Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - IM2S (Inspection Magnetique de Surface (Contacless magnetic inspection))

Teaser

From the time we get up in the morning until we go to bed at night, it is difficult to find a moment when we have not used energy transported by a pipeline. Gas may heat your home, provide electricity and cook our food. Petroleum products made from oil, power our planes...

Summary

From the time we get up in the morning until we go to bed at night, it is difficult to find a moment when we have not used energy transported by a pipeline. Gas may heat your home, provide electricity and cook our food. Petroleum products made from oil, power our planes, trains and automobiles. Oil is used to harvest the crops for our food and clothing, and get it to the store. The world consumption of crude oil is estimated to be 99 million barrels per day (15’717 million liters) and 123 trillion cubic feet of natural gas (3’482 trillion liters).

For the most part (90%), these products are moved through a network of buried metallic tubes referred to as pipelines. This infrastructure is strategic to the good functioning of our economies and societies. Any mechanical failure might result into leakages and spillages with significant harm to public health and the environment (toxicity, fire, explosion...).

Although pipelines are the safest way to transport hazardous fluids over long distances, accidents can put human lives in danger and impact the environment. That is why more and more pipelines networks in the world have to comply with strict government regulations: Pipelines must be reliable to provide energy safely for the people and the environment.

It is estimated 65% of the buried pipelines can be inspected through traditional tools, intelligent robots or smart pigs. The other 35% of the network, i.e.1.5 million km of pipelines, equivalent to 37 times the earth circumference, cannot be inspected through robots due to design/operational issues. They are referred to as unpiggable pipelines.

Skipper NDT’s objective is to provide a reliable tool to help operators ensure the safety of their pipeline networks where traditional tools are not applicable.

Work performed

The work performed within the scope of the SME 1 project allowed us to confirm the market need as well as the significant commercial viability of such a service. Below are the conclusions from the work performed during the 6 months period of the project.

The analysis conducted for our user study allowed us to clearly identify the operational priorities of energy companies:
Ensure that their product is transported in a safe way with respect to the people and the environment.
Maximize their cost efficiency in order to be able to keep their price competitiveness.
Comply with the technical and economical regulatory requirements of the countries they operate in.

We also identified a methodology, commonly used to ensure the integrity of their pipelines: Risk Management System. This tool (tailored to each operator’s requirements) is used to gather specific data on their infrastructure and identify weak points on their network.

The market study, conducted with the support of Oil & Gas pipeline operators and national regulators, unveiled a pressing market need for a technology that can further improve the safety of pipelines. This is particularity true on structures where traditional tools are not applicable, representing 1’500’000 km worldwide (37 times the world’s circumference).

The commercial viability of such a technology is significant, the global primary market (unpiggable pipelines) is estimated at over 4.5 bn Euros in sales and over 10 bn Euros, if we include the secondary market (offshore / piggable pipelines).

Skipper NDT has developed a unique technology to address the needs of this specific market segment where traditional tools are not applicable. With a working Beta version, several axes of developments (hardware and software) were identified to further increase the efficiency of our solution. The IM2S project will bring to the market a uniquely reliable and competitively priced solution for the inspection of unpiggable pipelines.

Final results

The objective of the technology developed by Skipper NDT is to improve the operational safety of Oil and Gas pipelines for the people and the environment in close proximity.

When a pipeline fails, the first consequence is an explosion due to the pressure within the structure. Then there is a release of toxic products with harmful consequences for the environment. This can be heavy crude oil or gas which contributes to the greenhouse effect.

Skipper’s main objective is to prevent as much as possible the occurrence of these incidents. The main positive impact will be on the people and on the environment (in line with the Energy Strategy and Energy Union formulated by the European commission). Given our scope of work, we will be applying for a carbon accreditation.

Skipper’s secondary impact is to improve the operational efficiency and economic performance of energy operators. By decreasing their down time due to incidents and by rationalizing their operational expenditures (OPEX) we can contribute to keeping energy prices stable for end consumers.

Website & more info

More info: http://www.skipperndt.com.