Alberta Innovates – Technology Futures
September 2015
Executive Summary
As the pipeline infrastructure grows and ages across Canada, abandonment and/or discontinuation of pipelines may increase as well. The process of abandonment/discontinuation needs to be properly handled and executed in order to minimize or eliminate any potential related issues. Communities’ stakeholders have raised concerns about the safety of the pipeline abandonment process and about the related long term effects, especially in agricultural areas. For pipelines abandoned in place, the issue of cleanliness is a crucial one and of major concern from environmental and economic standpoints. An abandoned pipeline will inevitably corrode and could lose structural integrity posing the risk of releasing any residual contaminants into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Therefore, assessing the effectiveness of cleaning technologies for pipelines and investigating residual contaminants and methods to detect them are crucial topics that need to be properly addressed.
This study covers the requirements of PTAC Pipeline Abandonment Research Steering Committee (PARSC): PARSC 004 – Cleaning Methods for Abandoned Pipeline and PARSC 005 – Standard Pipeline Products List and Detection of Residual Contamination in Abandoned Pipelines. The two main areas that this study covers are 1) the effectiveness of cleaning methods (mechanical and chemical methods) for pipeline abandonment; and 2) potential residual contaminants and methods to detect them. In addition, the study reviews federal and provincial regulations and standards that address the subject of abandonment/deactivation, and presents some of the current industry abandonment guidelines and programs.
The scope of this report is focused on oil and gas transmission pipelines in Canada. The main research methodologies were direct engagements with stakeholders and literature searches. The latter includes industry reports, conference and journal technical papers, government agencies publications, and other open sources.