Offshore staff
STAVANGER, Norway -- DNV, together with industry partners, is developing a new standard for transportation of CO2 in pipelines. Specific issues related to CO2 in dense, high pressure phase are not covered in existing pipeline standards or regulations, DNV says.
"As carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects could become an important mitigation option related to climate change, this broad cooperation is an important step forward," says Frøydis Eldevik, DNV project manager.
Unfortunately, the current pipeline standards do not take into account considerations related to the pipeline transmission of CO2 from large-scale capture plants to suitable storage sites, DNV says. This serves as a barrier to the effective large-scale deployment of CCS.
DNV has therefore initiated a specific industrial collaboration to develop a standard reference guideline for the onshore and submarine pipeline transmission of dense, high pressure CO2.
The project's partners are StatoilHydro, BP, Shell, Petrobras, Vattenfall, Dong Energy, ArcelorMittal, Gassnova, Gassco, and ILF. The Technical Reference Group consists of government representatives from the UK, the Netherlands, and Norway. The European Commission is also supporting this initiative.
"The joint industry project is an important milestone for CCS and is absolutely timely since the industry really needs this recommended practice. It will be an important contribution to the development of large-scale CCS projects," Eldevik says.
The guideline is intended to help designers and operators limit and manage uncertainties and risks related to the pipeline transmission of CO2 by incorporating current knowledge related to both offshore and onshore operations, according to DNV.
It will state rules for managing risks and uncertainties throughout the pipeline's lifetime, including the design, testing, inspection, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning phases, the company says.
"Due to the features lacking in the current industry standards, this project's scope of work is related to issues like safety, fast propagating ductile fractures, fatigue crack growth, pipeline operation conditions, flow assurance, corrosion, and material compatibility," Eldevik says.
The guideline will be ready within 18 months.
08/27/2008
