Publications

Chevron Indonesia Company, with operations in Kalimantan, has been active in Indonesia since early 1970's. It has more than 150 pipelines, with 90% of them located in offshore. Unfortunately, 15% of them were built without pigging facility, such as several gas lift lines, crude loading lines, butane – propane lines, etc. In this paper, we will share our story of Aqua-MTM® execution success on unpigable 30” crude loading pipeline to SBM. The 30” Crude loading pipeline stretched 11 km, where the line passes three topographic sections, Onshore, Canal or shallow water, and Offshore. The Onshore section was relatively easy with simple preparation prior MTM® reading just to traverse pipeline route by pipe locator, marker installation, and after that MTM® technician could measure stress levels through the marker guide. For the canal section, since maximum height from top of the pipeline to the water level is still within MTM® requirement, the inspection method and tools were similar to the onshore section. The pipeline route was surveyed by surveyor, and then we install wooden marker right to the top of pipeline position. For the Canal section, small boat transported the MTM® tool and technicians along wooden marker guide to measure the stress levels of the pipeline. For the Offshore section, where the water depth level is more than 15D from top of the pipeline, we utilized a different tool, called Aqua-MTM®. This tool was attached to the ROV. The movement controlled by experienced ROV pilot from the control room on surface.