Online Real-Time Corrosion Monitoring Technology Selection for a SHM Pilot in Gathering Lines: A Case Study at Ecopetrol's Oil Production Facilities

Abstract

This paper describes the process used to determine the most suitable set of online real-time pipeline corrosion monitoring technologies as the core for Structural Health Monitoring pilot project at an oil production facility in the region of Meta, Colombia for Ecopetrol S.A. This method was used and followed for a particular case on gathering lines and transporting the production fluids (mean BSW 80%) with an internal corrosion as the main damage mechanism. The criteria used for the decision making was a technology road mapping elaborated specifically for internal corrosion monitoring which lead to a total of 33 related commercial products for both direct (pipe wall thickness estimation) and indirect (fluid corrosivity) damage estimation. These products are based on normal ultrasonic waves, guided ultrasonic waves, fiber optic, field signature method, electrical resistance, linear polarization resistance and coupled multi-electrode array sensors among other technologies. By using a set of initial criteria regarding the infrastructure conditions and pilot desired architecture like temperature range, communication protocol, pipe diameter, alarm configuration and DCS integration capacity, several products were dismissed leading to a smaller set of eligible technologies to choose from, finally it is worth to state that the objective of the SHM pilot is to evaluate the technical viability as well as the affordability of spreading the SHM practices (widely explored and documented for aerospace and civil industry) in production oilfields at Ecopetrol S.A.