Mon, December 12, 2022
Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) was established in 1952 as the Pipeline Research Committee (PRC) of the American Gas Association when a small group of engineers came together seeking solutions for one key issue facing the industry that they were not able to solve individually. By working together, sharing experiences, and collaboratively researching the issues, a solution to the ongoing issue was found sooner than they ever expected. They also realized the need for the establishment of permanent opportunities for sharing operational challenges and developing research needed for more solutions. The resulting solution within two years to a decades old issue demonstrated the impact and benefits of industry collaboration and the leveraging effect of voluntary funding.
In the first two decades after the founding of PRC, collaboration continued to be successful. In the 1970s and 1980s, PRC produced some of the earliest research for the transport and storage of hydrogen. These results form many of the building blocks used in the current research to enable the inclusion of other fuels into our current pipeline assets.
During these decades, PRC released industry defining research focused on the theoretical model for crack propagation and arrest in pressurized pipelines (NG-18) and Residual Strength Assessment and Residual Life Prediction of Corroded Pipelines (RSTRENG). These documents are key reports for ensuring the remaining life and fitness for service of the global pipeline infrastructure. RSTENG is required by the Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to evaluate the remaining strength of corroded pipe.
As the value of PRC became increasingly apparent to the industry, membership in the 1980’s grew to include non-North American operators, the first of which was Gasunie, a Dutch pipeline operator. Knowing the challenges facing pipelines are universal and to leverage the pathways to solutions globally, PRC established a partnership with the European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG) to share knowledge on a regular basis to advance the safety and integrity of the pipeline infrastructure. The Pipeline Research Committee had become an international organization.
Throughout this time, research was advanced by the creation of technical subcommittees whose expertise ranged from corrosion to subsea. It should come as no surprise that the committees changed and were modified over time to address the key challenges that the natural gas pipeline industry faced. Even today, the commitment and technical expertise of its members continues to develop dynamic, PRCI research programs devoted to identifying, prioritizing, and implementing the industry’s core research.
Seventy years later, the mission to collaboratively deliver relevant and innovative applied research to continually improve the global energy pipeline systems has never been more important. While the initial charter was to confront long-running brittle fracture in natural gas transmission pipelines, PRCI has evolved to become a critical resource for all energy pipelines regardless of where they operate, how they operate, or the purpose of their operation. With the commitment and technical expertise of its members, PRCI continues to develop dynamic research programs devoted to identifying, prioritizing, and implementing the industry’s core research objectives. As a result, PRCI brings together leading pipeline companies from around the world to engage in a collaborative process that is truly “of, by and for” the industry.