Representative End User Clients
Representative Automation Clients
Representative Software Clients
During the publication of ARC’s Leak Detection Systems global market study, we highlighted the potential benefits of IIoT solutions could have on leak detection systems in terms of improved monitoring and system responsiveness, increased collaboration among field personnel and control room operators, and ability to integrate data from disparate assets, remote locations and even different operational groups. The benefits of IIoT would be especially beneficial in pipelines operating in high consequence areas (HCA) and those designated as transporting hazardous liquids.
Under newly proposed hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations, the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration would require pipelines to have leak-detection systems and timelines for inspecting affected segments following an extreme weather event or natural disaster, the US Department of Transportation agency said.
The Oct. 1 proposal, PHMSA said, also would require pipeline operators to conduct yearly evaluations of implemented protection measures in heavily populated and other high-consequence areas and take additional steps where necessary.
The proposal also would set a deadline for operators to use internal inspection tools where possible for any new and replaced pipeline that could affect an HCA, PHMSA said. The proposed rule would change significantly the way operators manage risk and improve safety along the nearly 200,000 miles of US hazardous liquids pipelines, PHMSA Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez said.
“The new requirements would strengthen the standards that determine how operators repair aging and high-risk infrastructure, increase the quality and frequency of tests that assess the condition of pipelines, and require that all hazardous liquid pipelines have a system to detect leaks,” she said.
PHMSA said the proposed regulations include an increased focus on a data and risk informed pipeline safety approach by requiring operators to integrate available data, including information on the operating environment, pipeline condition, and known manufacturing and construction defects.
The proposed rule is a significant action under DOT’s regulatory policies and procedures, but is not economically significant under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 because the estimated annual impact is less than $100 million, Econometrica Inc. of Bethesda, Md., said in a preliminary regulatory impact analysis it prepared for PHMSA.
Oil industry pipeline groups responded that they would continue to actively support safety improvement efforts. “We are always looking for new ways to enhance an already safe industry,” American Petroleum Institute Midstream Group Director Robin Rorick said. “We need a practical pipeline safety rule for hazardous liquids that will complement industry’s strong safety standards.”
Rorick said API’s recently issued Recommended Practice 1173 is a prime example of industry efforts to keep safe operations liquid pipelines’ number one priority. RP 1172 builds on existing safety requirements to further monitor and measure the effectiveness of pipeline activities with a “plan, do, check, and act” philosophy that requires periodic reviews and applies changes or corrections to activities as needed, Rorick said.
ARC believes that an increasing number of leak detection system suppliers should be working with pipeline operators, SCADA suppliers, regulators, and related stakeholders to integrated IIoT enabled solutions with their leak detection systems and relevant SCADA systems so as to not only ensure that operators will meet the new PHMSA regulations, but also improve the operational performance and safety of the pipelines thereby mitigating risk to the pipeline operator, the public and the environment.
Under newly proposed hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations, the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration would require pipelines to have leak-detection systems and timelines for inspecting affected segments following an extreme weather event or natural disaster, the US Department of Transportation agency said.
The Oct. 1 proposal, PHMSA said, also would require pipeline operators to conduct yearly evaluations of implemented protection measures in heavily populated and other high-consequence areas and take additional steps where necessary.
The proposal also would set a deadline for operators to use internal inspection tools where possible for any new and replaced pipeline that could affect an HCA, PHMSA said. The proposed rule would change significantly the way operators manage risk and improve safety along the nearly 200,000 miles of US hazardous liquids pipelines, PHMSA Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez said.
“The new requirements would strengthen the standards that determine how operators repair aging and high-risk infrastructure, increase the quality and frequency of tests that assess the condition of pipelines, and require that all hazardous liquid pipelines have a system to detect leaks,” she said.
PHMSA said the proposed regulations include an increased focus on a data and risk informed pipeline safety approach by requiring operators to integrate available data, including information on the operating environment, pipeline condition, and known manufacturing and construction defects.
The proposed rule is a significant action under DOT’s regulatory policies and procedures, but is not economically significant under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 because the estimated annual impact is less than $100 million, Econometrica Inc. of Bethesda, Md., said in a preliminary regulatory impact analysis it prepared for PHMSA.
Oil industry pipeline groups responded that they would continue to actively support safety improvement efforts. “We are always looking for new ways to enhance an already safe industry,” American Petroleum Institute Midstream Group Director Robin Rorick said. “We need a practical pipeline safety rule for hazardous liquids that will complement industry’s strong safety standards.”
Rorick said API’s recently issued Recommended Practice 1173 is a prime example of industry efforts to keep safe operations liquid pipelines’ number one priority. RP 1172 builds on existing safety requirements to further monitor and measure the effectiveness of pipeline activities with a “plan, do, check, and act” philosophy that requires periodic reviews and applies changes or corrections to activities as needed, Rorick said.
ARC believes that an increasing number of leak detection system suppliers should be working with pipeline operators, SCADA suppliers, regulators, and related stakeholders to integrated IIoT enabled solutions with their leak detection systems and relevant SCADA systems so as to not only ensure that operators will meet the new PHMSA regulations, but also improve the operational performance and safety of the pipelines thereby mitigating risk to the pipeline operator, the public and the environment.