The international Joint Technical Meeting on pipeline research provides a fantastic opportunity to learn about the international gas and pipeline industries.
As several young AGIT scholars found out, the ways in which other countries operate with different market forces, design demands, risk profiles, pipeline sizes and codes of practice and regulations all offer valuable lessons to Australia.
In May 2015, the APGA and the Australian Gas Industry Trust (AGIT) awarded scholarships to attend the 20th JTM, held in Paris, to four young Australian engineers: Francis Carroll (APA Group, Brisbane), Mark Dragar (Jemena, Sydney), Tom Seeber (Atteris, Perth) and Nick Kastelein (GPA Engineering, Adelaide).
Accompanying the engineers were two young research staff, Dr Guillaume Michal and Dr Klaas van Alphen of the University of Wollongong, who were funded by the Energy Pipelines Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).
In addition to attendance at the JTM at the Hotel Pullman Montparnasse, the scholarship included a two-week study tour through gas and pipeline related facilities in western Europe, which saw the group travel from France to Germany, Italy and Spain.
Main learnings of the JTM
The JTM is a collaborative conference for members of the Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), the European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG) and the APGA Research and Standards Committee (RSC).
It provides a forum for the discussion of research findings and an opportunity to coordinate joint activities.
Of the 37 papers discussed by the approximately 200 attendees, 10 were presented by researchers from Australia’s Energy Pipelines CRC.
Presented over three days and five technical sessions, the papers covered topics including pipe fracture, CO2 pipelines, corrosion, ground movement and high strain, integrity assessment, operations and risk, pipeline materials, welding and offshore pipeline advancements.
The Australian delegates at the JTM were also involved in a number of working group meetings that were held over the first two days of the JTM and reported back to the group on the final day.
At these meetings, attendees discussed current tripartite projects and topics, including Fracture Control, Human and Organisational Factors, CO2 pipelines, Time Delayed Failure, Mechanical Damage and Ground Movement.
Some of the major issues that were described as facing the international pipeline industry included understanding the fracture behaviour of modern high-strength steels and operating ageing pipeline networks.
The event offered an excellent opportunity for networking with other young pipeliners from the UK, Germany, France, Canada and the US, encouraging international collaboration between young pipeliner organisations.
Focus in France
The first stop on the study tour was CRIGEN in Paris, the research and operational expertise centre of ENGIE group (formerly GDF Suez), where ENGIE group’s capabilities for in-house research have benefited from significant investment.
This was followed by a visit to Total’s Centre Scientific et Technique Jean Féger (CSTJF), located in Pau, southwest France. Dedicated to total core activities, the CTSJF showcases the resources necessary to compete in the modern global oil and gas industry.
The visit provided a detailed overview of material qualification, corrosion inhibitor testing, major project management, geological sedimentary and structural interpretations and applications of supercomputers to offshore seismic exploration.
A look at Germany’s pipelines industry
The second week of the tour was spent in the northwest region of Germany, travelling through Dusseldorf, Duisburg, Munster, Hamm and Lingen.
The region around Dusseldorf and Duisburg has a long history of involvement in steel and pipe production, prompting a learning focus on materials – how pipe is made and how it is inspected.
Located immediately adjacent to the HKM steel works, the Salzgitter Mannesmann Forschüng (SZMF) facility is a research facility focusing on pipe manufacture that contributes significantly to the EPRG.
The facility houses a laboratory for each stage of the steel and pipeline material manufacturing process, affording the ability to replicate each production step in the lab and to develop numerical modelling methods to simulate industrial modifications.
One important aspect of the research utilises the laboratories’ destructive testing capabilities, which include an outdoor concrete pressure test pit, a drop weight tear testing rig and a four-point bending rig.
In the region surrounding the SZMF are the works, mill and other facilities where research is applied to pipe-making in practice.
At neighbouring HKM, which is an imposing one kilometre in length, 40 tonne slabs of steel roll off the production line; plates are rolled from slabs at Mulheim and UOW pip manufactured from plate at Europipe; the plug and pilger extrusion methods for seamless pipe manufacture are used at Vallourec; and ERW is manufactured from strip and pipe coating at Salzgitter Mannessman Line Pipe in Hamm.
The Australian engineers also visited the Rosen headquarters at Lingen, where the company deploys its fleet of pipeline inspection tools.
Dedicated to the development of solutions for the market’s future needs, the Rosen facility performs extensive applied research and development in the areas of electronics, mechanical engineering, chemistry and software.
And rather than outsourcing fabrication, Rosen produces many of its own components, ranging from the assembly of battery packs and circuit boards to the moulding of plastics and the machining of metal components.
Pipelines in Italy
Week three began in Venice, where the young Australian engineers were hosted by Valeria Capuzzi from SNAM, the country’s main gas pipeline operator, and were guided around a pipeline construction site, a gas turbine compressor station and the Venice gas distribution network.
Two site visits were made to the right of way of the new 48 inch Poggio-Renatico Minerbio pipeline construction, one to the location where the final pass of the welding was being finished, and the other to a site where pipe was freshly strung, and preparations were being made for a thrust bore road crossing.
A number of elements of Italian pipeline construction were new to the Australians, including the reclamation of devices: in Italy, before any other activity on the Right of Way, a survey of the pipeline route is conducted by the military to located unexploded bombs, abandoned armaments or other relics of previous military activity.
At the Renatico compressor station the tour included access to a non-operational compressor and discussion about the historical development of gas turbine compressors and the various factors affecting their performance and efficiency.
The last stop in Italy was the Venice distribution system, with a tour beginning at Tresse Island, home to Italgas’s metering, regulation and odorising station.
While undertaking work in Venice, the city’s UNESCO World Heritage classification poses numerous difficulties for Italgas.
When replacing gas distribution mains, for example, every cobble stone that is removed must be numbered to ensure they are restored to their original position.
Pipelines providing liquid to Spain
In Spain, trips to Barcelona and Zaragoza were made to visit an Enagás LNG terminal and an Enagás R&D facility dedicated to instrument calibration and software development.
At the Enagás regasification plant, located in the Energy dock of the Barcelona port, many of the young engineers had their first experience of an LNG import terminal.
The Enagás plant offered a particular point of interest in that rather than leaving the facility via pipeline after regasification, a proportion of the LNG is loaded onto trucks in liquid form, which provides an alternative supply of natural gas to locations which lack pipeline infrastructure.
What we learned
From research presentations at JTM in Paris to the UNESCO-compliant restoration works, the conference and tour offered valuable insight into the differences between the Australian and European pipeline industries.
The young engineers were struck by the divergences in diameter, pressure and design factors, and their connection to the way that distance, demand, and the geographical distribution of customers and suppliers varies between the two continents.
Market and political pressures also differ greatly, and there are many more “˜old’ pipelines in Europe than found in Australia.
While it is evident that there is much for Australian pipeliners to learn through collaboration with overseas research groups and pipeline companies, the Australian industry also has a lot to offer.
Gas pipelines in Australian are characterised by a high design factor, long distances travelled with small diameters, and innovation in material performance to maximise efficiency and minimise cost.
Australian researchers are making significant contributions to the international pipeline industry, with events like the JTM providing a valuable platform.
The beneficiaries of the travel scholarships extend their thanks to the APGA, AGIT and Energy Pipelines CRC (and especially Steve Dobbie, tour guide and organiser) for their once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and for the investment of time and effort that made the trip such a success.