A New API Standard for Inspection of Terminal Piping Systems Philip E.

Myers Thursday, February 24, 2011 Background In the petroleum industry, the American Petroleum Institute's (API) published one of the first important standards related to refinery piping inspection. This standard is API 570 Piping Inspection Code. This standard was developed to reduce the rate of serious incidents in refineries caused by piping failures. While the standard was primarily aimed at refining operations, it was crafted to be generally applicable to any process piping. However, there are numerous petroleum distribution terminals that have not and do not intend to adopt API 570 as part of their piping inspection program (if they have one). This is understandable since there are major differences between the piping damage mechanisms to which refineries and terminals are heir to. For example, refineries must cope with piping subject to high temperature, low temperature, various types of internal and external corrosion caused by a wide variety of chemicals, fatigue cracking, environmental cracking, temper embrittlement, accelerated corrosion at injection points to name a few damage mechanisms. On the other hand terminal piping is generally low pressure, ambient temperature and there are only a few well defined corrosive environments associated with them. Rather than adopting API 570 most of these terminals use a wide variety of local piping inspection programs ranging from no inspection to fairly intense piping inspection programs. It is the intent of the new API 2611 to align with current best practices being used in the petroleum terminal business. Within a few months I anticipate that the new API Standard API 2611 which addresses terminal piping inspection programs specifically will be ready to publish by API. In this article I go into more detail about why this standard was developed and how it can be used to benefit terminal operators. Survey of the Terminal Business Shows Need for API 2611 Less than a decade ago I became concerned about the lack of any formal inspection protocols for corporate oil company piping inspection programs as it relates to their pipeline and marketing distribution terminal operations when I worked for a major integrated oil company. Through the marketing department of the API I conducted a survey of various terminal engineers and owners to see whether a standard was needed for this purpose or whether API 570 could fill the need to address piping integrity. About two thirds of the responses were that a new standard, specifically crafted for this industry, was needed. The primary reasons were that that there were not a lot of API 570 inspectors readily available, the fees charged by the inspectors was high, and that there are numerous and extensive modifications that needed to be made to API 570 to adapt it for use in terminal piping inspection. Based on this the Marketing Department of API decided to create a new standard and called it API 2611 Terminal Piping Inspection. A taskgroup (which I chair) was put together and our committee embarked on a task of well over 3 years of drafting language that would accomplish the piping integrity needs of these terminals. Overview of the Standard
Scope

API 2611 covers the inspection of existing terminal piping systems where the products transported through piping are finished petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, heating oils, additives, process contact water, and other fluids commonly found in the terminal business. The common features of terminal piping is that it is for relatively low pressures, ambient temperature, not subject to high corrosion rates on the internal bore of the piping, and not subject to many highly specific damage mechanisms found in a refinery. Therefore, the scope of API 2611 is limited to piping systems operating at a maximum design pressure of 300 psi and at ambient temperature (there is an exception for asphalt which is within the scope of the standard). It should be noted that the scope may be considered to include piping which is owned by the cross country pipeline terminals, but not within the jurisdiction of the US Department of Transportation. In other words, the facility owners/users of breakout terminals may wish to consider using this standard to inspect their terminal piping. Also included is piping that goes between nearby facilities such as a terminal split by a roadway or separated by an adjacent property.

Responsibilities

In Section 4 of the standard the responsibilities of the persons or organizations that have an impact on the effectiveness of a piping inspection program are covered. Much like API 570 the duties and roles of the authorized inspector, the owner/user duties, the piping engineer and the repair organization are addressed. For example, facility owners are required to establish and manage a piping inspection program that specifies inspection frequencies, corrective action, inspection records and activities related to the on-going fitness for purpose.
Inspection

The standard points out that internal corrosion rates are either known or can easily be determined by thickness measurements and combining this knowledge with visual inspection of the external aboveground piping provides a good estimate of the piping condition without extensive thickness measurements. Therefore, as compared to API 570 fewer thickness monitoring locations would be required. However, the inspection frequency and intensity should be increased as the pipe approaches the end of its useful life. Resources are committed to where they are most needed. This principle is often called risk based inspection. For buried piping, the corrosion on the internal piping surfaces maybe well established, but for external corrosion numerous inspection techniques and methodologies are discussed. Here again, the principles of risk based inspection are used primarily adjusting the inspection interval. As in any facility the standard identifies those areas that are known to be generally higher risk based on the collective experience of the committee. Accordingly the standard requires owner/users to pay particular attention to the need for inspecting certain segments of a piping systems: y deadlegs; y corrosion under insulation (CUI); y soil-to-air (S/A) interfaces; y service specific and localized corrosion; y environmental cracking; and/or, y freeze damage.
Frequency and Extent of Inspection

For aboveground piping, Current practice for terminal piping relies heavily on a the "walk around inspection". While not typically formalized or documented, there is no question that this has been an invaluable tool in reducing piping incidents. When a terminal operator who is familiar with the terminal does this frequently, say weekly, changes in the piping can be observed and may act as early warning signs of imminent failure. API 2611 relies on this practice calling it "surveillance" instead of "inspection". It is strictly visual and notes such items as obvious valve and flange leaks, misaligned/leaking or deformed pipe supports, unusual pipe movement, and external corrosion/coating deterioration. Surveillance is required to be done periodically unless a formal inspection program is in place which incorporates baseline corrosion rates to establish inspection intervals. A baseline inspection is required to be conducted within 5 years of the adoption of the standard to establish corrosion rates and set inspection intervals. For belowground piping, multiple indirect methods of inspection and assessment are used. If needed the indirect methods are combined with direct visual sampling observations which, of course, requires exposing the pipe. Since exposing the pipe introduces new risks into the piping system (in addition to being very costly) by possibly damaging coatings or cathodic protection or possibly nicking the pipe wall, the standard allows significant flexibility for the owner/user to decide if, when and how the pipe will be exposed for examination. Like API 570, leak detection combined with soil resistivity testing, monitoring and surveying of pipe-to-soil potential, line surveys, coating holiday surveys and ultrasonic testing are key tools to address the potential of failures of underground piping. For both above and belowground piping, a risk based table is given that combines whether or not the piping is coated and cathodically protected, whether it has high or low soil resisitivity (affects corrosion rates), and the pipe age. A baseline of corrosion rates is required to be established with more time given for less risky piping so that the scarce terminal resources can be devoted to the high risk piping first.

Piping Repairs

The standard does not really attempt to address piping repairs. It defers to API 570 or ASME. This was done to minimize the required knowledge needed by the piping inspector and so that the inspector would only need to know about inspection and not repairs or welding procedures. This makes the task of developing a community of terminal piping inspectors simpler for the industry.
Annex A

Inspector qualification requirements are listed in Annex A. This Annex lists a body of knowledge for which the inspector is required to know. The Owner/User is responsible to qualify the inspector for both knowledge and experience requirements. In lieu of this qualification an API inspector qualified for API 570 Piping Inspection Code, API 653 Tank Inspection, Repair, Alteration and Certified Reconstruction Inspector, API 510 Pressure Vessel Inspection Code Inspector, a Nation Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors NB-215 may be considered qualified to do these inspections as well. The Next Steps I believe that API 2611 will serve as useful tool for the terminal business. There are many pressures to improve both safety and environmental performance from the public and regulatory perspective. In the US the Environmental Protection Agencies SPCC Rule (Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures) rule demands that the integrity of piping for nearly all petroleum facilities be verified. One way to accomplish this is to apply API 2611. Also, because large growth spurts in the petroleum industry, much of the piping is now 30 plus years old and is continuing its aging process. Older piping is more risky for a number of reasons, but one simple reason is that the damage mechanism of corrosion has had a longer time period to act. API 2611 addresses this issue head on. The other area of development that I will continue to advocate is setting up a simple and low cost system to have owner/users qualify their own employees or to get contractors who want to do piping inspection qualified through a low cost, computer based training method that follows the body of knowledge in the standard. With some knowledge and experience criteria, a simple method to ensure that inspectors are qualified to inspect these piping systems will help the terminal business maintain the integrity of their piping systems.

Surveillance Inspection Thickness measurement Leak testing

Marketing, Transportation and Distribution Terminals concerned about aging piping. As a result, API nvited me to conduct an informal survey of these facility owners related to the need for and how to use API 570 or whether to write another standard. About 60% favored a new standard directly applicable to these faciities.

overage: All kinds of process piping, utility piping and essentially everything found in a refinery: high temperature, low temperature, corrosive, damage mechanisms of fatigue, corrosion of all kinds, environmental cracking, temper embrittlement, etc. Result: Complex and requiring highly trained and specialized inspectors. not aligned with distribution terminal practices. Marketing, Transportation and Distribution Terminals concerned about aging piping. As a result, API nvited me to conduct an informal survey of these facility owners related to the need for and how to use API 570 or whether to write another standard. About 60% favored a new standard directly applicable to these faciities.

Reason: Simplicity, qualification time, cost and complexity for inspectors. Result: API launched development of API 2611, which I currently chair. API 2611 Applicability: Standard applies to terminal type facilities where the primary piping damage mechanism is external corrosion and internal corrosion tends to be uniform at relatively low rates (gasoline, diesel, finished fuels at ambient temperature) TOC main headings: owner/user inspection organization inspection of piping frequency and extent of inspection of aboveground piping frequency and extent of inspection of aboveground piping Repairs to piping systems Marine facilities inspection/frequency appendix a Inspector Qualifications appendix B SUMMARY OF CITED INSPECTIONS APPENDIX C GUIDANCE ON PIPE WALL RETIREMENT THICKNESS APPENDIX D SAMPLE External Inspection checklist for process piping APPENDIX E Sample INSPECTION CHECKLISTS FOR ABOVE GROUND PIPING