PRCI

Newsroom

October 24, 2008

PRCI Participation in the PHMSA Workshop on Pipeline Anomaly Assessment and Repair

On October 22, PHMSA hosted a public meeting and workshop on Pipeline Anomaly Assessment and Repair at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, MD. The workshop addressed a range of topics regarding methods for inspecting and assessing corrosion anomalies/metal loss on pipelines, with emphasis on sources of variability in detecting and measuring anomalies and corrosion growth rates, and on methods used for evaluating the remaining strength of affected pipelines. The meeting was attended by more than 100 people, including many PRCI member company representatives.

The meeting format consisted of four separate panels. The initial panel focused on the results of a study (and related report) recently completed by Advantica that provides an assessment of the methods for evaluating the remaining strength of corroded pipelines, including ASME B31G, Modified B31G, RSTRENG, and others. The report is part of the work being conducted by PRCI, Advantica, and Electricore on the Consolidated Program to Assess the Structural Significance of Corrosion Defects, which is a comprehensive program consisting of six separate projects and is cofunded by PHMSA under their R&D program. Advantica presented the results of their research, which concludes that the assessment methods and predictive strength models being used by operators are well founded and validated, and are appropriately conservative for real defects under actual operating conditions for pipes grades X70 and below. A separate presentation was made by Cycla Corporation, a contractor for PHMSA. Cycla conducted various statistical analyses of the testing data from the Advantica study. Cycla’s conclusions supported those of the Advantica study, indicating that B31G, Modified B31G, and RSTRENG all provide conservative failure predictions.

Following the presentation on the Advantica study, the following three panels were held:


  • Tool (ILI) Tolerance
  • Corrosion Growth Rates
  • Repair Criteria and Safety Factors

These panels included a series of brief presentations by PHMSA, industry, and technology/commercial vendors on various aspects of the subject matter being addressed. Each panel included a number of PRCI member company representatives and contractors, and a number of the panel presentations focused on specific PRCI projects being conducted. Special thanks to all those who participated on the panels:


  • Stephen Westwood – BJ Pipeline Inspection Services
  • Mark Stephens – C-FER Technologies
  • Sergio Limon-Tapia – NWP, Williams Gas Pipeline
  • Chris Whitney – El Paso


  • Oliver Moghissi – CC Technologies/DNV
  • Drew Hevle – El Paso
  • Kevin Spencer – GE PII
  • Shahani Kariyawasam – TransCanada Pipeline


  • Keith Leewis – P-PIC
  • John Kiefner – Kiefner and Associates
  • CP Hsiao – Chevron
  • Dave Johnson – Panhandle Energy

All presentation files and other general information from the meeting, including any follow up from PHMSA, will be posted to the PHMSA website in the coming weeks.

Thanks to all who helped plan for and participated in the meeting. Please contact (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), PRCI Program Manager with any questions or if you would like additional information.

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