Inspection technologies and tools used to determine the effectiveness of cathodic protection for subsea pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico- A review Conference Paper uri icon

abstract

  • Oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico faces enormous challenges to discover, explore and exploit hydrocarbons reserves in new deep waters fields; among them is the integrity management of its pipeline infrastructure. One of the biggest threats for the integrity of subsea steel-pipeline structures is external corrosion. While cathodic protection (CP) is a reliable control-mitigation technology for corrosion prevention, the aggressive environment existing in seawater conditions drives the selection of current technologies and tools for assessing the CP systems. The identification and characterization of tools and technologies to monitor CP performance has lead to the development of more accurate, practical and flexible ways to assess the effectiveness of a CP system. Among the technologies used to survey the surface of a subsea pipeline, the Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) is the one that resolves potential and current density parameters for CP inspection. Recently, the development of computers has lead to the outcome of powerful analytical tools for the characterization of important parameters influencing the effectiveness of CP in subsea. In this work the current and past technologies to monitor the level and/or effectiveness of CP are reviewed. Proposed strategies to assess corrosion control monitoring and inspection procedures of subsea pipelines in the Gulf of Mexico are included.

published proceedings

  • NACE - International Corrosion Conference Series

author list (cited authors)

  • Galicia, M., & Castaneda, H.

complete list of authors

  • Galicia, M||Castaneda, H

publication date

  • September 2009