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WSJ: The Trouble With Inspection Tools for Oil PipelinesTechnology has improved, but a recent crude spill along a California beach shows the pitfallsOil pipeline companies like to brag that their advanced testing methods and remote monitoring technology prevent spills. So why was a southern California beach coated in crude in late May? Too many executives pay lip-service to prevention while skimping on safety, said Richard Kuprewicz, a pipeline-safety consultant at Accufacts Inc., which investigates leaks and spills. “In 40 years of doing this, I’ve yet to run across a true accident—a random event the pipeline operator had no real control over,” he said. That is because even tests that the industry considers state-of-the-art aren't foolproof, and human interpretation of test results can be flawed. “Smart pigs,” the small devices put through pipelines to look for signs of weakness in the metal, are just the size of a football, but the gadgets return huge reams of data. It can take workers months to comb through all of it, and it is possible to miss important signs of trouble. Even when a test highlights a problem with a pipeline, executives have to be willing to sign off on fixes instead of delaying expensive repairs. Pipeline inspection tools have come a long way in recent years, and can now spot problems like corrosion and dents. But they can still overlook some problems. And there is room for human error, since people have to pick the right testing tools, run the tests and decide how to respond to problems. “You can have a smart pig, smart people, and dumb management,” Mr. Kuprewicz said. Some experts also say energy companies can put too much faith in inspections that don’t always work, which may have been a factor in May’s oil spill that fouled miles of beaches near Santa Barbara, Calif. A big pipeline moving oil pumped by Exxon Mobil Corp. broke open near scenic Highway 101 that hugs the coast, spilling more than 100,000 gallons of crude into the Pacific Ocean. Preliminary data from an integrity test performed on the line two weeks before the spill—but only analyzed afterward—showed some problems but no imminent danger. The cause of the spill isn’t yet known, so it is too soon to blame the inspection, said Plains All American Pipeline LP, the pipeline’s operator. “Until the investigation is complete and we know the root cause of the release, it would be premature to draw conclusions about the extent of any limitations of in-line inspection tool runs,” the company said. In prior filings with the state, Plains assured officials that a pipeline break was “extremely unlikely” and said, if the worst did occur, state-of-the-art monitoring would quickly detect it. Despite a control room in Midland, Texas, manned by experts remotely monitoring the pipeline for drops in pressure—which would indicate that oil was escaping—the spill was first reported to local authorities by beachcombers who smelled the unmistakably pungent odor of petroleum. On the morning of May 19, pumps that push oil through the line were experiencing problems, according to Plains. The company shut off the flow of oil at 11:30 a.m., shortly before the local fire department got the call. Plains sent workers to the area, but didn’t notify federal authorities of the precise location of the break until nearly 3 p.m., according to a timeline the company provided federal lawmakers. The company workers had a hard time finding the exact source of the oil. Then notification was further delayed when employees in a nearby office had trouble reaching workers at the scene to get more information, because those workers were busy trying to keep more oil from flowing toward the ocean. On July 1, federal pipeline authorities proposed a rule that would require pipeline operators to notify the U.S. National Response Center of an accident within one hour of discovering it. An integrity test from just weeks before the incident showed the pipeline wall had thinned by 45%, which on its own isn't considered so problematic that it requires immediate action under current regulations. But when the broken pipe was actually pulled from the ground for repair, field inspectors said it had actually deteriorated by more than 80%, according to the U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Plains has questioned those field estimates and said it wants official measurements taken in a lab. In fact, the pipeline inspection Plains conducted before the spill flagged four other areas of the pipeline that required further investigation to check into corrosion. When crews surveyed those spots directly, they found the testing tool had overestimated the severity of the problem. “Safe operations and protecting the environment are much more important to us than profits,” Greg Armstrong, chief executive of Plains, told investors in the wake of the spill. The company has tripled spending on pipeline maintenance and integrity over the past seven years, he said. Plains spent $124.5 million in 2014 to keep up 6,539 miles of major, federally regulated pipelines and tanks in the U.S., or roughly $19,040 per line-mile. By comparison, a group of energy companies surveyed last year by the Association of Oil Pipe Lines spent more than $2.2 billion evaluating, inspecting and maintaining 144,800 miles of the same type of pipe, or about $15,450 a mile. Spending more—and testing more—doesn’t always translate into better outcomes, said Carl Weimer, executive director of the Pipeline Safety Trust. “Companies say, we have this technology, and risk systems—then you get into specific incidents and find out they failed one way or another,” he said. “It’s a little something different every time.” A decade ago, corroded metal pipe was listed as the cause of 90 spills, 20 of which were classified as sizable at 50 barrels or more, according to an analysis of federal data. That is enough liquid fuel to fill up the gas tanks of 100 midsize sedans. By comparison, last year corrosion was blamed for 82 spills, but just seven of those were big, affecting public property. That is better but not good enough, according to the National Transportation Safety Board, which often investigates major pipeline spills. Certain types of defects are particularly hard to find, including small cracks in metal near seams where sections of pipe have been welded together. Tiny cracks evaded tests performed on Exxon Mobil’s Pegasus pipeline, which ripped open in 2012 and released 210,000 gallons of oil into a neighborhood in Mayflower, Ark. Damage was so extensive that many people opted never to return home. It isn’t yet clear why the Santa Barbara line was so corroded, or why the inspection didn’t reveal that damage. Therein lies the problem, said John Stoody, a spokesman for the Association of Oil Pipe Lines. Pipeline operators are better at preventing spills than they used to be, but today’s technology is still far from perfect and most accidents aren’t caused by one single, easily preventable problem, he said. “We definitely want to break out of the current plateau.” |
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