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Hot Tap Detection with Petrobras and Transpetro

Pipeline Monitoring to Prevent Illegal Hot Taps

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Introduction

Theft of oil from illegal hot taps impacts revenue, and compromises pipeline safety and integrity across the world. The detection of hot taps poses technical, financial, and human challenges, which together make solving this problem extraordinarily difficult for pipeline operators. From a technical standpoint, existing detection tools are difficult to run and are susceptible to damage from those involved in the crime. From a global financial standpoint, Ernst & Young estimates illegal and fraudulent activities cost oil and gas companies US$133 billion annually (Ernst & Young, 2015), (Desjardins, 2017), (Ralby 2017). The costs associated with monitoring for this activity can be significant. The instrumentation required, as well as the testing and development of alternatives are expensive and the results can be uncertain. Hot taps can be installed at any time in a pipeline’s lifespan, putting pressure on operators to regularly run costly and disruptive inspections (e.g., smart pigs) or to install continuous monitoring solutions (e.g., fiber optics) that can be vulnerable to sabotage. There is a need for a reliable, tamper proof, and economical solution to this problem.

Project description

In this project, Petrobras and Transpetro wanted to demonstrate that Pipers® are an effective and economical solution for ongoing monitoring for illegal hot taps. To do so, an 8.5 km 22 inch crude-oil pipeline was surveyed using the Pipers® in a hot-tapping intervention scenario where a new hot tap is introduced at an unknown location along the pipeline to validate the Pipers® hot tap detection capability. The pipeline was inspected four times in total; two times prior to the hot tap installation and two times after the hot tap was installed on the pipeline. The time interval between the first two (pre-installation of the hot tap) and the last two runs (post-installation of the hot tap) was 14 days.

The Pipers® solution

INGU’s Pipers® solution pairs a baseball-sized free-floating multi-sensor system with AI powered data analytics and a GIS Pipeline viewer. The Pipers® solution accurately identifies and locates potential issues such as leaks, deposits, and changes in the pipeline wall that threaten pipeline health. This project focused on the effectiveness of magnetic signatures for the identification and localization of hot taps. The miniature (baseball) size and buoyancy of Pipers® allows it to overcome the piggability constraints of a traditional smart pig, since it does not make contact with the pipeline wall. The design of the device makes it easier to deploy, at a lower cost, and it does not require operational disruptions. Importantly, Pipers® open up the possibility of more frequent monitoring, making it possible to rapidly detect new hot taps within the system. The dynamic nature of this solution makes it tamper proof and highly reliable, minimizing financial losses, and increasing safety and reliability.

Results

In this case study, a magnetic baseline was obtained by inspecting the pipeline prior to the installation of hot taps. A precise and accurate distance scale is generated by utilizing the identified girth welds and fittings in the magnetic flux data with known information provided by the operator. The post-installation inspections were then directly compared to the magnetic baseline, where a search for deviations in the magnetic baseline was done. Any deviations from the baseline are then processed for any magnetic signatures that resemble factors or features that could cause changes in the magnetic flux.

A magnetic signature was found within a spool piece approximately 7.23 km into the 8.5 km pipeline that appeared to follow more of a broad peak and convex structure as well as having a change in magnetic flux in the adjacent regions due to the installation process of the hot tap. The broad peak structure is identical to previously identified hot taps.

The location of the identified hot tap was then sent to be verified. It was confirmed that the location of the new hot tap installed within this section of the pipeline was correctly identified by the Pipers®.

Pipeline specifications
Survey Length
8.5 km
Pipeline Diameter
22 inch
Pipeline Material
Carbon Steel
Resource Carried
Naphtha
Location
Brazil

Further reading

The following conference papers about detection of hot taps have been published and presented:
Oil & Gas Solution
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John is a former Venture Executive from Chevron Technology Ventures. He was responsible for identifying and executing venture capital investments in companies that have technology beneficial to Chevron, and assisting in the introduction and deployment of the technology. John has over 35 years of O&G industry experience. He is currently a Rice Alliance Advisory Board member, and is active in HTC Energy events. John has a BS in Earth Sciences from the University of Minnesota Duluth, a MS in Geophysics from Purdue University (Phi Kappa Phi) and an MBA from St. Mary’s College.

Steven Cooper

Venture Principal at Chevron Technology Ventures

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Steven has 12 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, 10 with Chevron. He has held various assignments in both upstream and downstream, beginning his career in Liquefied Natural Gas Technology Development before transferring to the El Segundo Refinery as a Process Engineer supporting naphtha and gas oil hydrotreaters and then working as a Process Automation Engineer specializing in Safety Systems. Prior to becoming a Venture Principal, Steven first joined Chevron Technology Ventures in 2019 as a Decision Analysis Advisor, supporting projects across the technology portfolio and ensuring high decision quality around development and deployment of externally developed technologies. Prior to joining Chevron, he worked for Baker Hughes Incorporated and ExxonMobil Chemical Company.

Steven holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Science in Data Science, both from Rice University in Houston, TX.

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Vice President Safety & Operational Discipline at Williams
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