O&I Committee Implements a More Focused Approach to Managing PRCI Research

Last fall during the Technical Committee (TC) meetings held in San Ramon, California, key decisions were made to split the Operations & Integrity (O&I) group into two committees: Surveillance, Operations and Monitoring (SOM) and Integrity and Inspection (I&I). Secondly, the I&I group would restructure to bring in several members as Vice Chairs to support a more focused governance system within I&I.

The SOM committee was formed around programs such as Damage Prevention (DP), Pipeline Leak Detection (PL), and Right of Way Monitoring (ROW) and associated individual projects were moved to this newly formed committee. The I&I committee maintained programs such as Non-Destructive Testing (NDT), Mechanical Damage (MD), Integrity Management (IM), and projects involving Subsea Pipeline Integrity Management (SPIM), Difficult to Inspect (DTI) and Un-piggable Pipelines (UP).

Mures Zarea stepped down from his O&I chairman role but he didn’t step far as he graciously agreed to stay on as a Vice Chair in the I&I committee, with Satish Kulkarni of Chevron taking over the reins of the I&I committee. Satish was previously a Vice Chair of the O&I committee along with David Katz of Williams and Travis Sera of Southern California Gas Company. Additionally, Sean Keane of Enbridge and Richard Kania of Trans Canada Pipelines Limited have stepped up as Vice Chairs.

With the I&I leadership group formed, the I&I programs and projects were assigned to focused areas, each with a Chair or Vice Chair as a primary leader. Their role would be to provide SME recommendations and oversight specifically on the projects in their area and ensure that team leaders, contractors and TC committee members were following through with the planned work. So far, with the help and extensive effort of the I&I leadership team, many projects and programs are being reinvigorated for completing existing funded projects and ensuring new projects are well-staffed, with a clear focus and linkage to the roadmaps. The new focus area leads for the I&I group are as follows: 

• Chair – Satish Kulkarni, Chevron, also serving as the Focus Area Leader for Subsea (SPIM)
• Vice Chair – David Katz, Williams, serving as the Focus Area Leader for In-Line Inspection (ILI)
• Vice Chair – Mures Zarea, ENGIE, serving as the Focus Area Leader for Mechanical Damage (MD)
• Vice Chair – Travis Sera, Southern California Gas Company, serving as the Focus Area Leader of Difficult-To-Inspect Pipelines (DTI)
• Vice Chair – Richard Kania, TransCanada, serving as the Focus Area Leader of Non-Destructive Examination/Testing (NDE)
• Vice Chair – Sean Keane, Enbridge, serving as the Focus Area Leader of Crack Integrity Management (IM)

Additionally Hans Deeb, who joined PRCI 8 years ago and most recently was the PRCI Program Manager for the Corrosion Technical Committee, has transitioned over to support the I&I committee. Hans is focusing on the Mechanical Damage, SPIM and DTI efforts, and is interfacing with the Corrosion Committee. Hans relocated to Houston, Texas and is currently based at the newly built Technology Development Center.
Sean Black who joined PRCI as a Program Manager in 2015 will continue his role in supporting the I&I Committee, and is responsible for ILI, IM, and NDE focus area projects.

The SOM committee is actively looking for a member to step into the Chair role. Carrie Greaney, who joined PRCI 5 years ago, provides PRCI staff support to the SOM committee.