Friday, August 16, 2013
See Snake Inspection "ROCKS"
In a recent oil pipeline inspection, the See Snake detected a local defect that appeared to be a dent with a through-wall crack or pit inside the dent. Our analysis team made the call and the customer excavated the pipe. What they found was the pipeline resting on top of a fairly large rock. The slight vibration on the pipeline from the nearby pump station had rubbed through the "Yellow Jacket" (external PE coating) and dented the line. When the rock dented the pipeline, the internal epoxy liner cracked and corrosion attacked the pipe very locally...exactly as we had predicted.
The line was not yet leaking, but was a candidate for a leak-type failure. The product, salt water, would likely have caused an environmental incident in the Alberta Boreal Forest, which is under close scrutiny by our U.S. customers and Greenpeace-type environmental agencies. The customer was relieved!
