Bangkok--19 Mar--Dacon’s Research and Development
Dacon's Research and Development Team has recently started commercial commissioning of a 8" MFL Pipeline Inspection Tool that was designed and built at Dacon's design and fabrication facilities in Rayong, Thailand.
Dacon has over 15 years of experience with Pipeline Inspections however we have always been primarily focused on the use of Ultrasonic technology which is preferred for its absolute measurement of corrosion and wall loss in pipelines.
MFL Pipeline Inspection technology gives a quantitative assessment of the amount of corrosion or metal loss in a pipeline. Whilst MFL data cannot be used for the same degree of assessment as Ultrasonic data it is very widely used for 3 main reasons:
It can be used in gas pipelines whereas Ultrasonic tools can only be used in a pipeline filled with a liquid.
The tool can gather data whilst travelling at higher speeds than ultrasonic tools thus minimizing pipeline downtime.
It is very mature and well proven technology that has consequently led to its price being much lower than that of the more advanced ultrasonic inspection tools.
Why Build MFL Pipeline Inspection Tools
The majority of offshore and transmission pipelines in the Asia region carry gas and operators are reluctant to introduce liquids to these gas pipelines. As such Dacon will now be able to access a much larger section of the market than we are currently able to do with just Ultrasonic inspection tools.
Secondly is that MFL is still the most utilized pipeline inspection method in the oil and gas industry. Generally speaking, most pipelines are inspected every 5 years and when new inspections are needed the pipeline operator will want to know if any corrosion damage previously detected in the pipeline has become worse since the last inspection. The most effective way to do this is to use the same technology as the previous inspection which in many cases would have been MFL. By having MFL Inspection tools we open up a broader section of an already educated market as they use our MFL data for "corrosion growth assessment" of their pipelines.
When Will the New Tools Be Ready for Work
A large Oil and Gas company based in Asia approached Dacon and requested us to build MFL tools for their operations so that they could meet the increasing demand to inspect all of their pipeline network.
Design and development of the tools began in early 2016 and the tools were ready for final testing and acceptance in December 2017.
Trials and testing have been completed and the first commercial jobs are planned for the first quarter of 2018.
The Reason for and Importance of Pipeline Inspections
It is critically important that pipelines are inspected on a regular basis to ensure that they are being operated in a safe and efficient manner. Any damage or corrosion in the pipeline may represent the danger of a leak or even explosion (these are called loss of containment events). It is of extreme importance for pipeline operators to be certain that they are operating their pipelines within safe parameters according to very strict standards set in place by industry bodies and government regulators.
It is for this reason that pipelines must be inspected regularly and that the inspection results achieved are accurate and reflect the true condition of the pipeline. The inspections must be performed with efficiency so as to find the right balance between the safety obligations of the operator and the financial requirements of the owners.