Study Group 3.1: Strategic Gas Infrastructure Projects

This group has particular interest in the planning, construction and operation of existing and planned cross-border pipeline systems and their associated compressor stations.

The group also looks at experiences, codes applied, practices and problems in constructing pipelines under extreme conditions, such as in deep water (>1,000 m), high mountains, marshy areas, permafrost, over long distances (>1,000 km), protected areas and densely populated areas.

The following projects/areas are currently being researched:

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  • Significant pipelines, such as South Stream and North Stream in Europe, SEAGas and Chevron pipelines in Australia, and the Urucu-Coari-Manaus Pipeline in South America;
  • The impact of major incidents on total industry;
  • The Snam Rete Gas microtunnelling project in Italy; and,
  • Comparison of tariff regulation in north-west Europe, USA, Australia and Japan.

Study Group 3.2: Integrity of Gas Transmission Systems and Footprint Reduction

This group focuses on the external threats affecting the integrity of pipelines and reviews measures to reduce these threats. The group enquires into the increasing influence of governmental bodies with regard to design, construction and operation of gas transmission systems (safety and environmental issues), and the social responsibility to measure a gas pipeline’s environmental footprint.

The group issued a survey and received responses from 25 organisations in 23 countries. Further research will focus on the relationship between gas transmission companies and regulators over time, and the evolution of safety and environmental regulations on operations and maintenance.

Mitigation measures to reduce the risks of integrity threats from legislation, data collection/management, leading and lagging key performance indicators (KPIs) will also be investigated, in addition to methane, CO2, NOx and noise generated from gas transmission system buried pipelines, compressor stations, valve stations, and metering and regulating stations.

Study Group 3.3: Securing Sufficient Expertise to Operate Safely and Adequately Gas Transmission Systems

The third study group investigates the adequate resourcing of qualified expertise. The group is enquiring into the nature of ageing gas transmission systems, with a view to assessing if more personnel and other expertise is required to maintain these systems.

A survey was issued to all WOC3 members and various relevant organisations. The scope was limited to the technical side of operations and maintenance and excluded industry members in commercial and new project design, construction and management roles.

Key findings from the survey include:

  • The top three selling points of gas transmission as a career are job security, good salary, good revenues, and the fact that it is a long-term business.
  • 67 per cent of respondents do not have a formal knowledge capture system/database to pass learnings from older to younger staff.
  • Over 80 per cent of respondents do have a formal system of planning for scarcity of expertise.
  • 80 per cent of operational/maintenance personnel stay with a company between seven and 20 years, the majority of employed personnel are 35–44 years old, and 41 per cent of personnel have been with their company until they are older than 60 years at which point they retire.
  • Gas transmission operations and maintenance is a specialist industry compared to other industries, and is getting more specialised with new developments – this in turn will require a more specialist skilled workforce with associated training and competency needs.