Experts needed for CI pipeline assessment

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

Cook Inlet Regional Citizens Advisory Council and the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation are seeking volunteers with appropriate expertise to participate in a panel to make risk mitigation recommendations for pipelines in Cook Inlet. The panel is required as part of a pipeline integrity assessment for Cook Inlet pipelines that carry oil, that carry natural gas in association with oil production or that have been abandoned.

The goal of the assessment is to ensure the continued safe operation of the Cook Inlet oil and gas pipeline infrastructure by anticipating problems in the aging infrastructure. The assessment is expected to result in the implementation of risk reduction measures, to prevent pipeline loss of integrity problems.

The panel of volunteer experts will interact with pipeline operators, regulators and members of the public, and will be presented with an inventory of loss of pipeline integrity events, and with a regulatory overview of Cook Inlet pipelines. The idea will be to establish common causes, frequencies and trends of pipeline failures, and to make recommendations on risk reduction measures. Possibilities for recommendations include operational best practices, proposals for further investigation, regulatory changes, information gathering and infrastructure changes.

Five panelists are needed. Potential panelists should apply to ADEC, providing information about their interest in the project, relevant expertise and any perceived conflicts of interest. The panel activities are expected to begin in May and last through October 2019.

- ALAN BAILEY