crude oil transportation and integrity...

Crude Oil Transportation and Integrity Management

National Academy of Sciences

Project Meeting: Pipeline Transportation of Diluted Bitumen

July 23, 2012

Jenny Been, PhD, P.Eng, PMP Corrosion Specialist, Pipe Integrity

Bruce Dupuis, P.Eng. Program Manager, Liquid Pipeline Integrity

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Outline

• Canadian petroleum imports into the USA

• What is Diluted Bitumen and its origin

• Crude oil properties

• Where corrosion may occur

• Regulatory measures

• Operational measures for quality preservation of

transmitted crude

• Internal corrosion management

• Prevention

• Mitigation

• Assessment

• Industry Collaboration

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US Imports by Country of Origin

• ~75% is crude oil

Petroleum Imports into the USA(Million Barrels per Day)

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Can

ada

Sau

di A

rabia

Mex

ico

Ven

ezue

la

Colom

bia

Kuw

ait

Iraq

Niger

ia

Bra

zil

Rus

sia

~ ~ ~

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World’s Largest Oil Reserves

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Oil Sands Deposits in Alberta

• The Alberta Oil Sands represents 95%

of Canada’s proven oil reserves

• Alberta area: 255,540 sq. mile

• Oil Sands deposits area:

55,000 sq. mile

• Size of New York or Iowa

• Mineable oil sands area:

1,850 sq. mile (only 3% of total oil

sands land area - located mainly north

of Fort McMurray)

• Active oil sands mining area:

230 sq. mile (with 26 sq. mile under

active reclamation)

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Surface Mining &

Extraction

In-situ Production

(sub-surface)

Refining

(Canada, US

or International)

Upgrading

Conversion to

Synthetic Crude

(Alberta or US)

Petro-chemical

Products

How are Oil Sands Produced and Processed

Bitumen + Diluent = Diluted Bitumen (dilbit)

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OIL SANDS

MINING

NAPHTHA

RECOVERY UNIT

TRUCK

TRANSPORT

PRIMARY

SEPARATION

VESSEL

SECONDARY

SEPARATION

DEAERATOR

CRUSHER

BITUMEN RECOVERY

PROCESS

HYDROTRANSPORT

HOT

WATER +

CAUSTIC

SODA

FROTH

TREATMENT

PLANT

TAILING PONDS

STEAM

IN-SITU

CSS

SAGD

CHOPS

THAI

VAPEX

OR

UPGRADING

SITE

REFINERY

ASPHALT

OR

HOT

WATER

BIT

UM

EN

BITUMEN

DEAERATED

BITUMEN

FROTH

BITUMEN

FROTH

BITUMEN

FROTH

NAPHTHA

MIDDLINGS

TAILINGS

(SAND +

WATER)

MIDDLINGS

RESIDUE

AIR

OIL

SANDS

CRUSHED OIL

SANDS

SLURRY

RESIDUE

WATER,

SOLIDS +

NAPHTHA

AIR

RESIDUE WATER

+ SOLIDS

Typical Mining/Extraction Process

Dilbit

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Crude Oil Properties

• Crude oils are characterized and assessed to determine

their value and processability by refineries by:

• API gravity (related to density and correlated to viscosity)

• Percent of Sulfur

• TAN number

• Different organic fractions

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35

40

45

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0.5

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1.5

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3.5

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4.5

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AP

I Gra

vity

TAN

(m

g K

OH

/g),

Su

lph

ur

(wt%

)TAN (mg KOH/g)

Sulphur (wt%)

• International Crude Oils

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

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0.5

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1.5

2

2.5

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3.5

4

4.5

5

AP

I Gra

vity

TAN

(m

g K

OH

/g),

Su

lph

ur

(wt%

)TAN (mg KOH/g)

Sulphur (wt%)

• Cdn Dilbit and Dilsynbit in green

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Where Corrosion May Occur

• The characteristics of dilbit are not unique and are comparable to

conventional crude oils

• Crude oils entering transmission pipelines contain <0.5% Basic

Sediments & Water (BS&W)

• These crude oils (conventional and diluted bitumen) are generally non-

corrosive

• Internal corrosion can occur at locations where sediment and

water can precipitate

• Underneath deposited sediments, a corrosive water film can form

on the pipe wall

• Not unique to dilbit; has been observed on lines transporting

conventional crude

• Fully turbulent flow will promote the suspension of sediment and

water

• Localized deposition could occur in low pressure areas if the degree of

turbulence drops to lower levels

• No corrosion observed in the absence of sediment when exposed to

the crude only

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Crude Oil Properties

• Crude oil properties that are important for pipeline operation as

related to water and sediment drop-out:

• Basic Sediment and Water content (BS&W)

• Density of Oil

• Viscosity

• Petroleum quality requirements of crude are specified in NEB and

FERC Tariffs

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NEB and FERC Tariffs, Federal Regulations

FERC and NEB quality specifications of petroleum

• Basic Sediment and Water (BS&W) <0.5 volume percent

• Density at the receipt point shall not exceed 940 kg/m3 (58.7 lb/ft3)

• The kinematic viscosity shall not exceed 350 mm2/s (0.00377 ft2/s) at

the carrier's reference temperature

Federal Regulations, Paragraph 195.579

• The corrosive effect of the hazardous liquid on the pipeline must be

investigated and adequate steps must be taken to mitigate internal

corrosion considering inhibition and monitoring

PHMSA Special Conditions

• Limit BS&W to 0.5 percent by volume and report results to PHMSA in

annual report

• Run cleaning pigs twice in the first year and as necessary in

succeeding years

• Liquids / solids collected during cleaning pig runs must be sampled,

analyzed, and assessed with regard to internal corrosion mitigation

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Keystone Pipeline Overview

Keystone Pipeline – Current System

Hardisty, Alberta to

• Wood River, Illinois

• Patoka, Illinois

• Cushing, Oklahoma

Nominal velocity of 5.6 mph (2.5mps)

Batched operation

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Operational Measures for Quality Preservation

Batch Sizes and Batch Trains

• Minimum Batch Size of 100,000 bbls

• Larger Batch Sizes Minimize the Interface/Batch Volume

• Batch Trains of Similar Product Types are Scheduled in Sequence to

Minimize Adjacent Contamination.

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System Properties that Preserve Batch Quality

Bullet Line Design

• No Breakout Tankage for Mixing of Tank Bottoms

• Less Batch Cuts from Swing Points

• High Flowrates = High Reynolds Numbers = Tight Interfaces

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Internal Corrosion Management

Prevention

• Tariff enforcement

• Tariff Excursion Procedure

• in the event of product quality excursions

• staged escalation of warnings leading to prerequisite

testing

• enables Keystone to act without bias to any Shipper or

interconnected facility

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Prevention


• Minimizing presence of dead legs

• Flow through barrels

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Prevention



• Turbulent flow

• Operating at flow conditions well in excess of those required

for water entrainment as indicated by flow models

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Prevention



• Turbulent flow

• Cleaning pigging

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Assessment

• Thickness monitoring of potential deposition sites in

facilities

• Ultrasonic monitoring of the wall thickness at unavoidable

dead legs associated with by-pass line at barrel assemblies

• Should provide worst case conditions for sediment

accumulation

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Assessment


facilities

• In-Line Inspection

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In-line Inspection

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Assessment


facilities


• Analysis of Deposit Samples

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Analysis of Deposit Samples

• Corrosion testing and

chemical analysis of

pipeline deposits

obtained from

cleaning pig runs

• The pipeline deposit

is an average sample

obtained over the

length of the pig run

and over the time

between pig runs

• No trend in

underdeposit

corrosion was

observed along the

line

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Underdeposit Crude Oil Only

Co

rro

sio

n R

ate

(m

py)

Error bars from max to min values

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Assessment


facilities


• Analysis of Deposit Samples

• PinPoint™ Continuous Monitoring

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Mitigation

• Increase Flow

• Commercial objective of maximizing throughput, also

minimizes sediment deposition

• Increased Cleaning Pigging

• Ran twice in first year in consideration of non-turbulent flow

during line fill

• Continuing to run twice per in sections where flow alternates

• Frequency will be reviewed in terms of both ILI and deposit

analysis

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Mitigation

• Increase Flow

• Commercial objective of maximizing throughput, also

minimizes sediment deposition

• Increased Cleaning Pigging

• Chemical treatment

• Necessity will be assessed in terms of both ILI and deposit

analysis

• Through an abundance of caution a chemical program is being

architected to facilitate a timely response should it be required

• Efficiency/frequency would be accessed on lab results, pin

point data and ILI run to run analysis

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• The Pipeline Integrity and Corrosion Management (PICoM) program

at Alberta Innovates technology Futures is directed by an Industry

Working Group addressing issues of pipeline corrosion and integrity

management

• Current focus on internal corrosion monitoring and mitigation of crude

oil pipelines

• Corrosion underneath pipeline deposits

• Base-lining and optimization of mitigation tools

• Laboratory experiments and pilot scale flow loop evaluating

monitoring technologies and mitigation effectiveness (cleaning pigs,

chemical treatment)

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Industry Collaboration

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PICoM

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Questions

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