Hydrocarbon Processing - October 2021 - GP-9

INDUSTRY FOCUS: PIPELINES
Sensor advances allow pipeline
leak detection to take to the skies
D. BAER, ABB, San Jose, California
Sustainability and green initiatives
have always been laudable objectives,
with mission statements around the
world confirming commitments to lower
emissions and energy consumption, and
increase recyclability, to name a few.
However, increasingly over recent
years, sustainability has also morphed
into a business imperative, as investors,
stakeholders and shareholders begin to
steer their preferences towards companies
that are not just paying lip service to
the green agenda but are, instead, actively
looking for ways to make their overall carbon
footprint and environmental impact
as low as possible.
First, the focus was on coal; now, the
oil industry thinks it might be next. Indeed,
a recent article in Forbes magazine
stated: " One of the primary reasons that
all three big companies (e.g., BT, Chevron,
ExxonMobil) are so focused on reducing
their emissions of methane and other
greenhouse gases is simple: they view it
as being in their best economic interest,
rather than risk seeing investors flee to
other industry segments perceived as being
more environmentally friendly. "
These big three companies-coupled
to numerous other large, medium and
small companies-can have a hugely positive
impact on the reduction of unwanted
methane emissions. This is especially true
when you consider that, according to the
U.S. Energy Information Administration
(EIA), the natural gas pipeline network
in the continental U.S. comprises about
3 MM mi of interstate and intrastate pipelines
that link natural gas production areas
and storage facilities with consumers. In
2019, this natural gas transportation network
delivered approximately 28 Tft3
natural gas to 77 MM customers.
If investor pressure is not enough,
stricter legislation is also forcing companies
to appraise the way they install and-
arguably, more importantly-maintain
their networks. The U.S. Department
of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) published an advisory bulletin
in June this year that, in summary, states:
" PHMSA is issuing this advisory bulletin
to remind each owner and operator of a
pipeline facility that the 'Protecting our
infrastructure of pipelines and enhancing
safety act of 2020' (PIPES Act of 2020)
contains a self-executing mandate requiring
operators to update their inspection
and maintenance plans to address eliminating
hazardous leaks and minimizing
releases of natural gas (including intentional
venting during normal operations)
from their pipeline facilities. Operators
must also revise their plans to address the
replacement or remediation of pipeline
facilities that are known to leak based on
their material, design, or past operating
and maintenance history. The statute
requires pipeline operators to complete
these updates by December 27, 2021. "
Obviously, a potentially significant
time gap exists between updating plans
and actually executing them, but this
gives companies the breathing room to
source and integrate technologies and
procedures that will provide the best possible
means to monitor and maintain their
pipeline infrastructures. In fact, the PIPES
Act of 2020 directs gas pipeline operators
to use advanced leak-detection technologies
to conduct leak detection and repair
programs that protect the environment
and enhance pipeline safety.
Reactive and proactive maintenance are
of
key facets contributing to the efficient operation
of any system-big or small, consumer
or commercial. In most cases, the
expenditure of time and effort is justified
in financial terms, but fiscal matters are
only part of the full picture. In the case of
pipelines, leaks and their resulting environmental
impact must now also be factored
in and given equal, if not higher, billing.
The primary driver and antagonist in
all of this is methane, the main component
of natural gas. Methane emissions
have increased by 9% globally in the last
decade. Although naturally occurring,
huge amounts of methane are emitted
from man-made sources, such as coal
mining,
landfill, wastewater
treatment
and, of course, oil and natural gas production
and transportation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) explains why: " Methane is
the second most abundant anthropogenic
(human-caused) greenhouse gas after carbon
dioxide (CO2
), accounting for about
at trapping heat
20% of global emissions. It is more than
25 times as potent as CO2
(over 100 yr) in the atmosphere and over
the last two centuries, methane concentrations
in the atmosphere have more than
doubled, largely due to human-related
activities. Because methane is both a powerful
greenhouse gas and short-lived compared
to CO2
, achieving significant reductions
would have a rapid and significant
effect on atmospheric warming potential. "
Looking at it positively, the UN
Framework Convention on Climate
Change elaborates: " A Global Methane
Assessment released in May by the Climate
and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC)
and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP), shows that humancaused
methane emissions can be reduced
by up to 45% this decade. Such reductions
would avoid nearly 0.3°C of global warming
by 2045 and would be consistent with
keeping the goal of the Paris Agreement
to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C
(2.7°F) within reach. "
The International Energy Agency's
(IEA's) Sustainable Development Scenario
(SDS) says that emissions from the
pipeline sector will need to fall to around
20 metric tpy by 2030-a drop of more
than 70% from levels in 2020.
Finally, and somewhat under the radar,
Gas Processing | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2021 9
Hydrocarbon Processing - October 2021

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