National infrastructure services company Agility was recently commissioned to undertake an intelligent pigging survey of the Carpentaria Gas Pipeline. The Carpentaria Gas Pipeline is 70 per cent owned by Australian Pipeline Trust with a group of SWQ gas producers owning the remainder.
The survey of the five-year old 834 km Ballera to Mt Isa pipeline was required to fulfil licensing obligations and to verify the pipeline’s ongoing fitness for service.
According to General Manager of Asset Services, Tony Beach, Agility has significant project management experience in Intelligent Pigging programs.
“Our expertise in this area is very broad and ranges from initial project scoping, through to contractor selection, management of field programs to management of result assessment and field evaluation programs,” Mr Beach said.
The project scope for all six sections of the Carpentaria Gas Pipeline included:
- Initial preparation and assessment of the pipeline;
- Risk assessment and evaluation;
- Pipeline cleaning operations;
- Intelligent (MFL) Pigging program management;
- Review and assessment of inspection reports; and,
- Verification Inspection Program.
Permanent magnets were installed at 5 km intervals along the length of the pipeline.
As part of the risk management, comprehensive plans were introduced to reduce the risk to downstream customers as much as reasonably practical. Part of the risk management plan included an extensive program of pipeline cleaning.
The cleaning program, in the form of scraper cleaning pig runs, ran from mid-September until mid-October. The Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL) inspection program occurred approximately two weeks later.
Agility Project Manager, Jason Mansfield confirmed there was no impact on customers during the pipeline survey.
Mr Mansfield added that all project goals were met and no re-runs were required.
“Our field staff should be commended for the great job they did in ensuring the pipeline was ready for intelligent pigging, and for the work performed during the inspection. A lot of planning and preparatory work on the pipeline ensured everything ran smoothly on time and on budget,” Mr Mansfield said.
Preliminary reports reveal there are no significant metal loss indications and the pipeline is in excellent condition.