Effective Field Inspection Tool To Detect and Assess Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) For Piping Systems and Components

Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) described as a localised corrosion that form as a result of moisture penetration through the insulation materials or due to the presence of contaminants within the insulation material. CUI is a serious problem in the oil and gas industry that may result in catastrophic consequence on asset due to limited access to perform inspection. The most challenging issue of this corrosion is because of the hidden substrate and the damage is localised. Majority of the pipe maintenance cost are related to CUI issues. Currently there are inspection tools that could detect but with certain limitation such as detection capability of the tool, access to the susceptible locations and the needs to remove the insulation material.

 

Development of an inspection tool that is capable to address the mentioned problem could bring positive impact in the petroleum industry.

 

 

 

CUI is a serious problem in the oil and gas industry that may result in catastrophic consequences on the assets. The most challenging issue of CUI is the hidden substrate and localised damages it causes. Currently there are inspection tools but with certain limitations on detection capability, non-accessibility to the susceptible locations and the need to remove insulation material. The PETRONAS Technology Challenge aspires to identify an effective, robust and flexible inspection tool to address these problems.

 

PETRONAS’ 4th Technology Challenge received a total of 33 proposals consisting of multiple inspection techniques such as acoustic emission, electromagnetic and radiographic technologies from eight (8) countries. Evaluated by a panel of internal subject matter experts, all proposals underwent a comprehensive assessment to identify the winning solution.