Evaluations, inspections reveal North Sea pipeline free of corrosion

This paper reports on a variety of corrosion evaluation techniques applied to the 28-in., 86-mile Viking wet-gas line in the U.K. North Sea which has shown the line to be essentially corrosion free after 18 years of service. Internal corrosion rates over the period are estimated to be less than 0.05 mils per year (mpy). Corrosion evaluation was based on data from iron counts, corrosion coupons, condensate and gas volumes, reservoir conditions, pipeline operating information, solids removal, ultrasonic surveys, and field performance of the system.