October 2018, Vol. 245, No. 10

Corrosion Control

Taking Guesswork Out of Corrosion Assessments

By Ian Macleod, engineering manager, Integrity, Wood When pipelines have either been too structurally complex or operationally challenging for inline inspections, basic assumptions have often ruled the day. Where inline inspections (ILI) are impossible or impractical, for instance, operators have commonly assumed that the lowest physical points of a subsea pipeline would have a higher ri sk of corrosion. Thus, most inspection efforts were focused on these spots, although later analysis has sometimes proven this basic assumption to be false.  The risk of corrosion is highly correlated with a complex interplay of factors. If false confidence thrives, the risk of operators missing actual pro