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News & Views, Volume 50 | Oil and Gas Pipeline Intel

October 6, 2021/in Company News, News and Views, Oil and Gas Pipeline/by Structural Integrity

PRCI June Technical Committee Meetings

Structural Integrity Associates (SI) recently attended the PRCI June 2021 Technical Committee (TC) Meetings. SI is also planning to support the upcoming PRCI NDE workshop scheduled for October 2021 as well as future committee meetings. SI will continue to engage and support industry with PRCI. As a researcher for PRCI, SI is pleased to support industry in the development and evaluation of new technology and methods that can enhance pipeline safety and reliability. SI continues to support the development of new tools and analytical methods to help advance crack management, material verification, NDE inspections, and pipeline integrity management and share our experience with PRCI and industry. Please contact us with any questions regarding our involvement or how SI can support your pipeline safety and reliability objectives.

SI Presenting at the 2021 AGA Operations Conference on “Responding to Cracks and Crack-Like Defects for Mega-Rule 1”.

Structural Integrity is pleased to partner with Duke Energy to present on Mega-Rule 1 requirements for the Analysis of Predicted Failure Pressure (192.712). Procedures, tools and practical applications will be presented along with specific case studies. In addition, methods to address additional requirements for evaluating cyclic fatigue will also be presented. This presentation will be at the AGA Fall Operations Conference in Orlando, FL scheduled for October 6, 2021 at 10:45 AM in the Integrity Management track. Additional detail on the event can be found at the following site: www.aga.org/OpsConf2021

News & Views, Volume 49 | Mission Critical Applications to Support the Mega-Rule

April 20, 2021/in Bruce Paskett, Mega-Rule, News and Views, Oil and Gas Pipeline, Scott Riccardella, Steven Biles/by Structural Integrity

By: Scott Riccardella, Bruce Paskett, and Steven Biles

On October 1, 2019, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published amendments to 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 in the Federal Register, issuing Part 1 of the Gas Transmission Mega-Rule. This new regulation is commonly referred to as the Mega-Rule since it represents the most significant regulatory impact on gas transmission pipelines since the original Gas Transmission Integrity Management Program (TIMP) Regulation was issued in 2003

The original Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) issued in April, 2016 was split into 3 Parts, with the first Part (Mega-Rule 1) including specific requirements to address congressional mandates in the 2012 Pipeline Safety Reauthorization, and other pipeline safety improvements, including:

Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP) Reconfirmation (§192.624),
Material Verification (MV) (§192.607),
Engineering Critical Assessments for MAOP Reconfirmation (§192.632),
Analysis of Predicted Failure Pressure (§192.712),
Assessments Outside of High Consequence Areas (HCAs) (§192.710),
Additional Requirements to Evaluate Cyclic Fatigue (§192.917(e)(2)), and
Additional Analysis of Electric Resistance Welded (ERW) Seam Welds (§192.917(e)(4))

News & Views, Volume 49 | Digital Elevation Modeling: Support Pressure Tests Records and Reduce MAOP Reconfirmation Costs

April 20, 2021/in Bruce Paskett, Eric Elder, News and Views, Oil and Gas Pipeline, Scott Riccardella/by Structural Integrity

By: Scott Riccardella, Bruce Paskett, and Eric Elder

§ 192.624(a)(1) of the Mega-Rule 1 requires MAOP Reconfirmation for steel transmission pipe segments if records necessary to establish the MAOP in accordance with § 192.619(a)(2) (e.g. pressure test), including records required by § 192.517(a), are not traceable, verifiable, and complete and the pipeline is located in a high consequence area (HCA) or a Class 3 or Class 4 location.

Part 192, Section 192.517(a) requires that natural gas pipeline operators shall make and retain, for the useful life of the pipeline, a record of the following information for any Subpart J Pressure Test (PT):

The operator’s name, the name of the operator’s employee responsible for making the test, and the name of any test company used,
Test medium used,
Test pressur,
Test duration,Pressure recording charts, or other record of pressure readings.
Elevation variations, whenever significant for the particular test, and
Leaks and failures noted and their disposition.

News & Views, Volume 47 | Release of the First Safety of Gas Transmission Pipeline Regulation Mega-Rule

March 3, 2020/in Andy Jensen, Bruce Paskett, Mega-Rule, News and Views, Oil and Gas Pipeline, Scott Riccardella/by Structural Integrity

By: Scott Riccardella, Bruce Paskett, and Andy Jensen

On October 1, 2019 the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published amendments to 49 CFR Parts 191 and 192 in the Federal Register issuing Part 1 of the Gas Transmission Mega-Rule¹. This new regulation is commonly referred to as the Mega-Rule, as it represents the most significant regulatory impact on gas transmission pipelines since the original Gas Transmission Integrity Management Program (TIMP) Regulation was issued in 2003.

General Overview
As a result of numerous transmission pipeline accidents in the late 1990’s, the congressional Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 required operators of natural gas transmission lines to create TIMP Plans to identify transmission lines in High Consequence Areas (HCAs), conduct risk assessments and manage the integrity of covered segments in HCAs by conducting periodic integrity assessments. In 2010 through 2012, multiple incidents (Deep Water Horizon, San Bruno, California, Marshall, Michigan, Sissonville, WV) created a renewed focus on pipeline safety in Congress.

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