API Recommended Practice 1173 – Pipeline Safety Management Systems was published July 2015, and API Recommended Practice 1175 – Pipeline Leak Detection Program Management was published December 2015. These two API documents provide guideline for program management, defined as “the process of managing several related projects with the intention of improving an organizations performance.”
When I started in the oil and gas business, just getting data was a challenge. Now a days, I seem to be absolutely buried in data. We have automation and systems for everything…. GIS, inline inspection, cathodic protection, inspection records, SCADA… and it just goes on. In the control room, where EnerSys spends most of our time, we work to process SCADA data into meaningful units of actionable information. We work to assure that what is important rises to the top, and what is unimportant is stored for when it’s needed. This may sound easy, but I assure you it is a real challenge.
When you expand the data domain to all that is entailed in pipeline safety, management of this data to create information can become even more challenging. The new API documents provide real help in how to approach the system aspects of pipeline safety and leak detection in order to achieve better results.
For more information on these important standards you can read to the following.
A look inside API Recommended Practice 1175, Part 1, Michael Twomey, Atmos International, Blog
A look inside API Recommended Practice 1175, Part 2, Michael Twomey, Atmos International, Blog
Let me know if you have thoughts by requesting more information at the following link.