The committee, currently chaired by Stephen Ohl of APA Group, provided The Australian Pipeliner with an overview of its long history in the Australian pipeline industry, its relationship with international research organisations, and the future direction of its research programs.

A history of pipeline research

Since the early 1980s, the Australian pipeline industry has had a small but targeted research program managed by volunteers from a number of pipeline companies. The industry also relied on overseas research, having some Australian pipeline companies as members of overseas research groups, such as the US-based Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI).

In 1996, principally due to changes in the Australian pipeline industry structure and the enthusiasm of a few dedicated individuals, the Australian research effort was formalised through the formation of the APIA Research and Standards Committee (RSC), a similar arrangement to that which existed for many years between the American Gas Association and its Pipeline Research Committee.

Through the international connections of people in the Australian pipeline industry, the RSC tried to ensure that it did not carry out research on subjects that had already been addressed by the PRCI or the European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG).

By 2000, as the Australian pipeline research effort grew, it became obvious that more formal links needed to be established with the EPRG and PRCI. In 2001, in sessions at a pipeline research meeting in New Orleans between the leaders of the PRCI and EPRG and Max Kimber – the Chairman of the RSC from 1996 to 2008 – information-sharing arrangements and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) were negotiated with these world-leading pipeline research organisations.

APIA, PRCI and EPRG research programs now operate under this MoU, which facilitates the exchange of research information and allows the RSC to gain confidential access to leading pipeline research in North America and Europe, and to avoid the duplication of research programs.

As stipulated under the MoU, the three research organisations – APIA RSC, PRCI and EPRG – meet every two years at a joint technical meeting (JTM) to share the results of their research on a confidential basis, to discuss what the key pipeline industry issues currently are and to determine what future research is needed to proactively address these issues.

Until recently, the RSC determined what pipeline research was needed and, using the RSC member contributions, established and managed the research programs needed to carry out the required research. A recent significant change for the RSC has been the formation of the Energy Pipelines Co-operative Research Centre (CRC).

Establishment of the Energy Pipelines CRC

Led by Leigh Fletcher, the RSC Chairman from 2008–11, APIA and the RSC were the main drivers in obtaining Federal Government commitment for the establishment of the Energy Pipelines CRC. More recently, the RSC has also been a primary driver in the effort that led to the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism providing funding to the EPCRC for further CO2 pipeline research.

While the RSC remains the main avenue for the pipeline industry to determine what pipeline research is important to it, and RSC industry members remain advisers to the research programs being carried out, the Energy Pipelines CRC establishes and manages those research programs not being directly managed by the RSC.

Who is the RSC?

Membership to the RSC currently numbers just over 50 entities and individuals and, as with APIA, is representative of a cross-section of the industry, including owners, engineering companies, industry suppliers, construction contractors and consultants.

By and large, the time and travel costs for the company representatives involved in the RSC are met by their member companies. The main RSC meetings are held from two to four times per year and cover research updates, suggestions for new or continuing research programs, and the selection of research programs that the RSC will pursue.

While the secretarial and administrative duties of the RSC are carried out by the APIA and Energy Pipelines CRC, the executive structure of the RSC is made up of RSC member representatives and includes a Chairman and an executive committee.

Previous RSC Chairmen include Max Kimber (1996–2008) and Leigh Fletcher (2008–11). The current RSC Chairman is Stephen Ohl, having succeeded Leigh in the Chairman’s role effective at the 6 June 2011 RSC meeting.

The Chairman is ably supported by the RSC executive committee, which, in addition to the Chairman, is made up of the immediate past Chairman Leigh Fletcher, and committee members Richard Robinson, Richard McDonough and Cameron Dinnis. Steve Dobbie from APIA also plays an active role in organising the RSC executive discussions and meetings, and Ankie Larsson from the Energy Pipelines CRC provides organisational and secretarial support for the main RSC meetings.

Latest developments from the RSC

The RSC appreciates the financial pressures that affect the pipeline industry from time to time, and the need for companies to constantly scrutinise ‘discretionary spending.’ The RSC views the contribution that pipeline owners, consultants, suppliers and contractors make to pipeline research should not be considered a discretionary expense, but a vital and efficient cost of doing business.

The RSC believes that the relatively modest annual investment in collaborative research that companies are asked to make produces measureable and very significant value to those companies, both retrospectively and prospectively.

An example of how this collaborative research through the RSC supports the Australian pipeline industry is the very substantial effort that has already been directed to an initiative to improve AS2885 so that line pipe materials used in Australia are of the required quality level to ensure the safe, long-term operation of our pipelines.

This issue has been brought to the attention of the worldwide pipeline research community, with a jointly-authored paper on the subject of line pipe and line pipe steels presented at the May 2011 San Francisco JTM.

The paper has already received wide circulation around the world and sparked interest from, among others, the national regulator in the United States, the Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Authority. It also led the JTM to the subject of tighter pipeline standards being chosen as one of the highest priority initiatives for collaborative work between APIA, EPRG and PRCI.

The total spending by the Energy Pipelines CRC, PRCI, and the EPRG is approximately $26 million per annum. The multiplier for member companies of the RSC is many times companies’ investments.

RSC achievements

Thanks to the efforts of a few individuals, the Council of Australian Governments (CoAG) agreed at its Hobart meeting in February 1994 to AS2885 being accepted as the single and sufficient standard for licensed onshore pipelines across all state and territory regulators. This acceptance of the standard nationally is unique and the envy of the world. Subsequently, the research work of the APIA RSC has continued to provide information used to update parts of AS2885 so that it remains relevant to all industry stakeholders.

Many state regulators are members of the ME 38 Pipeline Standards Committee and of the Energy Pipelines CRC Public Safety and Security of Supply working group. The close involvement of regulators with the Pipeline Standard and their discussions regarding safety and supply security is invaluable to member companies and pipeline owners.

The RSC has also managed to gain acceptance of 80 per cent specified minimum yield strength (SMYS) design factor for new pipelines, and believes that there is a strong case for this to be applied to many existing pipelines, providing an uplift in capacity of approximately 12 per cent to eligible pipelines which are presently limited to 72 per cent SMYS.

The RSC’s research has also assisted in ensuring that the Australian hydro testing standard and welding standards are the best in the world for our type of pipeline. Australian welders alone can weld with a cycle time of as little as two minutes per joint, a significant potential saving on any project, and all driven from research undertaken by the APIA RSC.

Overall, the Australian design and construction standard is much admired due to our unique ability to rapidly implement successful research outcomes via AS2885.

Challenges to the pipeline industry

Relative to the rest of the world, Australia’s pipelines are small diameter. For some time, the RSC struggled to quantify the risk that propagating ductile fracture posed in our high-strength, thin-walled, high-pressure pipelines.

Some years ago, the RSC sought funding to run a series of full-scale fracture tests to enable the committee to confirm the applicability of the fracture-control methods used for large diameter pipelines to our small diameter pipelines, and anticipated the cost to be $3 million.

Now, through the RSC’s initiative and with co-funding from its tri-partite relationships, the RSC has been able to use the TransCanada Pipelines shock tube facility in Calgary and the world’s finest expertise to develop new technology that takes account of the effect of diameter on fracture.

This was achieved at a cost to Australian industry of less than $70,000 and, rather than producing a limited number of datum points that might or might not have validated design methods, the RSC has developed a systematic design method that can be used for all future pipelines.

Further challenges include urban encroachment as a result of city expansion and development. This is an international phenomenon, and Australian cities have not escaped the risk that it poses.

The Energy Pipelines CRC has introduced encroachment as a significant problem to be addressed, and the EPRG, PRCI and Energy Pipelines CRC have agreed to jointly fund an investigation of both engineering and sociological solutions for avoiding and managing mechanical damage, and to manage and modify public perception of pipelines.

Looking to the future

As long as Australia is building and operating pipelines, there will be a role for the RSC as the means through which the pipeline industry can air areas of concern and appropriate research programs can be developed.

Once an area in need of research is agreed upon, then, either directly through the Energy Pipelines CRC or with its international research partners, these research programs can be carried out and the results made available to RSC members, and finally to the entire pipeline industry via the further improvement to the suite of AS2885 standards.