Technical Tracks

1.                  Pipeline Safety Management Systems

·         Safety and Loss Management , Safety Culture, Regulations and Standards, Leadership Accountability and Policy, Management Review and Audits, Training and Competency, Lifecycle Regulatory Frameworks, Quality Management, Risk Management, Management of Change, Process and Personal Safety, Incident Investigation and Lessons Learned, Stakeholder Engagement, Comparison of Regulations and Standards, Integrating Safety, Environment and Emergency Management Programs, Industry Recommended or Best Practices

 

2.                  Project Management, Design, Construction, and Environment

·         Team Leadership, Effective Communication, Collaboration, High Value Engineering, System Planning (Flow Modelling and Hydraulic Simulations as part of Design), Design, Routing, Survey, Logistics, Construction, Quality Control and Quality Assurance, Testing, Commissioning, Coatings, Compressor and Pump Stations, Terminals, Pigging Facilities, Valves, Piping Stress Analysis, Change of Service, Abandonment, Satellite Imaging and Remote Sensing as Part of Design, Field and Inspection Data Management, Geomatics, Global Positioning System Applications, Environmental Case Studies, Socioeconomic Studies, Community Involvement, Permitting Strategies, Reclamation, Mitigation, Abandonment, Land Issues, Emissions, Low-Carbon Transition, Hydrotesting Fluids, Remediation, Environmental Impact Assessments, Cumulative Effects Assessment, Route Selection, Monitoring, Security

 

3.                  Pipeline and Facilities Integrity

·         Pipeline and Facilities Integrity Management (e.g., program development and implementation, lessons learned, and items not covered by other tracks:

·         Hazard and Threat Identification (not including geohazard management – See Track 6)

o   Inspection Methods and Inspection Technologies including:

o   Inline Inspection Technologies (e.g., crack, MFL, UT, tethered tools, geometry, etc.)

o   Inspection Intervals & Scheduling

o   External Corrosion & Control (e.g., Coatings, Cathodic Protection, direct assessment)

o   Internal Corrosion & Control, (e.g., Coatings, coupons, flushing, sampling, inhibitors, direct assessment)

o   Environmental Stress Corrosion & Fatigue Cracking,

o   Mechanical Damage

·         Field and Inspection Data Management,

o   Geographical Information Systems,

o   Inspection data management

o   Data Process Reliability

·         Defect Assessment and Repair (not including defect assessment and repair of girth welds – See Track 5)

o   Field NDE for ILI Data Validation

o   Corrosion assessment models

o   Cracking flaw assessment models

o   Defect Growth Rates

 

4.                  Operations, Monitoring and Maintenance

·         Applications of Technology, Operating Experience, Preventative-Maintenance Techniques, Lifecycle Engineering, Operating Equipment Optimization, Useful Life Extensions, Operating Cost Reductions, Vendor Alliances, Communications, Automation, Control Devices, Instrumentation, Sensor Technology, Measurement and Metering, Hydraulic Simulations, Leak Detection, Simulation and Trainers, Field and Inspection Data and Records Management, Hydrostatic Testing., Operations reliability and resiliency, ROW Management, Surveillance and monitoring, Emergency planning zones.

 

5.                  Materials and Joining

·         Materials Design, Materials for Alternative Energy, Thermo-mechanically Controlled processing (TMCP), Microstructure-property Relationship, High Strength Steels, Fracture Toughness Requirements, Welding Metallurgy, Properties of Girth Welds, Flaw Acceptance Criteria, Hot Tapping, Mechanical Joining, Joining Alternative Materials, Quality Control and Quality Assurance, Pipe Manufacture, Fittings, Nondestructive Examination

 

6.                  Geohazards Management and Strain-Based Design and Assessment

·         This track focuses on the management of outside force threats that may impose high axial/longitudinal strain/stress, potentially contributing to an undesirable event, such as a leak or rupture. Some of the typical threats are landslides, settlement/subsidence, and hydrotechnical  (watercourse/erosion) hazards.

·         All aspects of threat management are covered, including the site conditions outside pipes and the responses of the pipes. The management of the threats outside pipes includes geotechnical aspects of pipeline engineering, geohazard identification/assessment/characterization, characterization of impact on pipelines, scouring analysis, geohazard and hydrotechnical hazards management (e.g., mitigation). The responses of the pipes include characterization of strain/stress demand on pipelines through ILI and other means (e.g., soil/pipe interaction modeling), and the determination of pipelines’ resilience/capacity. Holistic approach to threat management that includes all phases of a pipeline’s life is encouraged. This approach may include design and construction of strain-resistant pipelines (through purposeful linepipe specifications, welding practice, construction methods, etc.), integrity assessment of existing pipelines through the determination of strain demand and strain capacity under deterministic or risk-based frameworks. This track also covers tools and procedures for threat management, including emerging remote sensing technologies, new ILI technology, new material testing procedures, new construction methods, software tools for fitness-for-service assessment, and industry standards and best practices.

 

7.                  Risk and Reliability

·         Risk and Reliability Assessments, Qualitative and Quantitative Risk Modelling, Risk Based Maintenance Planning, Reliability Based Design and Assessment, Failure Data Analysis and Failure Rate Estimation, Failure Consequence Modelling, Risk Tolerance Criteria and Reliability Targets, Case studies in application of reliability and risk criteria, Case studies in reliability and risk assessments (threat-specific or system-wide), Reliability assessment methodology, Novel risk and reliability assessment frameworks, Uncertainty modelling, Uncertainty propagation in risk and reliability analysis, Data analysis for statistical distribution modelling, Data analysis for likelihood predictions, Statistical analysis of inspection uncertainties for ILI and Field NDE.

 

8.                  Northern, Offshore, Upstream, and Production or Gathering Pipelines

·         Design, operation and maintenance of transmission and upstream (gathering) pipelines, located offshore or in Northern regions, including newbuild, lifetime extension and change-of use-assessment for transmission of hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

·         Northern pipeline topics: working in permafrost, stability of frozen slopes, frost heave, thaw settlement, thermal modelling, engineering in cold regions, rapid lake drainage, satellite imaging and remote sensing, GPS applications, effects of climate change on northern pipelines, ice scour, infrastructure/logistics, and carbon capture utilisation and storage.

·         Offshore pipeline and flow-line topics: innovative design and analysis of offshore pipelines for installation, in-place analysis, mechanics of pipelines, freespans, lateral and upheaval buckling, pipe-soil interaction, anchor and dropped object damage, corrosion, weld flaws, fatigue design and fracture control, rigid and flexible pipes, pipe-in-pipe, clad and lined pipe and umbilicals. Novel inspection, monitoring, integrity assessment and repair techniques. Innovative technologies for economical deepwater development and production.

 

9.                  Emerging Fuels and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

·         Emerging fuels include renewable natural gas (RNG), Bio-Methane, Hydrogen, Ethanol, Bio-diesel, Ammonia, Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and others.  Innovative solutions for emerging fuels as they relate to: offset of greenhouse gas emissions, conversion of service, new pipeline construction, threat analysis, gathering of biogas, safety considerations, dilution impacts to gas transmission or distribution, impact of conversion on equipment, measurement of emerging fuels, storage, inspection and maintenance, effects on end users, preventative maintenance.

·         Greenhouse Gas Emissions includes reduction in methane emissions, and optimization of combustion and efficiency. Methods to improve compressor/pump efficiency.  Regulatory considerations for greenhouse gas reductions, portable capture and recovery, methods for reforming greenhouse gases, continuous monitoring of facilities, field repair techniques to avoid blowdowns.