The Challenges And Opportunities In Protecting Oil And Gas Pipelines In India

India is on its way to achieving the One Nation One Gas Grid vision as more than 21,735 Kms of pipelines have been laid since 2021. The aim is to increase the pipeline coverage by 60% by 2024-2025.

Pipelines are important as they directly carry oil and gas from the fields to the refineries, cold storage, and export terminals. They provide natural resources to homes and businesses.

However, they are also susceptible to incidents such as leakages, ruptures, and even malicious intrusions. Anything from uncontrolled leakages to oil spillage, natural disasters, and explosions could lead to hazardous situations.

Any lapse in following the standard protocols or lack of technology could impact the people and the biodiversity around that location. Assam, for instance, had to evacuate over 2,500 people and shift them to relief camps when a gas leak occurred in 2020.

The oil and gas industry needs to invest in modern technologies and streamline procedures to improve incident detection and safeguard the pipelines.

How Can Oil And Gas Pipelines In India Be Protected?

  • Leak detection systems

The rise in gas and oil leakage incidents has increased the demand for leak detection technology. The value of the leak detection market for the oil and gas industry is expected to reach $3 billion by 2025. There are different types of leakage detection systems - acoustics sensors, temperature sensors, cable sensors, etc, and LiDAR to detect leakages at an early stage and enable companies to take timely actions to prevent leakages or spills.

  • Extended Real-time Transient Model (E-RTTM)
  • E-RTTM helps calculate the pressure, density, mass flow, and temperature within a pipeline. It can detect leakages in both steady and transient states within the pipeline. Since it uses algorithms to calculate the flow, the chances of false alarms are reduced. The algorithms take other factors such as the temperature and pressure into consideration apart from flow to determine the possibility of leakage. E-RTTM is quite accurate and reliable in detecting leakages. It can even detect minor leakages that are less than 1% of the flow accurately and enable the company to identify if the leakage occurred due to an instrument issue and if it was gradual or sudden. This will enable the company to take the right action to stop the leakage and prevent future issues. However, these solutions tend to focus on the flow of the material in the pipeline and don’t offer much value in providing early information about incidents when they are in very nascent stages.

  • Intrusion detection system
  • Incidents such as illegal tapping and unauthorized excavations are not uncommon in the oil and gas industry. Incidents such as oil spills into groundwater could have ramifications on the environment and the local population in the aftermath of such events. To protect the pipelines, companies must be able to detect the abnormalities at an early stage. They must be able to detect unauthorized walking, digging, ploughing, and vehicles on time. Modern intrusion detection systems can help companies detect anomalies based on the data gathered and give a warning to alert the control centre of the intrusion. Unlike traditional intrusion detection systems that take time to detect a leak, the new systems capture noise and changes in pressure in real-time. They use machine learning to learn the patterns and detect the variations accurately to offer insights early. Companies can also use OFC-based solutions to protect the perimeters from intrusions. An OFC cable can be installed around the pipeline to detect intrusions or diggings, identify its exact location, and reduce nuisance alarms. This will enable the control centre to take the right action at the right time based on early warnings. Companies can also use LiDAR to detect and classify objects that look suspicious and pass on the data from one sensor to another to track its movement.

  • Drones
  • Drones are useful at different stages such as exploration, transportation, and refining and purification of oil and gas. But one of the most interesting use cases of drone technology is its ability to protect the pipeline. Last year, the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL) started using drone technology to safeguard its 15,000 KM Pipeline network. They were to use it for aerial surveillance and stop the oil thefts that cost crores to the country. Drones have flexible configurations - they can be handheld, mobile, or fixed, depending upon the detection range. The best part about using a drone is that it can easily access areas such as the inner walls of high towers and storage spaces and gather real-time data. This helps the companies detect early signs of pipeline or storage damage and thefts or malpractices that could lead to oil shortages. It enables the companies to take timely action to prevent shortages, thefts, and leakages.

    Conclusion

    Oil and gas pipelines drive the nation’s economy and are crucial for national security too. Hence, it’s important to safeguard them with modern technologies. The old systems though effective, are slow and can’t be operated remotely as the new systems. Modern detection systems use advanced predictive capabilities to safeguard the pipelines efficiently and proactively.

    At Athena, we provide intelligent pipeline protection solutions to enable the oil and gas companies to improve leak detection, prevent intrusions, and build a robust security system for the future. Our specialized team analyzes, plans, and implements solutions tailored to the company’s business needs.

    To know more about our solution, contact us.