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In 2001, the Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) introduced new rules and regulations requiring liquid pipeline owners and operators to inspect their lines for defects which could cause failures in high consequence areas.
The OPS further expanded this requirement to include natural gas pipeline systems late last year. Following are a few excerpts affecting pipeline operators and addressing assessment and dent anomalies:
- "A pipeline operator must assess the integrity of the line pipe by (a) internal inspection tool or tools capable of detecting corrosion and deformation anomalies, including dents, gouges and grooves; (b) pressure test conducted in accordance with subpart E of this rule; or (c) other technology that the operator demonstrates can provide an equivalent understanding of the condition of the line pipe."
- "Immediate repair conditions include dents on top of the pipe above the 4 and 8 o’clock positions with any indicated metal loss."
- "In 60 days, the operator must repair all dents on the top of the pipe. And on a sixmonth schedule, dents greater than 6 percent of pipe diameter."
- "The pipeline operator must establish intervals not to exceed five years for continual assessment. Prioritizing the lines based on requirements of the rules."
Because of the specific nature of the OPS rules, pipeline inspection companies either are developing or already have developed technologies to provide owners and operators with the tools necessary to meet these requirements.
Some of the first internal inspection pigs were designed to find dents in pipelines. In fact, it was the result of a northern crude oil company’s request of an industry pig provider that the first geometry inspection tool called a caliper, or KALIPER®, pig was designed and developed in late 1969 by T.D.Williamson, Inc. of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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