What regular reporting can do for corrosion management, asset integrity

A regular flow of information and data is needed to make the best and most cost-effective technical, integrity, and financial decisions. This requires a consistent, organized, and transparent reporting system to facilitate existing or upcoming assessments, planning, and corrosion mitigation activities.

Without this information, integrity repercussions can adversely affect the AIMS, pushing costs unnecessarily high.

Depending on the significance of the corrosion threat associated with an asset, regular reported activities helping to quantify the corrosion rate or mitigate the corrosion may include:

• Inspection (including intelligent pigging of pipelines)
• Corrosion rate monitoring
• Fluid sampling
• Chemical treatment
• Cleaning
• Repairs and replacements

If corrosion is a major integrity threat, then corrosion reporting should be performed monthly. Otherwise, bimonthly or quarterly corrosion reporting should be adequate.

The findings of these activities must be accurately recorded, reported, and shared among the relevant individuals and disciplines. The regular distribution of results will continually improve knowledge and understanding about the following conditions:

• Integrity condition of the asset
• Specific problem areas
• Performance of various mitigation activities
• Specific integrity shortcomings
• Future corrosion mitigation needs
• Future repair/replacement requirements
• Required resources and budgets

The report itself should be distributed to:

• Asset inspection, process, and operation departments
• Repair/maintenance representative
• Corrosion or integrity managers from both the client and the contractor(s)
• Asset chemist or the representatives of the chemical(s) suppliers
• Asset or installation manager
• Any other person or group involved/interested in the asset’s integrity management

Finally, a solid corrosion report document should incorporate these main components in its structure and content:

• Administrative details
• Integrity-related information and data
• Corrosion key performance indicators (KPIs)
• An asset risk matrix highlighting threats posed to the overall integrity of the asset or its integrity management
• Meeting minutes noting future actions and activities as well as deadlines

The better an asset is known from an integrity or corrosion point of view, the more effective and efficient upcoming technical assessments, plans, treatments, and activities will be. Consequently, with regular reporting, asset integrity management could gradually become more efficient and the pertinent integrity management costs could further be optimized.

Looking for tools to help in implementing a corrosion management system in your organization. Check out IMPACT Plus. 

Source:  Originally appeared on materialsperformance.com and written by Ali Morshed, corrosion engineering specialist at Saudi  Aramco and author of An Introduction to Asset Corrosion Management in the Oil and Gas Industry. 

FREE DOWNLOADS

White Paper: An Action Plan for Reducing Pipeline Failures, Costs with Corrosion in the Water Sector

Special Report: The Future of Corrosion Control, Insights from the Experts