Infrastructure protection strategies needed for oil and gas assets
Coatings and linings provider Sharpshell Industrial Solutions’ Godfrey Pangeti has urged oil and gas project developers on the continent to incorporate strategies to protect their infrastructure into the design phase of a project, preventing costly downtime, and the associated material and labour costs, at a later stage.
Noting that the bulk of oil and gas infrastructure, comprising pipelines, storage tanks and vessels and offshore structures, was commonly made from highly corrosive metal or steel, he argued that developers would do well to select the most appropriate protection technology for assets – rather than opting for the cheapest.
“One should, from the design phase, protect the integrity of your assets. Engineers are often pressured by management to buy cheaper materials, but cheap is not always cheap.
“Buying unsuitable materials can result in the unbudgeted downtime of assets, expensive breakdown and repairs and the use of expensive alterative storage and transport options,” he told delegates at the Gas Africa conference on Wednesday.
Pangeti advised companies to remain aware of the emergence of new technologies and capabilities for the insulation and protection of pipelines, vessels and storage facilities during the design phase, selecting a technology suited to a particular project rather than adopting a “one size fits all” approach.
Citing examples, he advised that slippery linings should be used for pipelines carrying fluids, antimicrobial linings for buried pipelines and ultraviolet-resistant coatings for aboveground pipelines.
“There are issues on pipelines from Cape Town to Cairo because this has not been done,” he noted.
Developers also had to consider the particular environmental conditions of the region in which the infrastructure would be built to ensure resistance to humidity, weather, temperature and soil conditions.
“The technology needs to be specific to the region. If you build a pipeline from Cape Town to Nigeria, for example, you can’t only use one type of pipe and anticorrosion technology for its entire length,” he said.
Pangeti further advised companies to match the expected life of the project with the lifespan of the technology and avoid simply opting for the cheapest alternative.
“In general, the most expensive technology to protect oil and gas assets is the cheapest in the long term,” he concluded.
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