Previous APIA Conventions have highlighted the need for more youth involvement in the pipeline industry. Those attending this year’s JTM certainly found their inner child with tiaras passed from head-to-head, an abundance of Mickey ears and dinners with Pooh, Piglet and Tigger. But when you eventually tire of Disney-fake smiles, unnatural cleanliness and piped music, it’s nice to grow up - and discuss pipelines.

Focal topics at the conference were the detection and management of Stress Corrosion Cracking, Pipeline Integrity Management, and the use of high strength steels. Facing an expanding market, European delegates targeted issues of large diameter, high strength steel pipe construction and its cost savings, while the US focus was on how to deal with old pipes - low strength, high toughness and high hardness materials. More than 50 per cent of American pipelines are greater than 50 years in age with some assets dating back to the 1920s. Australia sits somewhere between these two poles, with an interest in X60 and possibly X70 pipe in remote construction, and a growing concern in preserving and continuing to operate gradually ageing assets.

Leaving Pooh and Piglet behind, Ian and I embarked on a three week tour of North America meeting with large natural gas distributors, contractors and research bodies including TransCanada, El Paso, Battelle, Edison Welding Institute and PRCI. Of particular interest was Pipeline Integrity Management and its regulation and American operating practices - especially when comparing Australia’s single linear ‘network’ to the astoundingly complex and interconnected American model.

The USA’s focus on Integrity Management is triggered largely by the age of their assets, but is also a legacy of the Bellingham and Carlsbad incidents – two devastating, high profile events that captured national media and government attention. Discussions with the legendary John Kiefner of Kiefner & Assoc., in Columbus, Ohio, on all things relating to pipe manufacturing revealed the problems inherent in an old pipe system. Andy Drake of Duke Energy in Houston shared his experience in the development of the ASME 31.8S Pipeline Integrity Code to cope with these problems and the subsequent adoption of the code as Regulation. ASME 31.8S provides a solid technical basis and pragmatic approach to integrity management and could be of use to Australian pipeliners in the coming years.

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The field of giant, concrete corn which grows beside the offices of CC Technologies could be interpreted as a monument to the significance of corn in the history of Columbus, or rather as testimony to CC Technology’s record of challenging outdated shibboleths in pipeline research. John Beavers of CC Technology shared his theories on the impact and importance of CO2 permeability in coating performance with us. His research to date demonstrated the role of CO2 in increasing the corrosion potential of a metal. This, coupled with the familiar analysis of cathodic protection compatibility, would indicate a preference for FBE coatings over tri-laminates, a preference reiterated by the majority of operating companies we visited.

Having now returned to work on GasNet’s Nifty Pipeline on the edge of the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia, day-to-day work has a new global context. The experience, international contacts and exposure gained through the AGI Trust Scholarship have vastly increased my capacity to contribute to the industry now and in the future with the benefit of learning from both Australian and American industries. And, as Piglet says, “Things are much friendlier with two”.