Proceedings of the 2012 9th International Pipeline Conference IPC2012 September 24-28, 2012, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

IPC2012-90490

GAS TRANSMISSION PIPELINE SAFETY & INTEGRITY ACTIVITIES & RESULTS FOR INGAA PIPELINE COMPANIES
Terry Boss INGAA Washington DC USA J. Kevin Wison Williams Pipeline Company Houston, TX USA

Charlie Childs El Paso Houston TX, USA

Bernie Selig Process Performance Improvement Consultants Hartford, MA, USA

ABSTRACT Interstate natural gas transmission pipelines have performed some standardized integrity management processes since the inception of ASME B3.18 in 1942. These standardized practices have been always preceded by new technology and individual company efforts to improve processes. These standardized practices have improved through the decades through newer consensus standard editions and the adoption of pipeline safety regulations (49 CFR Part 192) The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act which added to the list of these improved practices was passed at the end of 2002 and has been recently reaffirmed in January of 2012. The law applies to natural gas transmission pipeline companies and mandates additional practices that the pipeline operators must conduct to ensure the safety and integrity of natural gas pipelines with specific safety programs. Central to the 2002 Act is the requirement that pipeline operators implement an Integrity Management Program (IMP), which among other things requires operators to identify socalled High Consequence Areas (HCAs) on their systems, conduct risk analyses of these areas, and perform baseline integrity assessments and reassessments of each HCA, according to a prescribed schedule and using prescribed methods. The 2002 Act formalized, expanded and standardized the Integrity Management (IM) practices that individual operators had been conducting on their pipeline systems. The recently passed 2012 Pipeline Safety Act has expanded this effort to include measures to improve the integrity of the total transmission pipeline system. In December 2010, INGAA launched a voluntary initiative to enhance pipeline safety and communicate the results to stakeholders. The efforts are focused on analyzing data that

measures the effectiveness of safety and integrity practices, detects successful practices, identifies opportunities for improvement, and further focuses our safety performance by developing an even more effective integrity management process. During 2011, a group chartered under the Integrity Management Continuous Improvement initiative(IMCI) identified information that may be useful in understanding the safety progress of the INGAA membership as they implemented their programs that were composed of the traditional safety practices under DOT Part 192, the PHMSA IMP regulations that were codified in 2004 and the individual operator voluntary programs. The paper provides a snapshot, above and beyond the typical PHMSA mandated reporting, of the results from the data collected and analyzed from this integrity management activity on 185,000 miles of natural gas transmission pipelines operated by interstate natural gas transmission pipelines. Natural gas transmission pipeline companies have made significant strides to improve their systems and the integrity and safety of their pipelines in and beyond HCAs. Our findings indicate that over the course of the data gathering period, pipeline operators efforts are shown to be effective and are resulting in improved pipeline integrity. Since the inception of the IMP and the expanded voluntary IM programs, the probability of leaks in the interstate natural gas transmission pipeline system continues on a downward slope, and the number of critical repairs being made to pipe segments that are being reassessed under integrity programs, both mandated and voluntary, are decreasing dramatically. Even with this progress, INGAA members committed in 2011 to embarking on a multi-year effort to expand the width and depth of integrity management practices on the interstate

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natura gas transmis al ssion pipeline systems. A ke component of ey o that extensive effo is to desi ort ign metrics to measure th t he tiveness to ach hieve the goals of that progr s ram. As such h, effect this r report docume ents the perfo ormance basel line before th he imple ementation of the future program. t

RODUCTION INTR m d ssociates hav ve INGAA members and several as mitted IMP and additional vol luntary efforts data to INGAA A subm repres 00 n senting 185,00 miles of gas transmission pipelines. This equal 63 percent of the 292,000 gas tran ls nsmission mile es regula ated by the DOTs Pipelin and Hazar D ne rdous Materials Safety Administrati (PHMSA). Not all of th participatin y ion he ng comp panies submitte data for eac of the indiv ed ch vidual data sets. The t total miles repo orting for each data set is pro ovided. We hav ve separ rately collected data for IMP baseline and reassessed mile d r es inspected since reas ssessments beg in 2007. gan

For 2010, w have also begun to colle data on the we ect nspected that have no High Consequence h miles of pipeline in are MP We Areas (HCAs) and a not in the IM program. W have labeled es. al these additional assessment mile The IMP and additiona sment miles d data gives a m more accurate picture of the assess amoun of pipeline that is being i nt inspected and r repaired by the gas tr ransmission pip peline industry and allows us to compare y, versus non-IMP assessments a results. P and IMP v

EGRITY MAN NAGEMENT A ASSESSMEN RESULTS NT INTE Baseli IMP ine ult GAA Integrity Managemen y nt As a resu of the ING Contin nuous Improv vement (IMC CI) initiative, a significan nt numbe of addition pipeline co er nal ompanies joine the program ed m and ha submitted I ave IMP data for 2 2010.

URE 1: RESU ULTS OF BAS SELINE ACTIVITIES FRO 2004 20 10 INCLUDIN HIGH CO OM NG ONSEQUENC (HCA) AND CE D FIGU NON N-HIGH CONS SEQUENCE AREA PIPELI A INE

F Figure 2 show the cumula ws ative miles in nspected by th he partic cipating memb bers for the 7-year period for the baselin f ne portio of the IM program. Over the 7-ye period, th on MP O ear he avera age miles part ticipating mem mbers reported was 146,00 d 00 miles with less tha 7,000 miles located withi HCAs (HCA s, an s in A Miles s). F Figure 2: Total Cumulative Miles Inspected (2004-2010) M

T The HCAs mi iles vary from year to y m year. The U.S S. Depar rtment of T Transportation Pipeline an nd Hazardou us Mater rials Safety Ad dministration (P PHMSA) regul lations describe two a acceptable met thods for dete ermining the length of pipe locate within an H ed HCA; Method 1 and Meth d hod 2. Initially y, sed d some companies us Method 1, but changed to Method 2 becau se it allowed them to mo accurately determine the ore l HCA. As a resu the reporte size of some ult, ed actual size of the H s r t noted that new w HCAs increased or decreased. It should be n HCAs are created or eliminated as new construct s r tion or facilities are est tablished along pipeline righ of way, or w g hts when temporary y faciliti or operation cease or wh pipelines ar abandoned. ies ns hen re T Pipeline Safety Act of 2 The 2002 required that HCAs be identif fied, and their baseline assessments be com mpleted within a 10-yea period from the time th HCA is ide ar m he entified. HCA As identif fied in 2004 must have their initia or baseline 4 e al assess sments comple eted by 2012 New or ex 2. xtended HCA As identif fied in subseq quent years hav 10 years fr ve rom the date of o identif fication to com mplete their ba aseline assessm ments. Figures 2 & 3 s show the cumu ulative miles inspected and the percent of o HCA m miles assessed respectively. d,

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F Figure 3: Break kdown of HCA Miles and Ass A sessments*

uct ents starting i 2007 to conform to the in condu reassessme requir 7-year reass red sessment perio od. nts F igure 6: IMP Reassessmen

* *142,076 miles reporting s T The following conclusions can be de g s etermined from m inform mation gathere from the 7-y period, 200 - 2010: ed year 04 1 For every mile of HCAs inspected, 7.4 miles of non 1. 42 nHCA pipe is also in nspected. This represents an over testing rati r o io 42 mount of pipe that INGAA members hav e ve of 7.4 or the am inspected beyond re egulation requirements. 2 There wer 14 repairs made per 100 miles of HCA 2. re m As assess sed. 3 There wer 18 repairs made per 100 miles of non 3. re m 0 nHCA assessed. T miles inspe The ected by each of the three app o proved method ds for th 7-year period are shown in Figures 4 and 5. he d n d F Figure 4: Miles by Assessme Tool (Baseline 2004-2010 ent 0)

F Figure 5: Assessment Method Utilization ds

T following r The results can be d determined for the 2007-2010 r reasse essment period : 1. For every m of HCA pipe reassesse 3.8 miles of mile ed o . non-H HCA is also re eassessed. Thi represents a over testing is an g ratio o 3.8 or the amount of pip that INGAA members have of pe A inspec beyond reg cted gulation requir rements. 2. There wer three repai per 100 m . re irs miles of HCA A reasse essed a 79 percent re 9 eduction from the baseline m assess sment rate for t 7-year perio (2004-2010 the od 0). 3. There were 19 repairs per 100 miles of non-HCA . e A reasse essed. 4. Of this sub of pipe the were a tota of 2,594 fee bset ere al et . of pip e replaced in H HCAs and non-HCAs. . mile-inspected basis, pipe replacement fo or 5. On a per-m reasse essments within HCAs decre n eased by 95 pe ercent from the baselin rate. ne S everal compan reported a significant nu nies umber of repair rs ome of their reassessed, non-HCA m r miles. Furthe er in so invest tigation show wed that c current in-lin ne inspection n techno ologies have further impro oved the abili to identify ity y, determ mine size and c characterize an nomalies that, to some extent t, may h have existed seven or mo years ago but were no ore ot charac cterized as requiring rep pairs at tha time. The at identif fication and c characterizatio of dents a on and dents with h metal loss is a good example. Th d here are also se everal pipelines ave y gher corrosion r rates, and these that ha previously exhibited hig lines a being reas are ssessed on a s shorter timefra ame. The repai ir rate in these reasses n ssed non HCA is therefore relatively high As h compa ared to the repa rate in HCA air As. tional Assessm ments (Segmen Assessed W nts Without HCAs) Addit S ome of the ope erators have tra ansmission line segments tha at e ot have no HCAs in them. These segments are therefore no ct 92 s, subjec to Subpart O of the 19 regulations and we are referri ing to the ac ctivities perfor rmed on these segments as a additio onal assessed lines. These operators ha d e ave chosen to o perfor inline insp rm pections on th hese segments and we are s, gather ring and report ting this data fo the first time or e.

R Reassessments of gas trans smission pipelines began in i 2007. Several pipel . line operators used inspection performed in u ns i 2000 and 2001 as baseline inspect tions and, there efore, needed to t

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F Figure 7: Non-IMP Assessme ents

T baseline re The epair rate for additionally assessed pipe is i higher than the rep r pair rate for ba aseline non-HCA miles. The reasse essment repair rates are th same as t r he the IMP HCA A reasse essment repair r rate, at three re epairs per 100 miles. ine ue ments Pipeli Repairs Du to Assessm T year we co This ollected data on the number o repairs made n of in 201 by anomaly type in addit 10 y tion to collecti the B31.8S ing S Table 9 data. The anomaly type repaired dat is shown in es ta n e Figure 8.

T line is con The nsidered to be baseline inspec b cted if an inlin ne inspection tool has never been used on it before Reassessmen e. nt ns e d, ne mean that an inline inspection is being repeated and a baselin exam mination has bee performed before. en b The repair rate for ba r aseline examin nations was 34 3 rs es repair per 100 mile assessed. The repair rate for reasse essed pipe is three repairs pe er miles reassessed. 100 m A total of 22,780 feet (4.3 miles) of pipe was replaced 2 3 d.

M Metal loss rep pairs, predom minantly cause by externa ed al corros sion, represent 81.5 percen of all the r ted nt repairs made in n 2010. There was a 46.8 percent reduction in the number of o baseline to reassessment repai irs. repair s made from b s tes P er F igure 9 depicts the repair rat for the IMP program ove -year period. T IMP reasse The essments bega in 2007, and an the 7there were no rep pairs required as a conseq d quence of the essments that y year. reasse

F Figure 8: 2010 Repairs by An 0 nomaly Type

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F Figure 10: Dat Totals Asse ta essments, Repa and Replac airs cements

F Figure 9: Repai Rates per 10 Miles Inspec per Year ir 00 cted

rcent of all the the iod, which rep presents 40 per over t 7-year peri pipe b the reporting companies. by g F or the 7-year period, which includes four years of r o essments and o year of non one n-IMP data, the were 12,595 ere reasse repair s made from the IM asse m essments in t the average of o 00 orted in this s survey. For th 72,484 tota he al 146,00 miles repo assess miles over the 7-year period, the ratio was 17 repair sed rs per 10 miles inspec 00 cted. A total of 283, ,975 feet (53.8 miles) of pip (HCAs, Non 8 pe n HCAs and Non IMP was replaced over this per s, P) d riod. A of these a All activities have significantly improved the e integri and the safe of gas trans ity fety smission pipeli ines. ULTS OF TAB BLE 9 OF ASM B31.8S ME RESU Ta Table 9 of B3 31.8S also inc cludes the num mber of audit ts perfor rmed and the r results of those audits. Audi include both its h interna and extern audits con al nal nducted by thi parties and ird d regula ators. Ta Table 9 of ASM B31.8S (T ME Table 9) Ma anaging System m Integr rity of Gas P Pipelines lists threat-specif data to be s fic collec cted. It does not different tiate between baseline and essments. ING GAA members decided for this report to s o reasse collec the Table 9 d and keep th baseline and reassessment ct data he d ts separate as of 2010. While PHMSA regu f ulations require data s that th Table 9 da be collect he ata ted, it is not required to be submi itted to PHMSA A. A Audit findings s severity classif fications are as follows: High-Impac ct: Finding results in activation of o gency Respons Procedures. se Emerg Medium-Im mpact: Finding results in imp g plementation of o normal Operat ting Condition. an Abn

A Adding all IMP and non-IMP data together provides a goo P P p od pictur of what the industry is doin to further pipeline integrit re i ng ty and safety. F 2010: For Total mile inspected 20,752. This represents 11 es s 1 perce of the 185,0 total miles reporting in 20 ent 000 010. Total numb of repairs 3,528 ber o Total feet of pipe replaced 67,418 feet (12.8 miles) F From 2004 thro ough 2010, the was an aver ere rage of 146,00 00 miles of pipe report by companies in this surv per year an s ted vey nd of tha number, 58,6 miles of pipe was assess at least onc at 602 sed ce

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 Low-Impact: A finding that could impa the integrit t act ty fety eline. or saf of the pipe T There were 4,652 findings ov the 7-year period, resultin ver p ng in 63 substantive procedural changes, which is a clea 33 e ar indica ation of continuous improvem ment. S Summary of AS SME Table 9 activities a There were 2,702 repairs made as part of the IMP, fo e s or both b baseline assess sments and rea assessments, in 2010. Of these e, 81.5 p percent were made for extern corrosion an m nal nomalies. Over the 7-year period equipment leaks were th d, he est aks highe cause of lea in HCAs. Over the 7-year period, external cor rrosion was th he est aks H highe cause of lea outside of HCAs, followed by c construction an equipment le nd eaks. There were 217 audits pe e erformed in 20 that resulte 010 ed 521 nly o in 2,5 findings of which on five were either high or mediu impact findings that resulted in 218 substantiv um fi 2 ve proce edural changes. . Over the 7-year period, there have been 750 audit 7 b ts ucted (internal and external), resulting in 71 high-, 27 l n 73 condu mediu um-, and 4,652 low-impact findings and 633 substantiv ve proce edural changes. . DITIONAL SA AFETY & INT TEGRITY ACTIVITIES ADD T This section describes cert d tain aspects of the INGAA o A memb pipeline sy ber ystems or activ vities that were undertaken to t enhan nce integrity and safety. The total num T mber of mile es repor rting on the survey of any specific set of data varie s y es becau not all of the participants were able to report on eac use t o ch set of metrics. f N Natural gas tra ansmission pipeline companies have made a signif ficant effort to improve their systems and the integrity an t nd safety of their pipelines. y Pipel line System Modifications fo Inline Inspections (ILIs) M or E Even before th enactment of IMP regulations in 2003 he 3, pipeli operators had already be ine h egun modifyin their system ng ms so th ILIs coul be perform hat ld med. Operato have mad ors de signif ficant progress in modifying their systems to make them s g s m ILI-ca apable [Figure 11 and 12]. More than 46,000 miles of es 4 o pipeli (of 172,50 miles repo ine 00 orting) have been made ILIb capab since 2002 and new pipelines are built to be ILIble 2, b capab Almost tw thirds of the reported mile are now ILIble. wo e es capab ble. T There has been a 58 percent increase in th total miles of n he o transm mission pipelin that are now assessable by ILI. nes w y F Figure 11: ILI-Capable Pipel lines (2002 vs. 2010)

elines Accessib to Inline Ins ble spections F igure 12: Pipe 2002 vs. 2010) (2

line Block Val lves Mainl B Block valves ar used to isola a segment o pipe from the re ate of rest of the pipeline. The INGAA p f participating m members agreed to col lect data on th number of b he block valves in their system n ms re shutting off sy ystem flow eith remotely or her o that ar capable of s autom matically. The t three types are automatic sh off, remote hut contro olled and comb bination valves [Figure 13]. s T INGAA me The embers reportin this data rep ng present 179,169 miles of transmission pipeline n e F igure 13: Valve Types

vations Excav P ipeline operato perform m ors many excavatio for variou ons us ns, NGAA particip pating compan nies decided to reason and the IN track t activity for the past two years. We defi this ined the variou us reason for perform ns ming excavations, detailed in the report ts Appen ndix under R Reasons for Making Exca avations. Each h excava ation presents the opportunit for a direct examination of ty o the ex xposed pipe. T These examina ations are perf formed visually y by qu ualified person nnel and can include some nondestructive exami inations (e.g. u ultrasonic thick kness gauge). F or the two-ye period, there were mor than 25,000 ear re ations, exposin more than 250 miles of p ng pipe, out of the excava 179,00 miles of p 00 pipe reported. (The average length of an e n excava ation was 54 feet.) Within those segme n ents more than n 6,000 actionable ano omalies were d directly examin ned. avated for three primary reaso e ons: P ipes were exca . sed ions 1. Repairs bas on inspecti 2. Confirmato excavations (calibration o ILI) . ory s of 3. Pipeline cro . ossed by constr ruction activity y

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F Figure 14 sho ows the number of excavat tions performe ed proac ctively for rep pairs, recoats, confirmatory excavations or o depth of cover. h F Figure 14: Pipe eline Excavatio ons* (2009-2010)

B Based on the da submitted r ata representing 17 79,169 miles of o pipelin 99,899 mil of pipe (55. percent) are patrolled more ne, les .8 freque ently than requ uired by regulat tions [Figure 16]. F igure 16: 2010 INGAA Repo 0 orted Pipeline Patrols*

*1 179,169milesre eporting

* *The INGAA members rep porting this data represen nt 179,1 miles of tra 169 ansmission pipeline P PHMSA regul lations require that the ex e xposed pipe be b exam mined. All findin are noted on dig sheet or buried pip ngs o pe inspection reports. Assuming that all of the approximatel t e ly 00 vations over the two-year per e riod were due to t 10,00 repair excav IMP or IMP-rela ated inspection findings (a conservativ n ( ve mption), there were an additio 15,000 ex w onal xcavations mad de assum that were not due to the IMP program (on average, on e P n ne vation every 12 miles). These excava T ations provide ed excav additi ional opportun nities to exam mine pipe direc ctly at differin ng locati ions along the pipelines. p F Figure 15: PHM Required Pipeline Patro Schedule MSA d ol

MARY SUMM T The gas tran nsmission pip peline industr has made ry signifi ficant strides in improving th integrity and safety of thei n he d ir pipelin nes. IN NGAA particip pating member have: rs Since 2002 modified mo than 46,000 miles of pipe 2, ore 0 ine tools, or smar pigs rt to acc ommodate inli inspection t n In 2010, Performed 12,000+ ex xcavations pro oviding direc ct ination exami of pipe f Performed assessments o more than 2 on 20,000 miles of o pipelin ne Completed more than 5,000 repairs of th pipeline he ransmission pi ipe Replaced 67,000 feet of tr patrols on more Performed daily, weekly or monthly p 99,000 miles of pipeline f than 9 T is a long-te commitme part of a c This erm ent, culture of safety y and co ontinuous impr rovement.

ge /Patrols Excavation Damag Prevention/ P Patrolling the pipeline rights of way is an effective tool fo p e or pipeli operators to detect leak and preven damage from ine ks nt m third-party incursio ons, which are the highest risk to pipelin e r ne integr rity. Patrolling frequency re g equired by PH HMSA is class slocati (measure of population density) specific [Figure 15]. ion o We collected data on patrol frequ o uency to determ mine how muc ch t nd uently, relativ to PHMSA ve A of it is done an how frequ requir rements.

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REFERENCES ASME B31.8S Managing the System Integrity of Gas Pipelines, Three Park Ave New York NY, 10016-5990

49CFR192 Pipeline Safety Regulations uS Government Printing OfficeWashington DC 20402-9328.

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