The term “pipeline services” can cover a variety of diverse actions undertaken by a hired company who specializes in one or all of the possible actions. The pipeline service company may handle everything from construction to pipeline maintenance. With oil and gas companies depending upon the integrity of their pipelines to move their product, such services are increasingly important. There is no margin for error as oil and gas companies fall under the close scrutiny of companies, various interest groups, government agencies and individuals.
Involved Parties
Oil and gas companies face a variety of opposing forces and regulations. These are from
* Government regulations regarding pipe line restrictions, staffing, training, the use of technology, which types of technology, maintenance and inspection
* Environmental constraints concerning the land over and under which they plan to go through or the water into which they are sunk
* Social aspects marked by individual and special interest concerns over the environment, the pipeline and the oil and gas are one component. Issues such as disruption of the flow or construction through protest or vandalism
In order to counteract, prevent or reduce the effect of any pipeline issues resulting in increased government regulations and/or environmental restraints as well as public condemnation and social media shaming, oil and gas companies hire companies who specialize in various pipeline services , including inspection, assessment and maintenance and/or replacement
What Pipeline Services Involves
A pipeline service company can embrace a wide variety of activities. Yet, no matter whether companies simply monitor or do rudimentary maintenance, they all have one focus –to ensure the pipelines are in optimal working condition. They are there to ensure that breaks and leaks will not interrupt the flow of oil and gas.
The company to monitor the conditions of the pipelines installs various technologies. Individuals will walk the line, providing a personal view. Satellites can also provide surveillance. Companies may have the service company install computational pipeline monitoring (CPM). This may be combined with other methods offered by a pipeline service company to obtain an accurate picture of the condition of the pipelines in question.
A method commonly employed by service companies is ILI (Inline inspection). They employ specific tools based on the information on such things as welds, bends, taps, valves, wall thickness and cleanliness gathered by a caliper pig. This will provide the essential info allowing the service company to select the right tolerance tool. They will then run a dummy tool followed by the ILI tool.
The ILI companies have different tolerances for different tools and one will need to discuss required data for each. Once tolerances are known and approved, a date is scheduled to run their dummy tool, then the ILI tool. It will gather info concerning the condition of the pipeline allowing the pipeline services company to make decisions as to whether the pipe requires replacement, rehabilitating or a simple cleaning to restore the flow.
