I N N O V AT I O N S • J A N U A R Y -
M A R C H 2 0 1 4
C O V E R S T O R Y
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So when that pipeline system is
compromised,
we sit up and listen
.
Oil and gas ruptures are not cheap – so
far, Exxon has spent more than $44 million
on the Mayflower clean up. And besides
the cost in dollars and cents, the collateral
damage can be immense. Oil and gas
companies spend hundreds of millions
every year on pipeline inspections to
try to prevent the kind of incident that
struck Mayflower.
No one wants a busted pipe.
Unfortunately, pipeline inspections
aren’t perfect, obviously, or the discovery of
threats such as J-shaped hook cracks would
be a simple and routine task. Instead, these
cracks – like a cancer – often grow and merge
and spread, finally exposing themselves as major
integrity failures.
Cracks can quietly exist, undetected, for years.
In fact, they often start during the manufacturing
