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Failure Investigation of Internal Girth Weld Coating Surface Preparation: A Case Study

Product Number: MPWT19-14360

Author: Rashed Alhajri, Yousef Alrayes, Fahad Alhindas, Ghassan Bahamden

Publication Date: 2019

$0.00

During the construction of a 56km long 16 in. carbon steel sour gas pipeline, repetitive surface
preparation failures were detected during visual inspection of pipeline girth weld internal surface prior to
coating application. Such failures represented 67% of the total pipeline girth welds and were manifested
by excessive sharp-edges at the root pass. To identify the failure causes, an investigation was
performed through reviewing the pipeline, fabrication and coating application specifications and
procedures, quality control records and performing an extensive visual inspection through an advanced
video robotic crawler on all pipeline girth welds made. Upon investigation analysis, the failures were
caused by sharp-edges in the root pass which were attributed to improper practices during
manufacturing, field fabrication and pre-coating quality control. The failure analysis indicated that the
mechanized Gas Metal Arc Welding process, with the parameters used, was not suitable for internal
girth weld coating application. In addition, a more stringent requirement should be applied to the
acceptable pipe-end diameter tolerance and pre-coating quality control to ensure absence of similar
premature surface preparation failures. The pre-coating quality control can be improved through
utilization of robotic laser contour mapping crawler for precise detection and sizing of unsatisfactory
surface weldment defects, including sharp edges.

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Failure of 24” Common Crude Piping and Formation of Iron Sulfides Due to the Influence of Sulfate & Iron Reducing Bacteria and Methanogens

Product Number: 51322-17545-SG

Author: Yousef Khuraibut

Publication Date: 2022

$20.00

A leak suddenly occurred at the 24-inch common crude piping from the separators heading to the degassing boot inlets and the wet crude tanks in an oil gathering center. The initial observations showed the leak was due to a deep isolated pit and localized corrosion. Additional inspections by manual ultrasonic thickness (UT) and long range ultrasonic thickness (LRUT) measurements for the 24” common crude line showed similar deep isolated pits (up to 70% thickness reduction) scattered across the length of the 1100 meter piping.

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Failure of Cast Duplex Stainless Steel Valves Due to Improper Microstructure

Product Number: 51324-20759-SG

Author: K. Ravindranath; B. Al-Wakaa; A. Ali; Ahmad Al-Swaha; Salem Al-Qahtani

Publication Date: 2024

$40.00

Cast duplex stainless steels are popularly used in the petroleum industry due to their good corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. One of the applications of cast duplex stainless steels in the petroleum industry is in the manufacture of valves in corrosive service. The good properties of duplex stainless steels are attributed to their balanced microstructure containing austenite and ferrite phases. The balanced microstructure in the duplex stainless-steel components is achieved by the optimum heat treatment and manufacturing process. Improper cooling during manufacturing or accidental exposure of the component to high temperatures can induce the precipitation of secondary phases in the microstructure of duplex stainless steel, which can seriously influence the corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. The paper deals with the failure investigation of the first-generation cast duplex stainless steel valves that failed in a short duration of service. The microstructure of the failed valve was characterized by optical and scanning electron microscopy. The effect of the microstructure on the mechanical properties was assessed by hardness measurements, tensile testing, and impact toughness testing. The study indicated that the properties of the duplex stainless-steel valves were affected due to the precipitation of secondary phases and the root cause of the failure was embrittlement caused by the precipitated secondary phases.

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Failure of Heat Exchanger Cooling CO2 from a Pre-Combustion Unit

Product Number: 51323-19402-SG

Author: Sivuyile Funani, Abhijit Saha, Abdulaziz Al-Meshari

Publication Date: 2023

$20.00

About a month after commissioning, a decrease in pH of the cooling water in the plant was observed. This meant that CO2 has leaked into the cooling water in one of the coolers. Two months after commissioning, about 15% of tubes in one cooler downstream of the reactor were plugged after inspection results showed that they have leaked.

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Failure Of In-Service Stainless-Steel Chemical Storage Tanks Fasteners And Gaskets – A Case Study

Product Number: 51322-18105-SG

Author: A/Rahman Al-Ghamdi, Yousef Bahbahani, Manickavasagan Sabesan, Tariq Kamshad, Salem Al-Qahtani, Bakheet Al-Yami

Publication Date: 2022

$20.00

The Joint Operation (J.O) Wafra Oilfield is in the west central part of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone. The Wafra oilfield produces light and heavy oil and export it to its various customers after processing. Upstream field consists of various Sub Centres where crude, oil and water being separated, and the separated crude transported to the main gathering centre for further processing in two different trains. The produced water being disposed/injected via water disposal & injection facilities after treatment.

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Failure of In-Service Stainless-Steel Chemical Storage Tanks Fasteners and Gaskets – A Case Study

Product Number: 51323-18790-SG

Author: Hamad Salem Al-Ajmi, A/Rahman Al-Ghamdi, Tariq Kamshad, Yousef Bahbahani, Salem Al-Qahtani, Manickavasagan Sabesan, Bakheet Al-Yami

Publication Date: 2023

$20.00

Wafra Joint Operations is in the west central part of the Kuwait-Saudi Arabia Neutral Zone. The oilfield produces light and heavy oil and exports it to its various customers after processing. Upstream field consists of various Sub Centres where crude, oil and water being separated, and the separated crude transported to the main gathering centre for further processing in two different trains. The produced water being disposed/injected via water disposal and injection facilities after treatment.

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Failure of Pipeline Internal Girth Weld Coating Surface Preparation: Investigation and Case Study

Product Number: MECC23-20165-SG

Author: Rashed Alhajri; Yousef Alrayes; Yasser Alsubhi

Publication Date: 2023

$20.00

Pipelines have primarily been developed for the oil and gas business as well as building domestic water networks. To ensure the quality and longstanding pipelines, inspection and quality during design, construction and operations are of prime importance. During construction, pipe manufacturing and field fabrication represent the major cornerstone of a construction quality program.

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Failure On Heater Treater Tubes - Case Study

Product Number: 51322-17586-SG

Author: Roxanna Alvarez

Publication Date: 2022

$20.00

Heater Treaters are designed for the removal of emulsifies and unwanted salts from crude oil. They purpose is to facilitate the oil and water separation by breaking emulsions by means of increasing the temperature of the oil, reducing its density and viscosity. A heater treater is a 3-phase separator vessel, equipped with fire tubes, that utilizes heat and mechanical separation devices to facilitate the separation of oil-water emulsions.

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Failures with Duplex Stainless Steels (DSS) In Hydroprocessing REACs - Update on Latest API Survey

Product Number: MECC23-20094-SG

Author: Gerrit M Buchheim; David E Moore

Publication Date: 2023

$20.00

2205 Duplex Stainless Steel (DSS) UNS S31803 has been used in refinery hydroprocessing unit reactor effluent air coolers (REACs) since the mid 1980’s (1). 2205 was selected due to its good resistance to ammonium bisulfide (NH4HS) corrosion and perceived resistance to chloride stress corrosion cracking because it was an economical choice when compared to higher nickel alloy alternatives such as Alloy 825 or Alloy 625.

Many of these DSS REACs have remained in service successfully, with some in service for more than 30 years.

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Fast screening of Sulfide Stress Corrosion resistance of Supermartensitic Stainless Steel thought alternative test methods

Product Number: 51320-14577-SG

Author: Martien Duvall, Cécile Millet, Daniela Garcia, Guilaume Neel, Harold Evin

Publication Date: 2020

$20.00

In order to meet growing energy demand, oil and gas industries are facing many challenges, including the exploitation of increasingly deep fields with high pressure and high temperature in sour environments containing CO2 and H2S. Operators must carefully select materials that are resistant to these aggressive environments. The main risk associated with the use of martensitic stainless steels is the risk of sulfide stress cracking under well shut-in conditions.
The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of supermartensitic stainless steels (13Cr-5Ni- 2Mo) based on NACE TM-0177-2016 method A and alternative methods such as slow strain rate test according to TM-0198-2016 and ripple strain rate test. Cyclic potentiodynamic polarization measurements were also performed to evaluate pitting and repassivation performance. The interest of this study is to present reliable and fast criteria to predict sulfide stress cracking performance of supermartensitic stainless steels through alternative methods. The effect of buffer and chloride content on pitting resistance and sulfide stress corrosion cracking resistance will also be discussed as well as the effect of Mo and Cr on pitting resistance.

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Fast-Acting And Persistent Post-Hydrotest Corrosion Inhibitors For Newly Constructed Oil Pipelines

Product Number: 51321-16901-SG

Author: Hitesh Bagaria; Moshood Adewale; Rob Gutierrez; Jeanne O'Neal; Jennifer Sargent; Nimesh Patel; Trevor Place

Publication Date: 2021

$20.00

Pressure testing is a standard practice used to validate the condition of new pipelines (prior to wet commissioning) and may also be used to revalidate the integrity of older pipelines. Since water is the primary medium for pressure testing, the process has been termed hydrostatic testing or hydrotesting. While the low cost, accessibility and environmental impact are primary drivers for use of water, the inherent corrosiveness of water poses an asset integrity challenge.

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Faster Qualification Testing for SSPC Paint 47

Product Number: 51324-21089-SG

Author: Sean Fowler; William Tobin; David Duecker; Andy Francis

Publication Date: 2024

$40.00

This study investigates the possibility of reducing the testing time required to qualify paints to the SSPC Paint 47 specification. Using specimens from the original study conducted to develop the test requirements, the irradiance of the UV exposure was increased to see if the 4000 hour results could be replicated in 2000 hours or less. Although final data was not available at the time of writing, data from 1000 hours of the higher irradiance exposure correlated very well with the 2000 hour exposure data from the original study.

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Association for Materials Protection and Performance