ABSTRACT
Corrosion management systems (CMS) have been developed for a variety of oil and gas assets. Improper implementation of CMS, by not adequately identifying and assessing possible corrosion root causes and risks during the Integrity Review Process, is one of the main reasons for corrosion failures. Life cycle management and continuous improvement often depends only on learning from asset failures, which cannot fully comprehend and evaluate complex root causes of typically complex corrosion processes.
In this work, we suggest and present an improved scheme of CMS with the additional element of external R&D studies, to achieve the highest level of reliability. Targeted research on selected key issues and investigative studies go beyond typical failure analysis. Findings and results of these studies should be implemented in the CMS and the documentation updated accordingly.
Two case studies demonstrate how results and knowledge gained from R&D studies directly improve corrosion management and prevent future failures. The first case is a research study on the origin of iron sulfide scale and corrosion. Clarification of the source and formation mechanism of iron sulfide directly affects the mitigation strategy and reduces workover with huge cost savings. The second case presents the advantages of an integrated approach of modelling and lab studies to clarify unforeseen causes of corrosion and uncover hidden design risks of high strength steel.
These two case studies highlight the importance of targeted research and studies as additional elements in the CMC to assess root causes of failures and identify hidden design risks to achieve the highest level of improvement and a life cycle of reliability.
INTRODUCTION
The concept of Corrosion Management Systems (CMS) and their application started in the mid of the last century after catastrophic failures and huge cost of corrosion were reported by different industries. Guadalajara, Mexico is an example of catastrophic corrosion failure where 215 people got killed due to an explosion and costs due to the damage were estimated at $75 million, April 1992.1European Commission Institute for the Protection and Security preformed static analysis and study of 99 accidents occurring in refineries in 1962-2012.2 This study showed that corrosion failure was responsible for these major refineries accidents.
