Corrosion and Materials in Hydrocarbon Production

A Compendium of Operational and Engineering Aspects

Bijan Kermani, Don Harrop

• Publisher: Wiley-ASME Press Series
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781119515739
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Mechanics

Comprehensively covers the engineering aspects of corrosion and materials in hydrocarbon production

This book captures the current understanding of corrosion processes in upstream operations and provides a brief overview of parameters and measures needed for optimum design of facilities. It focuses on internal corrosion occurring in hydrocarbon production environments and the key issues affecting its occurrence, including: the types and morphology of corrosion damage; principal metallic materials deployed; and mitigating measures to optimise its occurrence. The book also highlights important areas of progress and challenges, and looks toward the future of research and development to enable improved and economical design of facilities for oil and a gas production.

Written for both those familiar and unfamiliar with the subject—and by two authors with more than 60 years combined industry experience—this book covers everything from Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRAs) to internal metal loss corrosion threats, corrosion in injection systems to microbiologically influenced corrosion, corrosion risk analysis to corrosion and integrity management, and more, notably:

• Comprehensively covers the engineering aspects of corrosion and materials in hydrocarbon production
• Written by two, renowned experts in the field
• Offers practical guide to those unfamiliar with the subject whilst providing a focused roadmap to addressing the topics in a precise and methodical manner
• Covers all aspects of corrosion threat and remedial and mitigation measures in upstream hydrocarbon production applicable to sub-surface, surface, and transportation facilities
• Outlines technology challenges that need further research as a pre-cursor to moving the industry forward.

Operational and Engineering Aspects of Corrosion and Materials in Hydrocarbon Production is an excellent guide for both practicing materials and corrosion engineers working in hydrocarbons production as well as those entering the area who may not be fully familiar with the subject.

1
Introduction

In the search for new sources of oil and gas, operational activities have moved to harsher environments in deeper high pressure/high temperature wells, remote areas, and deep‐water regions. These have created increased challenges for the economy of project development and subsequent operations whereby the integrity of the facilities, optimisation of the materials, and accurate prediction of the materials’ performance are becoming paramount. In addition, the economic moves towards multi‐phase transportation through sub‐sea completions and long infield flowlines have a tendency to increase the risk of corrosion threats, thus placing a heavier duty on integrity management in upstream operations.

Corrosion potentially presents many threats, in many forms, and remains a major operational obstacle to successful hydrocarbon production. These threats have wide‐ranging implications for the integrity of many materials used in the upstream petroleum industry, thus affecting capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operating expenditure (OPEX), with consequences on health, safety, and the environment (HS&E). Furthermore, if not effectively identified and managed, in extreme cases, corrosion may have major business implications, such as disruption to production, financial penalties, adverse societal publicity, and even an impact on the Licence to Operate (LTO). However, corrosion mitigation and control by measures through national and international corrosion communities have led to significant improvements in the provision of safety and security and enhancing public welfare.

This chapter sets out to outline three subject areas with a common thread of describing the content of the book and its scope in relation to upstream hydrocarbon production. The subject areas are:

1. the impact of corrosion, highlighting its economic implications;
2. types of corrosion threats in oil and gas production and transportation, the manner in which they manifest, and the means of their control and design;
3. where future priorities need to be set to sustain and develop the continuing fitness‐for‐purpose of the practice and status of the corrosion and materials discipline.

In addition, brief reference is made to the image of the potential corrosion disciple with a view to outlining future priorities to attract a new generation of high calibre professionals to this field.

1.1 Scope and Objectives

This book aims to produce a practically driven reference guide to assist corrosion and materials engineers in their quest to select and optimise the most appropriate and economical choice of material and corrosion control strategy for upstream operations.¹ It covers measures and mitigation methods to address corrosion threats in hydrocarbon production systems carrying hydrocarbons, injection water, and/or produced water.

In particular, the book provides an understanding of the primary subject areas that affect the continued and trouble‐free operation of hydrocarbon production facilities. It provides a compendium of the principal considerations, current best practice, and key issues associated with each theme without going into absolute detail which will be specific to each individual application.

The focus primarily is on the following topics:

1. Corrosion threats and their respective assessment practices and mitigation methods.
2. Corrosion interrogation methods, including monitoring and inspection data capture and full analysis.
3. Methods by which materials are selected for a particular application.
4. Determining corrosion risk and implications with respect to defining safe operational conditions and the implementation of mitigation methods, measures and practice as an integral part of a fit‐for‐purpose corrosion and integrity management strategy.
5. Consideration of current and future challenges to those engineers who wish to specialise in materials and corrosion knowledge, and outlining the gaps in best implementation of know‐how and knowledge.

While the majority of subject areas relate to addressing internal corrosion, cases of coatings, corrosion under insulation (CUI), cathodic protection (CP), and corrosion trending, combining data generated from corrosion monitoring and inspection, are also included to complement mitigation methods.

The book is intended for use by both competent engineering personnel working in upstream production operations who have knowledge and experience of dealing with corrosion and materials as well as those entering the area who may not be fully familiar with the subject.

1.1.1 Contents of the Book

A summary of the themes and subject areas covered in this book is presented in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1 The overall themes and subject areas discussed in this book.

1.2 The Impact of Corrosion

The impact of corrosion can be viewed in terms of its effect on CAPEX, OPEX, and HS&E. In the past few decades there have been significant studies in various parts of the world on the cost of corrosion and how it affects a country's economy.

According to the current US corrosion study, the direct cost of metallic corrosion is $276 billion on an annual basis. This represents 3.1% of the US gross domestic product (GDP) [1].

The 2016 IMPACT [1] study, released by NACE International, indicates that there are problems with using the existing studies to examine savings over time due to the implementation of corrosion control practices. For instance, in the US, the cost of corrosion was estimated to be equivalent to 2.5% of GDP in 1949 (using the Uhlig method), 4.5% of GDP in 1975 (using the input/output method), and 3.1% of GDP in 1998 (using the Hoar method). The problem is that, in general, these studies use different analyses to estimate the cost of corrosion, so a direct comparison is not possible. Nevertheless, the overall cost of corrosion has been estimated to be between 2% and 5% of GDP, depending on the region of the world, which may be due to differences in methodology. Irrespective of the overall eco...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgement
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Carbon and Low Alloy Steels (CLASs)
• 3 Corrosion‐Resistant Alloys (CRAs)
• 4 Water Chemistry
• 5 Internal Metal Loss Corrosion Threats
• 6 Environmental Cracking (EC)
• 7 Corrosion in Injection Systems
• 8 Corrosion Mitigation by the Use of Inhibitor Chemicals
• 9 Coating Systems
• 10 Corrosion Trending
• 11 Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion (MIC)
• 12 Dense Phase CO2 Corrosion
• 13 Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
• 14 Metallic Materials Optimisation Routes
• 15 Non‐metallic Materials: Elastomer Sealsand Non‐metallic Liners
• 16 Cathodic Protection (CP)
• 17 Corrosion Risk Analysis
• 18 Corrosion and Integrity Management
• 19 Corrosion and Materials Challenges in Hydrocarbon Production
• Abbreviations
• Index
• End User License Agreement