A NUMBER OF high-profile pipeline failures across Canada and the United States have brought the issue of pipeline safety to the forefront. Every year in Alberta, more than 750 pipelines fail, potentially causing harm to both people and the environment. The Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) that regulates pipelines in Alberta attributes these failures to three primary causes: internal corrosion, external corrosion, and third-party damage. Upstream pipelines account for approximately two thirds of the pipeline failures that occur in Alberta, and over half of those failures are due to internal corrosion. For the operators of these pipelines, integrity maintenance is problematic due to three factors: Upstream pipelines are typically multiphase and have a corrosive environment caused by the CO_2, H_2S, and chloride-containing water that comes directly from the production reservoir. Host of these pipelines cannot be easily inspected with smart tools, and determination of the location and severity of internal corrosion is difficult by other means. The sheer volume of pipelines (H centre dot 200,000km in Alberta) makes it difficult for operators to know where to concentrate their efforts to ensure the best value and highest impact.
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