Managing the risks 

  "Our energy supplies will increasingly depend on imported gas and oil from Europe and beyond. At the same time, we need competitive markets to keep down costs and keep energy affordable for our businesses, industries, and households……. ….

we need access to a wide range of energy sources and technologies and a robust infrastructure to bring the energy to where we want to use it. We will maintain competitive markets in the UK and press for further liberalisation in Europe" [1].

It is of paramount importance therefore that the Oil and Gas industry provides a constant supply of its products to users at a competitive price whilst managing the impact on the environment and complying with stringent safety targets. Corrosion can seriously affect the industry's ability to deliver this and the need to control corrosion is intensified by the high risk factors involved with ensuring that materials do not fail uncontrollably in aggressive operating environments. The materials used are often pushed to their limits.

The consequences of a corrosion failure

A corrosion failure can have a very serious impact on the environment. In the offshore oil industry leakage from sub-sea oil well tubulars and transmission pipelines or the storage vessels and other equipment on offshore platforms poses the threat of serious pollution to the sea [2]. Corrosion has been identified as the most common "in-service" cause of failure of pipelines [3] and the cause of 6.4% of "loss of containment" failures of hazardous materials [4]. To combat this, the oil exploration and production companies have had to adopt a "zero emissions" policy although corrosion still caused 4% of the hydrocarbon releases in 2001/2001 [5]. The chemicals industry is another one where the escape of products to the atmosphere due to corrosion induced leakage from plant must be tightly controlled [6].

The potential costs of loss of control of corrosion in the often very large capital items that comprise the infrastructure of the oil and gas industry are enormous and have been estimated in the UK [7] and US [8]. Government energy policy is clearly outlined in [1], [10] and needs to be considered together with European de-regulation of gas supplies [11]. Safety in the oil and gas industry is a key concern of Pilot [9].

Government energy policy is clearly outlined in [1], [10] and needs to be considered together with European de-regulation of gas supplies [11]. Safety in the oil and gas industry is a key concern of Pilot [9].

Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Dr Paul McIntyre for his input to this text.

Links Referenced in the text

1. Energy white paper- Our Energy Future - Creating a low carbon economy
2. 25 years of CONCAWE pipeline incident statistics
3. Pollution by Oil Pipeline Releases
4. Loss of Containment Incident Analysis, HSL/2003/07
5. Offshore Hydrocarbon Releases Statistics and Analysis, 2002
6. Causes of Plant Failure, HSE
7. Cost of Corrosion Study (1998-2001, Paint Research Association)
   o Corrosion and Associated Costs in the UK Chemicals and Petrochemicals Sector
   o Corrosion and Associated Costs in the UK Offshore Sector
8. Cost of Corrosion in Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
9. The work of Pilot in 2002
10. Energy Policy Key Issues for Consultation, May 2002
11. DTI Electricity/Gas Directives