http://www.force.dk/en/Header/News/NewsArchive/2005/April/050412_fsmitpreventsleakages.htm

FSM-IT prevents leakages from wet sour gas pipelines

Date: 2005-04-12


Producing wet sour gas presents some of the toughest technical challenges in the oil and gas business.

Hydrogen sulfide, being very toxic to people and wild life and polluting to the environment, is also very corrosive. Corrosion rates in excess of 50 mm per year are not uncommon in some of the very sour gases produced in Western Canada.

To compete with more conventionally produced gas, sour gas is transported wet from the well head to the gas plant in carbon steel pipelines.

The most common way of controlling corrosion is through chemical inhibition in combination with pigging and batching.

Efficient corrosion watchdog

Corrosion monitoring of sour gas pipelines is a very difficult task as corrosion usually takes place at the bottom of the pipeline in forms of isolated pitting. Quite often, an inserted coupon or an electrical resistance (ER) probe shows very little or no corrosion but a leak can develop just centimeters away. This is an area where FSM-IT (Field Signature Method – Inspection Tool) is showing its unique advantage in sour gas corrosion monitoring.

Being non-inserting, hence easy to attach to the outside of the pipeline, FSM-IT monitors internal corrosion over a large area and can differentiate between general corrosion and isolated pitting thanks to the unique matrix design.

Wide spread use of FSM-IT in Canada

In less than four years after its introduction in Western Canada, there have been over 60 FSM-IT installations in North America. In four documented cases (IPC 2004 paper available upon request), thanks to the warnings from the FSM-IT, operators were able to stop production in time before the pits in their pipelines containing sour gas (in one case as much as 29% H2S) further deteriorated into open holes.

Mastering FSM-IT is the technology driven company FORCE Technology from Denmark. They are committed to enhancing service to their clients by providing satellite links to remote locations and by leasing options to minimise capital spending.

About FSM-IT

The FSM-IT technology is a non-intrusive corrosion monitoring tool consisting of a geometric matrix of sensing pins (3 mm diameter) that are permanently attached to the outer pipe wall by spot welding. Due to the low heat input and very small area of fusion with the spot welding technique, metallurgical change to the piping material is negligible and heat treatment or stress relieving is not required.