Keeping an eye on corrosion

The Regulator 2022 - Issue 2

Corrosion is first and foremost a safety risk which must be understood and managed.

Once safety risks associated with corrosion are managed, control of the associated economic risks will generally follow. NOPSEMA inspectors have seen evidence of advanced corrosion at some facilities due to a lack of proactive management programs.

In some cases, the advanced corrosion has exceeded what was planned for during the design of the facility and the operator is no longer able ensure the facility will remain safe for its remaining operation life without significant remediation. There can be a significant cost for those remediation activities, including unscheduled downtime to implement those repairs.

Even planned maintenance with fixed scheduling may not be cost effective unless it is linked to known deterioration rates.

Proactive corrosion management strategies can prevent these issues through early identification of corrosion hazards, followed by inspection and maintenance programs that allow appropriate action to be taken before significant degradation of structural integrity is sustained.

The goal is to identify corrosion trends and be predictive so action can be taken to stop corrosion rates as required.

Proactive corrosion management can be complex to set up and requires considerable initial expenditure but it will ‘provide longer term improved safety and economic benefits in terms of less unscheduled downtime.’ Reactive investigations and breakdown maintenance regimes are not effective strategies for corrosion management and, at worst, could lead to major accident events.

Proactive approaches are detailed by the Energy Institute, the UK Health and Safety Executive, and NOPSEMA’s guideline on ageing assets and life extension.