Saleh Al-Sulaiman

Living With HIC Damaged Pipeline

A 41 km. (25.5 mile) long, 508 mm (20″) Fuel Gas pipeline (FG048) was in service to supply Fuel Gas to oil gathering centers (GC) in the West Kuwait area since 1968. It was required to convert the pipeline for reverse flow of HP Gas from a new gas gathering center in West Kuwait. During MFL-ILI survey prior to conversion, several undefined anomalies were detected along with other internal and external corrosion. Repair work was initiated based on ASME B31G criteria. During repair work, sections having unidentified anomalies were cut out and inspected internally. Internal blistering and HIC damage were observed. Further investigation revealed severe HIC damage and internal blistering at different areas throughout the pipeline length. Since the pipeline was crucial in commissioning gas collection and compressor facility operation, and was required to be in service for transporting gas within a short time, a program of failure investigation, inspection, data analysis and repair work was implemented. This paper demonstrates how a severely HIC damaged pipeline, crucial for gas transportation was put back into service using inspection, analysis, hydrotest and repair techniques through the collaborative efforts of different agencies.© 2012 ASME

Total Pipeline Integrity Management System Implemented for KOC Pipelines: A Case Study

In early 2005, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) initiated a Total Pipeline Integrity Management System (TPIMS ) implementation in order to carry out a major integrity assessment of its operating facilities, equipment, buried plant piping and pipeline network and to establish a continuing integrity management program. KOC Transit System is a complex infrastructure consisting of over three hundred pipelines, thousands of wellhead flow lines, and consumer and offshore lines for which there was a significant loss of data when the facilities were destroyed during a military invasion in 1990. An initial pipeline system assessment identified issues and actions regarding condition of the pipelines, corridors, requirements on in-line inspection (ILI), documentation, RISK assessment, status of international code compliance, and overall state of the system. Following recommendations from that initial assessment led to the development of a long term strategy; the execution of which required the implementation of a comprehensive integrity management program. This case study discusses the results obtained after five years of implementation of TPIMS at KOC. It will demonstrate some of the complex components involved in managing the integrity of the Transit System that have been made possible through the implementation of the system. The general concept and structure of TPIMS will be described, and how it deals with the complexity of the KOC pipeline system. The system made it possible to integrate and manage data from various sources, by conducting integrity assessment using ILI, Direct Assessment and hydrostatic testing, as well as structure a comprehensive RISK & Decision Support mechanism. This is one of the world’s first implementations of this magnitude which encompasses such a wide range of services and variables; all being managed in a single environment and utilized by a multitude of users in different areas at KOC. The biggest challenge in a project of this scope is data management. Examples will be shown of the integration structure to illustrate the benefits of using a single comprehensive and versatile platform to manage system requirements; ultimately providing system reliability and improving overall operational efficiency.Copyright

KOC’s Integrity Management Program for Non-Piggable Pipelines: A Case Study

More than half of the world’s oil and gas pipelines are classified as non-piggable. Pipeline operators are becoming aware there are increased business and legislative pressures to ensure that appropriate integrity management techniques are developed, implemented and monitored for the safe and reliable operation of their pipeline asset. The Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has an ongoing “Total Pipeline Integrity Management System (TPIMS)” program encompassing their entire pipeline network. In the development of this program it became apparent that not all existing integrity management techniques could be utilized or applied to each pipeline within the system. KOC, upon the completion of a risk assessment analysis, simply separated the pipelines into two categories consisting of piggable and non-piggable lines. The risk analysis indicated KOC’s pipeline network contains more than 200 non-piggable pipelines, representing more than 60% of their entire pipeline system. These non-piggable pipelines were to be assessed by utilizing External Corrosion Direct Assessment (ECDA) for the threat of external corrosion. Following the risk analysis, a baseline external corrosion integrity assessment was completed for each pipeline. The four-step, iterative External Corrosion Direct Assessment (ECDA) process requires the integration of data from available line histories, multiple indirect field surveys, direct examination and the subsequent post assessment of the documented results. This case study will describe the available correlation results following the four steps of the DA process for specific non-piggable lines. The results of the DA program will assist KOC in the systematic evaluation of each individual non-piggable pipeline within their system.Copyright