Fri, January 17, 2014
The 2014 PRCI Research Portfolio has been initiated and we would like to thank the volunteers leaders from the member companies for their hard work and dedication. Below is the 2014 Technical Committee leadership roster. Committee members are a crucial part of PRCI’s operating model, a partnership between members and staff that has produced industry defining research for over 60 years.
Compressor & Pump Station
Corrosion
Design, Materials & Construction
Measurement
Operations & Integrity
Underground Storage
PRCI’s 2014 portfolio addresses a spectrum of research needs and opportunities covering nearly every aspect of pipeline operations. The Fall meetings of the Technical Committees are the annual events where the research portfolio is initiated and the projects and programs approved and funded through the PRCI annual ballot voting process are fully developed and initiated.
PRCI’s Pipeline Program Technical Committees held their Fall 2013 meeting in Houston, TX from October 23-25, 2013. The meeting was attended by more than 200 representatives of the three Technical Committees that make up the Pipeline Program, including Corrosion, Design, Materials, and Construction, and Operations & Integrity. The 2014 ballot vote resulted in nearly $8 million being allocated to projects in the Pipeline Program Technical Committees. Members can view documents and presentations from the meeting in PRIME via the following links: Operations & Integrity; Design, Materials & Construction; Corrosion. PRCI acknowledges the support and sponsorship of PRCI members, Gold Sponsor ROSEN, and Silver Sponsors: ExxonMobil, GE-PII Pipeline Solutions, Lincoln Electric, and RCP, for making the meeting a success. Also at the meeting, PRCI recognized member company, Alliance Pipeline Limited, for the significant contributions and support for R&D programs.
The Operations & Integrity Technical Committee (O&I TC) completed an all-inclusive review of its projects and programs, including the four programs that were approved on the ballot. The meeting initially focused on the new projects approved on the 2014 ballot followed by a complete analysis and status report on all projects and programs that are currently being managed under the O&I Technical Committee. Several of the projects approved for 2014 are continuations of ongoing research projects, and many others are complimentary to prior work and further develop the research programs that are primary focus areas for the O&I Technical Committee, including mechanical damage inspection and prevention, NDE technology development and validation for pipeline inspection, leak detection, and right-of-way monitoring. The TC devoted a period of time to discussing the Research Roadmaps for the major programs managed by the committee. There was a review of the project plan for the recently-awarded three-year DOT-PHMSA project to develop an ILI pull-test rig and conduct ILI performance tests. A new Crack Management Task Force has been established to characterize the effectiveness of inspections to identify these features; this will be a major initiative through 2014.
The Design Materials & Construction Technical Committee (DMC TC) reviewed in detail all ongoing research. Research contractors presented project updates on their projects, followed by questions and answers. Thus, the full TC had the opportunity to learn the latest information on all DMC topics. Awareness of the issues that arise, the answers and discussion following the many questions, and understanding the problem and how it was solved, are all key to effective implementation of research results. This comprehensive project review model has proven very valuable in updating the entire TC on key aspects of ongoing research normally managed by individual project teams. It also has helped to identify some technical concerns by bringing to bear the broad range of knowledge and capability of the entire TC. To ensure shared leadership and to build a succession plan, the DMC TC is structured into seven Emphasis Areas each with a leader and a deputy: Assessment & Repair; Construction; Design & Assessment; Fracture; Materials; Strain Based Design & Assessment; and Welding. Click to read some highlights of the new research initiatives starting-up with 2014 funding.
The Corrosion Technical Committee’s (TC) main objective was to kick-off all of the newly approved projects on the 2014 ballot and assign leadership roles to these efforts. For sole source and continuing projects, the committee invited the contractors responsible for these efforts to the meeting to expedite the project initiation and execution process. The committee also reviewed the status of ongoing projects and developed a set of action items to ensure timely delivery of research results. Some of the major programs discussed at the meeting are related to cathodic protection and coating performance, AC corrosion criteria, stress-corrosion Cracking (SCC) mitigation, and internal corrosion threat prevention. Additionally, The Corrosion TC held a joint session with the Operations and Integrity (O&I) TC on Thursday afternoon to discuss projects of common interest to both groups. In particular, the joint meeting covered topics related to ongoing initiatives at the PRCI pipeline repository and In-line Inspection (ILI) tool sizing uncertainties related to corrosion features.
The Compressor and Pump Station Technical Committee has had a good start to their 2014 projects with four of the 13 projects in the process of being contracted and another five projects developing or soliciting proposals. The next technical committee meeting is January 28-30 in Coral Gables, FL. The meeting will have an emphasis on reviewing project status and identifying potential 2015 research ideas. The meeting will have a joint session with the GMRC to identify common issues and concerns. The meeting will focus on identifying strategic issues and potential research ideas that will be considered for 2015 research projects.
The Compressor and Pump Station Technical Committee recently completed an exercise to estimate the value of the committee related research has brought to the industry over the last five years. The evaluation identified over $69M in capital savings that could be attributed to modifying existing compression equipment rather than replacement to meet new air emission limits. The committee has just started this process so the savings are expected to increase significantly.
The Measurement Technical Committee will hold their next meeting in New Orleans on February 11-12 in New Orleans. The meeting will focus identifying emerging issues, reviewing the status of ongoing projects, and updating research roadmaps.