The YEP programme continues well at Aberdeen, with the seventh session, “Introduction to Fitness for Service Assessments” with Pieter Van Der Vyver from Oceaneering being held on 15th September, which was followed by George Winning, on Thursday 6th October 2022 on the topic of “Corrosion aspects of O&G Production Chemistry.”
During July (26/07/22) and August (24/08/22) respectively, there were excellent talks given by Clare Watt of KAEFER on “Corrosion Under Insulation and Fire Protection” and Jim McNab of Oceaneering entitled “Non-Destructive Testing and Corrosion Monitoring.”
The YEP participants are now in the final stages of their Case Study with the date of Thursday 24th November set for the YEP case study competition presentation evening, to be held at Aberdeen Palm Court Hotel. The Case Study set for the participants, who were divided into teams for this, was “Corrosion management of mature offshore platform facilities”, and Steve Paterson – Case Study Leader, gave the following essential information for the teams, so that they can analyse the data and perform a high-level corrosion risk assessment, in order to propose an integrity management plan. Also included in the case study is a subsea tie-back with H2S so that the teams can also do a materials selection for the pipeline and a sour service assessment for the platform facilities. The study is based on an actual N. Sea platform.
Brief: Each YEP team is assumed to have been engaged by an integrity services contractor to advise an international company that is a newcomer to the operation of production facilities in the UK sector of the North Sea. Capercaille Energy, which is an affiliate of Grouse Capital International, is considering the acquisition of an existing platform and associated subsea facilities that have been in operation for 15 years. End of field life is currently estimated to be 2032. There is an 8” subsea pipeline from the oil rim of a near field reservoir and a 10” subsea pipeline from the gas cap. Configuration of the subsea wells and manifolds means that individual well tests are not straightforward. As part of the purchase there is also an opportunity to develop another gas/condensate reservoir 10km from the platform. The reservoir is known to contain up to 50 ppm H2S. Initial studies suggest an 8” pipeline will be installed for the possible initial gas production of 50 MMscf/d. It has already been identified that the existing owner has not managed the integrity of the “Solaire” platform in an optimal way in the past, and there have been several significant corrosion related hydrocarbon leaks in recent years. The teams have also been made aware that inspection has been primarily time-based and many vessels have not been inspected since start of operation. Corrosion management has been the responsibility of a contractor who has not been helpful so far, and administration of the inspection database has been poor. Capercaille Energy is a demanding and sometimes difficult client with high expectations of its contractors. A more innovative approach to corrosion management of the platform is anticipated by the client. Run on shoe-string budget the company does not have the resources to chase the existing owner for anything but essential technical information about the platform and associated facilities. Each team will need to carefully consider what questions are asked to get a sensible and timely response. The integrity services contractor, Bala Integrity, has a habit of playing its sub-contractors off against each other and there may be other companies that have been engaged to provide advice. Each team should present their proposed solution to the management team of Bala Integrity prior to presenting to Capercaille Energy.
Platform details: Solaire is a six-legged steel jacket platform in the Central North Sea positioned in 90 metres of water. Current production is 40,000 bpd oil (API 40), 100 MMscf/d gas and 50,000 bpd produced water. It has two HP three phase sand separators, three further stages of oil/water/gas separation, plus two vertical 1st stage gas separators. There are multiple stages of gas compression, with a (TEG) glycol contactor for gas dehydration, and coolers for export gas.
There are produced water handling facilities for overboard discharge. Oil export (max 2% water) to shore is via a 16” pipeline and dry gas export to a 3rd party pipeline system is via an 18” pipeline. Personnel on board for the platform is limited to 80, which restricts the ability to do non-routine maintenance and inspection.
The exercise involves, 1. Identify what further information or data that you need for the other tasks in the exercise and request from your mentor. 2. Analyse/discuss the information and data that you are provided with. Identify any gaps in information and any assumptions you may need to make. 3. Perform a high-level risk assessment to identify key threats to the mechanical integrity of the pressurised systems (i.e. structural integrity is excluded). 4. Propose a systematic approach to manage the key threats including mitigation measures, corrosion control requirements, performance monitoring, the resources required to manage the process, and any specific strategies needed. 5. Propose materials of construction for a pipeline including welding consumables and any testing requirements to tie-back the new reservoir to the platform and explain the basis for the materials selection and how any corrosion threats will be mitigated. 6. Identify what needs to be done for the existing facilities should the new slightly sour reservoir be produced back to the platform. 7. Propose a strategy for convincing Capercaille Energy that your team’s approach is the optimal solution and that you are the right team to do the job.
Aberdeen held its first YEP session online, on 27 January 2022, chaired by Hooman Takhtechian. There are 24 participants in the scheme selected from over 50 applicants meeting the YEP criteria. These come from a diverse range of disciplines, CP, CUI, FM, Materials, Process Engineering, Reliability / Maintenance, RBI, Subsea and Welding, thus bringing a wide cross-section of experience, cultural and networking opportunities for this year’s programme.
The chair congratulated all the successful candidates and encouraged them to also participate also in the branch technical meetings and ICorr events nationally, as far as possible. All YEP participants also have the opportunity to attend the branch ACF – Annual Corrosion Forum on Tuesday 30th August 2022, with this year’s theme being the “Role of materials selection, corrosion management and asset integrity/management in the Energy Transition and Net Zero Target industry sectors.
YEP Candidates and Course Organisers.
Steve Paterson, formerly Principal Technical Expert Upstream Materials for Shell Projects & Technology, got things off to an excellent start with a very comprehensive presentation covering corrosion control fundamentals and all aspects of corrosion management including, the impacts of corrosion, deterioration mechanisms, electrochemistry, materials, mitigation, modelling, passivity, kinetics and thermodynamics, along with several examples of corrosion failures. This generated many interesting questions and requests for further reading material.
The branch continued with its YEP on 8 March with an in-person meeting when Stephen Tate (ICorr Vice Chair) presented Integrity Management, and provided many experienced based examples of loss of integrity due to corrosion and erosion in, offshore fixed and floating facilities, oil and gas process systems, land-based structures and pipelines, stressing the need to ensure that all production facilities remain safe and legally compliant. A range of in-service failure specimens were made available to attendees, including removed flowline sections, choke valve sections and other piping specimens.
Subsea 7 have kindly loaned their Westhill training facilities for the YEP in-person events and the Aberdeen committee is extremely grateful to Brian Welsh – Subsea 7 Training Coordinator, for making this possible along with Amir Attarchi who managed all the catering on the night. David Mobbs has also been regularly supporting the Aberdeen YEP for us, which is very much appreciated.
YEP Session 1 presenter Steve Paterson -YEP Mentor and Case Study Leader.
YEP Session 3 – Integrity Management with Stephen Tate at Subsea
7 Training Centre.
Aberdeen branch has now launched the 2022YEP which will run for a full year from January.
The branch received 50 applications for this session, and after a thorough review by branch committee members, 20 applicants were selected for the programme and 3 were selected as reserves. Also 15 applications were found suitable for future YEP programmes and were advised to re-apply for YEP 2024. The first session was held on 27th January by Zoom due to the current uncertainties regarding the COVID restrictions in Scotland. At present the February talk is likely to be similarly organised online, although it is hoped to hold subsequent presentations in-person.
The full 2022 syllabus is givenbelow.
Session
Date
Speaker
Session 3 – NDT / Corrosion Monitoring
31-Mar-22
Jim McNab (Oceaneering)
Session 4 – Coatings & Linings
26-Apr-22
Michael Young (ROSEN)
Session 5 – Case Studies
31-May-22
Steve Paterson
Session 5.1 – Presentation Skills
31-May-22
Olubayo Latwino
Session 6 – Corrosion Under
Insulation and Fire Protection
28-Jun-22
Clare Watt (KAEFER)
Session 7 – Cathodic Protection
26-Jul-22
ROSEN (speaker to be confirmed)
Extra session – Annual Corrosion Forum (Whole day)
30-Aug-22
Various Speakers
Session 8 – Production Chemistry
27-Sep-22
Ben Smith (BP) (TBC)Olaf Niemeyer (Shell) (TBC)
Session 9 – Integrity Management / FFS
25-Oct-22
Stephen Tate / Pieter Viever (Oceaneering)
Session 10 – Presentation of Case Studies
29-Nov-22
Panel of Judges
As the 20 participants will be split into 5 groups, the branch has identified 5 mentors to support them during their case study preparations. The following 4 mentors have are already confirmed, and one more needs to be identified.
Steve Plant, Managing Director, PIM
Bruce McKenzie, Technical Manager, Oceaneering
David Hillis, Material and Corrosion TA, TotalEnergies
Yunnan Gao, SME & Deputy Technical Manager, Stork
For the case study presentations, two judges have been confirmed, Chris Williams from BP and Susan Cushnaghan from Shell, and the branch are in the process of confirming the third judge.The prize for the best case study presentation has been sponsored by BP, and it is hoped to have a further prize sponsored.
Following the great success of its 2018 and 2020 Young Engineer Programme in London, the Institute of Corrosion will now be running a YEP from January to November 2022, in Aberdeen.The ICorr Young Engineer Programme (YEP) is second to none and delivers a technical competency framework that’s consistent with the Institute of Corrosion’s aims and professional standards, to help prepare graduates for entry into the Corrosion Science and Engineering industries, with a broad range of knowledge. As well as providing an opportunity to network with like-minded professionals, the programme offers participants a solid foundation and a stepping-stone, as the first stage in achieving MICorr and CEng status.
This is a training programme aimed at young Engineers (graduates) from a range of disciplines who have a specific interest in Corrosion Management.
The programme consists of a series of mainly evening lectures spread out over a 12-month period with required attendance every month from January to November. In May 2022 the group will be split up into teams and appointed a mentor to assist them with a Case Study which will be a real corrosion problem that has required a solution. Each team will then present their case study to the Institute of Corrosion at the Aberdeen Branch meeting in November with invited guests from academia and industry. Each presentation will be judged, and the winning team will be awarded an expense paid trip to the AMPP 2023 Conference (formerly NACE) in USA.
Application for participating in this programme is now closed and the committee are in the process of selecting and enrolling around 20 participants.
Lecturers, mentors and organisations supporting the programme will all be professional volunteers however, we are still looking for sponsors to cover the following costs (fully or partially),
1. A second award for one engineer as selected by the judges due to their outstanding performance (one award is already sponsored by BP).
2. Sponsor for the venues / catering in Aberdeen for 9 lectures and competition event.
The YEP 2022 sponsors logo will appear on all the programme materials, including, posters, flyers, training material and application forms distributed to the companies in the ICorr mailing list.
Any interest in sponsorship, or queries, should in the first instance be addressed to: Hooman Takhtechian, Aberdeen Branch Chair,HTakhtechian@oceaneering.com
The May meeting of the Young Engineers programme was held at the CB&I offices in London on the 16th May. The topic was coatings which was presented by David Mobbs and was warmly received by the enthusiastic audience. The presentation covered the high priority areas of coating including the requirement to qualify products to standards, the standards and what they mean, the testing methods required to achieve this qualification, and also looked at some case histories of coating applications good and bad.
Prior to the presentation the case study for the programme was presented to the delegates by Richard Carroll of Shell, who highlighted the importance of working together in the teams to deliver the required information as detailed in the document. In a change to previous years there will be only one case study for all the teams with each team giving a presentation in a competition to be delivered at the November ICorr London branch meeting.
This year the case study covers a number of areas in which the students are being trained including, materials, coatings, CP, failures, and the management of change. The mentors this year are John Boran, Rob Doggert and Chris Googan, and the teams will meet their mentors in the coming weeks to get started on the case study. A Linkedin page and drop box, have been set up for the teams to help them with this process.
The next meeting on Painting, Fire Protection and Linings will take place on the 29th June again being held at CB&I offices on London.
Again we would like to thank our hosts CB&I especially Sadegh Parvisi for organising the venue, our sponsors BP and our speakers, organising committee and delegates without whom we would not be able to stage this event.
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