3M - improving oil and gas efficiency and safety through buried identification marker technology

3M, which produces thousands of innovative products for dozens of diverse markets, developed the buried identification marker system( www.3m.com/dynatel), making it possible to quickly identify and locate the depth and properties of a marked, buried object, without the need for excavation.

'Excavation or trenching commonly causes gas-pipeline accidents, when construction companies and grading crews perform work without proper knowledge of the area, or fail to follow common-sense digging practices,' said Mr. Bency Sebastian, Business Development Manager - MEA, Oil & Gas Business, 3M.

This need for identifying buried features is highlighted by the US Office of Pipeline Safety. In the first 6 months of 2006 there were 16 incidents of third-party excavation damage to natural gas distribution pipelines at a cost of $1.22m, one related death, and two serious injuries; in addition to four incidents of third-party excavation damage to transmission pipelines, which totalled $173,000 in damages.

From traditional to modern

'While traditional utility-locating equipment has proven useful, most have a number of drawbacks,' explains Bency. Some indicate the presence and path of a buried utility, but can only estimate utility depth and location of metallic objects. While electronic underground markers require no external power source and are not disturbed construction, they can only indicate that some utility is buried at the marked point.

'3M's buried identification marker system differs, in that it incorporates pre-programmed marker identification within an electronic system,' stated Bency. Plastic balls, 4 inches in diameter are buried, and can be read with hand-held locators by means of utility-specific radio-frequency signals. Individual colours and frequencies can distinguish between gas, waste or potable water, telephone, electrical power, and general purpose underground marking applications.

Advantages and practical uses

'The ID markers have a vast range of advantages and practical uses, making them the most viable tool for the oil and gas industry today,' commented Bency. They require no external or internal source of power and can store static information, alongside a memory capacity for storing custom labels and descriptions. Each marker has a unique serial number for association with a specific location and are programmed, located, and read by means of a multi-function locator which can connect to an external computer, to download and upload marker information for record management and mapping.

Furthermore, ID markers resist moisture and varying temperatures and are designed to last for the life of the buried facility.

The internal antenna automatically orients in a horizontal position for maximum signal strength when the ID marker is placed in the ground.

Logging the unique serial number and associated bar code and placing it on a field map, provides an initial record of the marked location. These stored data then update the utility's mapping and infrastructure database.

'The final element is an accessory device for the marker locator, which measures and records GPS coordinates for each marked location to be stored and later used for mapping,' Bency said.

Application in the field

BP Gas adopted ID markers for protection of rural road pipeline crossings in northwest New Mexico, which oversees 5,500 sq miles in three counties, including several thousand natural gas wells and nearly 500 rural road pipeline crossings.

Road crews need accurate and dependable information on the depth of every pipeline before they can safely grade a road. As BP's ground-disturbance policy forbids mechanical equipment within 24 inches of buried facilities to safeguard against injury, shield the underground infrastructure from damage, and protect the environment, ID markers provided a practical solution.

BP began marking every road crossing in the region, using three programmed ball markers per crossing: one over the pipe on each side of the road and one in the centre of the road. The marking program allowed the distance from the ground surface to the marker and distance to pipe to be recorded - making calculation of the total surface-to-pipe distance for each marker easy.

This means that contractors can now access maps with the correct location and depth of each buried gas line crossing and BP plan to periodically monitor gas line depths throughout the region.

BP anticipate measurable cost savings with 3M's ID markers, as they eliminate the need to periodically pothole each road crossing to maintain accuracy of pipe depth records.

Local applications

Saudi Arabia - 3M is actively working with the Saudi Aramco - ARAMCO IT, Pipeline and GIS teams, where the application is marking fibre optic cables and pipelines with GPS/GIS mapping and sheath fault location.

UAE - 3M has presented the solution for various projects in the UAE with the ADNOC Group: the ADMA Das Island project will be a replacement of the old pipelines network; GASCO's new pipeline projects will include a maintenance program ; IPIC project includes a 360 kilometre pipeline project from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah under the consultant Worley Parsons and for ADCO, 3M has presented the solution for the SAS Full Fields Development project.

Kuwait - 3M has presented the solution for fibre cable marking for new installations for the Kuwait Oil Company IT Group.

3M's offer include a possible retrofit on points with above ground stone marking - to yield more reliable long term marking and recording of optical length. In addition, 3M will mark infrastructure, cable location and sheath fault location for KNPC.

Qatar - 3M has presented the solutions for projects with Qatar Petroleum and QatarGas, for pipeline rehabilitation in UmmSaid.

As the oil and gas industry in the region begins to embrace the widespread use of ID markers, benefits in terms of financial savings from limited damage to buried underground infrastructure, greater overall industry efficiency and improved safety, will soon be apparent in the oil and gas sector with 3M's newest technology.