pipes

Eight pipes, manufactured between 1952 and 1981, have been collected from various Canadian pipeline companies and tested. They include six pipes from the field made in the 1950’s and 1960’s of X52 grade, one experimental pipe manufactured in the early 1970’s of X65 grade, and a modern clean steel of X70 grade manufactured in 1981. The steels have been characterized by chemical composition, grain size, yield and tensile strengths, notch toughness (Charpy V-notch absorbed energy), and fracture toughness (J-integral and crack-tip opening displacement). The modern steel has much lower carbon content and much smaller grain size compared to the pipes manufactured in the 1950’s and 1960’s. The former is a fully-killed controlled-rolled steel while the latter are semi-killed ferrite-pearlite steels. All eight pipes have ferrite-pearlite microstructures, with the average grain size ranging from 4 to 14 μm. The transverse yield strength was found to be significantly higher (by about 20%) than the longitudinal yield strength. Notch toughness and fracture toughness were similar for pipes manufactured in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In comparison, the modern steel has much higher toughness and higher strength. J-integral and CTOD δ were found to be related by J = m σyδ with m = 1.8 and σy the transverse yield strength. The J-integral at 0.2 mm crack growth was consistent with a linear correlation with the upper-shelf Charpy energy. All the steels in this study fractured by ductile tearing in slow loading in spite of the low toughness of the older steels. It is suggested that, in the absence of Charpy upper shelf data, a reasonable representative toughness for resistance to axial surface flaws propagating by ductile tearing is J = 120±15 kJ/m2.

A Process Using Risk Analysis to Select Construction Methods for Pipeline Crossings of Major Rivers

Pipeline river crossings pose a significant challenge for pipeline owners and environmental regulators to balance the associated costs and risks, particularly where environmental impacts may occur. For years, NOVA Gas Transmission Ltd. (NGTL) has managed the regulatory approval process using a well-established process. However, regulatory expectations are increasingly neutral to the cost of crossing installations and are demanding a more thorough assessment of a wider variety of river crossing options, particularly trenchless technologies. As a result, NGTL has recently enhanced the internal process by incorporating a structured decision tool. This tool is able to quantitatively assess technical risks as well as ‘soft’ influences such as “Regulatory Relationship” and “Delay in Approval”. The result is a clear decision with the necessary buy-in, where all risks were identified quantitatively and well understood by decision makers.

Early Public Notification

In response to public pressure and in a desire to ensure that the public was adequately informed about potential projects, the National Energy Board (NEB) produced a Memorandum of Guidance with respect to its expectations regarding its Early Public Notification (EPN) program in 1990. Over time, issues such as Stress Corrosion Cracking, Risk Assessment, Pipeline Integrity and Landowner Compensation have all significantly impacted the way companies have adjusted their approaches to the delivery of EPN programs. In the future, the pipeline industry can expect that public consultation programs will increasingly become an essential component on both project specific and long range strategic communications planning. The purpose of this paper is to review the development and implementation of the EPN process and to propose future issues which may impact the planning and execution of consultation programs. The focus of this paper will be to: A. Profile the evolution and delivery of EPN programs and review the communications tools typically used with EPN programs; B. Examine the recent emergence of regional landowner interest groups and to review their effect on the regulatory process and issues such as pipeline integrity, pipeline safety and environmental stewardship; C. Review how the pipeline industry has responded to public, Board and government initiatives regarding intervenor funding, and; D. Provide insight into future EPN delivery systems as well as emerging trends with respect to public participation in the pipeline and resource sector.

Application of Material Standards and ISO Quality Management Systems

Since the early 1970’s, the pipeline construction and operation industry has supported the development and implementation of various material standards and specifications. The emphases within the pipeline energy industry was to standardize manufacturing and performance testing processes in the provision of a product which would ensure public safety and reliability of service. The pipeline segment of the energy industry has succeeded in incorporating minimum quality levels by way of industry standards, codes, regulatory requirements and propriety company standards. In addition to these minimum product requirements quality assurance programs have been introduced to enhance the likelihood of conformance to the applicable requirements. In 1975, Canada became the first country to prepare and publish quality system standards for commercial use (Z299 standards). International quality system standards development proliferated in the following years, leading to the establishment of the ISO/TC 176 work team which subsequently led to the issue of the internationally accepted ISO 9000 series of standards. This paper will review both the concept and stages of development of CSA pipe and coating standards. It will also analyze the impact that international standards for Quality Management Systems are having in establishing systematic approaches to assessing levels of quality during material manufacture. Finally, a vision of the possible road to the future will be drawn and the positive impacts for the pipeline industry will be projected from a full life cycle cost perspective.

Three Layer Epoxy/Polyethylene Side Extruded Coatings for Pipe for High Temperature Application

The author will focus on the properties of three layer epoxy/ polyethylene coating for pipe, based on the experience developed in the lab, coating plant and in the field. The demands of the respective Canadian and other international standards will be looked at with the purpose to evaluate respective merits of various specifications. Special attention will be paid to the properties of the coating involving pipelines operating at elevated temperature, especially running through permanently wet areas, such as permafrost. Lab results will be correlated with the real life experience. Three layer Epoxy/ Polyethylene coatings will be compared to other commonly used coatings in the industry with the object to assess respective benefits and projected longevity versus cost.