The use of differential GPS as an inspection tool in the external corrosion control of buried pipelines

Conference · 31 December 1998

OSTI ID:350146

Kowalski, A R ^[1]

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1. Asesoria Adiestramiento y Construccion, Caracas (Venezuela)

A maintenance program was designed to improve the cathodic protection level of two oil gathering pipelines of an oil production facility in Eastern Venezuela. The program was built upon the information obtained from a coating condition evaluation and the soil resistivity profile along the pipeline corridors. The external coating was inspected with the Direct Current Voltage Gradient technique, DCVG; the soil resistivity of the pipeline corridor was measured every 100 meters (328 ft.). All the geographical information was obtained with Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS). This allowed the pipeline operator to relocate all coating defects with a sub metric accuracy that considerably reduced the rehabilitation costs. The coating inspection covered a total distance of twelve thousand, nine hundred and thirty-six meters (12,936 meters). Two hundred and ninety two (292) defects were found; 54 defects belonged to Category 3 and will need immediate repair. The soil corrosiveness along the pipeline corridors was established by the resistivity gradient. Critical areas were established and exploratory digs were recommended to assess exposed metal condition.

• OSTI ID: 350146
• Report Number(s): CONF-980316-
• Resource Type: Conference proceedings
• Conference Information: Corrosion `98, San Diego, CA (United States), 22-27 Mar 1998; Is Part Of Corrosion `98: 53. annual conference and exposition, proceedings; PB: [6600] p.
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CATHODIC PROTECTION
CORROSIVE EFFECTS
INSPECTION
MAINTENANCE
PETROLEUM
PIPELINES
POSITIONING
PROTECTIVE COATINGS
SATELLITES
SOILS
STEELS