PROTECTION OF UNDERGROUND PIPELINES Available to Purchase

Infraduciion Oil Conipani. of California was spending up to $7C<O,(iOÍ~ p er year. in recuiiditioning and maintenance 2xpeiises. on ï he maintaining of an oil or gas pipe line which - its 1,ÍiOO miles of pipe line tem, s. i:, I!k!!i, ttic Iji'oblem (1 eve 1 op lea i>.; became so serious t, hat the Company in5ugurated broad 1 i I il y ni a hiiiipl,. 1ntIlic1, i)iit iiriless it o ne rias been directly concerned with it he will not research program t, o' inv < Agate all I..nown mrl.hiids realize the expense anti complications involved. Excavat- »I pipe protection and, if passible, fmrl (?I creale s (ime - ing, repairing, coating, back filling, loss of oil tor gas, thing which would effectively rediice t, he annual toll hazard to life and adjoining property from possible being taken hy soil corrosion. Sevenal men with chemlire or explosion, repayment of damages to property ical, electrical, and mechanical training were assigned owners, retaining of good will of owners of land traversed to the problem. They reviewed the Pipe Line by the right-of-way, and possible interruptions of ser - Department's past experience; ina, ugurated a. system for vice am but some' of the costly difficulties which must keeping co'mpnehensive records of the performance of be met. The seriousness of this problem was not appre- various ‘coatings in regular, as well as experiinentlal, ciated when laying the first long pipe lines in California, use on the Company's lines; kept in close touch with, a nd little or no thought was given to corrosion. Very and t, o a considerable extent. participated in, the work Iittle was known about the corrosivity of particulan soils, slarted by the U. S. Bureau of Standards and t, hat a nd lines were placed in the ground with practically siitmequcntly undertaken by the American Petr'oleum n o protection against soil corrosion. Difficulty of a Institute; and, in short, have ever since been active in s erious nature arose in a very few years as numerous collecting all available datra on pipe protection. l eaks occurred, and the subject of pipe protection soon became a major problem. Corrosion caused pitholes Early efforts to avaid carrasion thrniigli 8-inch pipc 111 less than two > ear & at sonic locations. Although most of the early efforts t, o combat corrosion The simple method of painting the lines with straight had been unsucce, ssful, in 1916 the Stand, ard Oil Company bitumen coatings of various kinds was first tried with of California devised a very effective method of proÍecpractically no success. More elaborate methods of pro- tion for pipe in low, swampy, or tide level ground, tection, such as flooding the ditch with crude oil, where corrosion hamrds are extreme. However, this wrapping the pipe with telt roofing paper, burlap, etc., was too costly to’ be practical for general use. It entailed with, heavy bituiiicn coats between wrnps, (lid riot