The Impacts for Pipeline Integrity Teams

The 2019 edition of CSA Z662 includes updates in two key areas involving In-line Inspection (ILI) of pipelines. Clause 10 now explicitly identifies the considerations operators need to apply when evaluating imperfections detected by ILI and Annex D has been expanded upon to include Tool Selection guidance and harmonization to other ILI standards such as API 1163 and CEPA’s Metal Loss Inspection guidance document.

How does this impact Pipeline Integrity Management Teams?

These new updates are a key focus area for transmission and midstream operators as they effectively develop and manage their ILI programs. A successful ILI inspection requires Integrity Teams to continually coordinate between various stakeholders and ensure successful completion of each step in the process. This process creates an ILI listing which ultimately sets up the foundation for the Integrity Management Program (IMP) so it is critical that a detailed evaluation of each step is reviewed from the engineering team to analyze the data and leverage the findings into their IMP. The new CSA updates will further assist integrity teams throughout this process with providing additional guidance in developing their ILI programs.

Given the nature of our industry expertise, coupled with our technology enabled solutions for pipeline integrity management, we continually review and monitor new industry regulations such as these updates from the CSA to ensure we provide accurate and trusted guidance for our client’s ILI programs. We bring a wealth of experience in procedural development, including validation, verification and evaluation of ILI data through analytics. Many operators only run a small number of ILI inspections per year so they may not have the expertise with different ILI technologies or have the experience to identify warning signs or trends in the data. It is imperative to have robust and useable ILI procedures in place to ensure a successful program, as well as to effectively manage any outliers or unsuccessful inspections.

Another emerging trend is the use and integration of multiple ILI technologies or data sets to create a complete picture of the pipeline’s condition. Our IRAS application, ILIAnalyst, allows operators to load, align and analyse their ILI data through a self-serve functionality. Users can configure their company specific analytics or reporting requirements in the form of saved templates that can be shared across multiple teams and departments. This provides integrity engineers a consistent and proven framework that is aligned to corporate procedures, and furthermore provides them the flexibility to perform enhanced analytics on an as-needed basis. Real-time data with actionable insight.

About the Author:

Kevin Spencer
Kevin Spencer has over 20 years’ experience in the global pipeline integrity industry, and specializes in enterprise integrity management systems, risk and reliability, and ILI technologies. He holds a BSc in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne (United Kingdom). Kevin currently sits on the CSA Integrity Task Force and frequently presents on many pipeline-integrity related topics at industry forums, including the International Pipeline Conference in Calgary and the Department of Transportation (DOT) public workshop in Washington, DC (USA). Kevin can be reached at Kevin_Spencer@dynamicrisk.net