How to Integrate Valve Inspections with Pipeline Inspections

Pipeline condition assessment continues to gain in popularity as many reliable tools and technologies have proven beneficial, yet even more technologies continue to be introduced to the pipeline industry. On a parallel path, although not as common, greater awareness and focus has been placed on the importance of valve reliability to ensure the safety and success of pipeline outages and pipeline inspections. Despite pipeline and valve assessments getting so much deserved, individual attention, the practice of proactively integrating the two inspections has not advanced as much as each individually. For example, performing Level I valve assessments to ensure valves are accessible and operable prior pipeline inspections is still too often overlooked. Furthermore, if a Level I assessment reveals that there is a problem with the gearing of the valve, whether it be a horizontal double disc gate valve, vertically oriented external geared gate valve, or a butterfly valve actuator, owners often fail to perform Level II assessment on the valve gearing or gear box to identify the problem and correct it in advance of the shutdown, complicating or compromising the pipeline inspection. Instead, and oftentimes, the size of the shutdown is expanded, and the problematic control valve just replaced, wasting tens of thousands and often hundreds of thousands of dollars. Lastly, while pipelines are shut down, it is the opportune time to perform Level III condition assessment and any corrective maintenance on the butterfly valve discs and seats, or gate valve gates and tracks during pipeline inspections. This level of integration saves the owner significant maintenance and capital improvement program dollars that can be allocated to additional asset management program work.