This month’s Pipeline Technology Podcast episode sponsored by Pipeline & Gas Journal features Jim Watkins on the floor of the AMPP Conference discussing different submissions made by numerous vendors.

Conversations from AMPP Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms:

• Pipeline & Gas Journal is the essential resource for technology, industry information, and analytical trends in the midstream oil and gas industry.  For more information on how to become a subscriber, visit pgjonline.com/subscribe.
• AMPP (Association for Materials Protection and Performance) is a global community of professionals dedicated to materials protection through the advancement of corrosion control and protective coatings. AMPP protects infrastructure and assets worldwide through member and workforce education and credentialing, company accreditation, technological innovation, and global standardization.
• Tom Brett works within customer service with Allen Edwards.
  • Allan Edwards | Since 1947, Allan Edwards has provided innovative solutions for the oil and gas industry. They help customers address their toughest pipeline challenges through their time-tested application of pipeline weighting, concrete coating, and repair sleeve solutions.
    • OmegaWrap composite repair system strengthens and reinforces the integrity of the pipe wall without interrupting flow, repairing a multitude of defects and accommodating up to 80% wall loss. Available in e-glass or carbon fiber variants, this system delivers the repair solution you need without the added risk of heavy machinery, welding or specialized tools.
      • Check out the videos of Travis testing the OmegaWrap here. 
• Ron Raphoon is a consultant with Denso who specifically gears towards protection for horizontal directional drilling and trenches installation.
  • Denso North America, a subsidiary Winn & Coales international, specialize in the manufacture and supply of corrosion and chemical resistant coatings and linings for the long-term protection of steel, concrete and timber surfaces in the toughest corrosive environments.
    • Bore-Wrap is an Abrasion Resistant Outerwrap (ARO) that offers excellent performance against impact, gouge, abrasion stresses, scarring, and fracture to protect field joint anti-corrosion coatings during pipeline installations in difficult terrain or by means of trenchless installation methods such as directional drilling, HDD or boring. Bore-Wrap creates an abrasion resistant, sacrificial outer laminate which protects pre-approved field joint coatings and mainline coatings such as epoxies, shrink sleeves, 3LPE, 3LPP and FBE.
• Santiago Leon is a sales engineer with InduMar who works with the US domestic market well as the international, mainly in Mexico.
  • InduMar (short for Industrial Marine) Products provides innovative solutions for pipe repair, infrastructure rehabilitation, and corrosion control.
    • BoreShield ARO™ II System is a field-applied abrasion resistant outerwrap (ARO) consisting of a unique, heavy duty fiberglass reinforcement and water-activated urethane resin, designed for impact and abrasion resistance in weld seam, pipeline, directional drilling and piling applications. It provides protection from external wear, abrasion, and impact events. 
    • Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a minimal impact trenchless method of installing underground pipelines in a shallow arc or radius along a prescribed underground path using a surface-launched drilling rig.
• Karen Zambrano works within the mechanical division of Polyguard.
  • Polyguard | Polyguard is an employee-owned manufacturer of protective coatings in a variety of markets, including the Pipeline Industry and Commercial Construction Industry. They are innovators of two-thirds of the products we market.
    • RG 2400 corrosion control gel was developed to solve the problem of corrosion under insulation (CUI) and is a solution for many hidden corrosion problems.
• Pedro Bordieri with CSNRI
  • CSNRI | CSNRI is the world’s leading manufacturer of proven, highly-engineered products for the repair and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure. CSNRI’s composite solutions address pipeline anomalies from metal loss and small deformations to large deformations, crack/crack-like features, as well as damage to process piping working in the range of -58ºF to 730ºF (-50ºC to 388ºC).
  • Inductosense designs, develops and manufactures in-house permanently installed, semi-automated internal corrosion and erosion monitoring systems for asset integrity.
    • Wireless monitoring sensors are placed underneath the pipe composite wrap, giving users the ability to monitor the pipeline under the wrap more accurately.
• Lauren Lopez is the business development manager for Fiber Glass Systems with NOV.
  • NOV Inc., formerly National Oilwell Varco, is an American multinational corporation based in Houston, Texas. It is a worldwide provider of equipment and components used in oil and gas drilling and production operations, oilfield services, and supply chain integration services to the upstream oil and gas industry.
    • Super Seal Key Lock joint creates a high pressure restrained joint in a matter of minutes.
• Jose Orozco is the TK Liner specialist for NOV.
  • NOV Inc., formerly National Oilwell Varco, is an American multinational corporation based in Houston, Texas. It is a worldwide provider of equipment and components used in oil and gas drilling and production operations, oilfield services, and supply chain integration services to the upstream oil and gas industry.
  • TK Liner is a high-performance protective lining system for corrosive environments in production, injection, and disposal applications.

Conversations from AMPP Full Episode Transcript:

Announcer: The “Pipeline Technology Podcast,” brought to you by “Pipeline & Gas Journal,” the decision making resource for pipeline and midstream professionals. Now, your host, Russel Treat.

Russel Treat: Welcome to the Pipeline Technology Podcast, Episode 33. On this episode, we’re doing something a little bit different. Jim Watkins with Pipeline & Gas Journal, recently attended AMPP, formerly NACE, and had multiple conversations with vendors from the floor of the conference.

Tom Brett – Allan Edwards

Jim Watkins: Now, we’re here on the Allan Edwards stand to talk with Tom. Tom, welcome to the show.

Tom Brett: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.

Jim: Tom, tell us a little bit about what you do here at Allan Edwards.

Tom: Absolutely. I’ve been with the company roughly nine years. I’ve been in various roles. I’m currently in customer service, assisting our outside team, and helping orders, and assisting customers and their needs.

Jim: Nice. Tom was on…No, not Tom. You’re Tom. Tommy, right? Is that how you guys differentiate yourselves?

Tom: Yeah, Tommy’s outside and Tom’s inside.

Jim: There you go. Tommy was on a show not too long ago, telling us a little bit about OmegaWrap. This is new for you, this new role talking about OmegaWrap. Tell us a little bit about it. Tell us a little bit about the system.

Tom: Absolutely. We offer two epoxy systems. We have the carbon right here, which is the Cadillac, it’s the strongest of the two, and then we also offer the e-glass system. It’s great for cracks, dents, corrosion, it can do it all. It’s a great product.

All the chemicals, and wraps, and putties, they all work together, it eliminates drying time. It’s an amazing product.

Jim: This is the one, if you guys haven’t seen this yet, I’ll put a link somewhere in here where you guys can click on it. They got some videos out with a guy named Travis, right?

Tom: Yes.

Jim: Travis takes this system, puts it around a cardboard tube, and then runs over it with a truck, and takes these huge cement blocks and puts it on top of it, or tries to pull it, puts it in between the cement blocks and pulls it. This stuff is as strong as a pipe once it’s dried, right?

Tom: Absolutely. That’s correct. Yes, sir.

Jim: That’s the advantage of it.

Tom: It is strong stuff. It is tested. Travis Tough is what we call it.

Jim: Travis Tough. You’re stealing Travis’s line.

Tom: That’s right.

Jim: Travis is going to trademark that so you can’t use it.

Tom: That’s right.

Jim: All right, Tom, thanks for being on the show. Appreciate it.

Tom: Hey, thank you so much for having us.

Jim: You bet.

Tom: Take care.

Jim: Now, we’re at a Denso stand, and we’re here to talk with Ron. Ron, welcome to the show.

Ron Raphoon – Denso

Ron Raphoon: Thank you. Glad to be here.

Jim: Tell me, what do you do for Denso?

Ron: Like you said, my name is Ron. I’m Ron Raphoon. I am a consultant specifically geared towards protection for horizontal directional drilling and trenches installation. I worked with them on their development of Bore Wrap and helped them to go through the array of testing that this product has proven itself in.

Jim: Wow. Tell us a little bit about this, because this is a pretty incredible product, isn’t it?

Ron: It is. This product is specifically geared for what we call SAIG protection, shear, abrasion, impact, and gouge. It was designed with multiple types of fiber architecture. It’s an e-glass that’s made up of different constructions. You have some that are woven, you have some that are stranded in a various organization to prevent gouging through it.

Then, we’ve impregnated it with a resin that is quick curing, high resistance to impact, and has an incredible ability to cure quickly and be put into service in a very fast manner when you’re talking decent ambient temperatures.

Jim: What’s very fast?

Ron: If you’re, say, 80 degrees, you’re out in a pipeline somewhere in, say, Texas, this stuff’s going to kick off in 25 minutes and you can start pulling it.

Jim: 25 minutes?

Ron: 25 minutes, yeah.

Jim: That’s crazy fast.

Ron: If it gets colder, it’s a little slower. A little hotter, it’s about the same. You get too hot, it actually slows down the process, because unlike some of the products that you see out for pipeline, like epoxies that are thermoset, this has to go through a chemical change with the moisture that you’re adding to it.

It’s a really easy application. You wrap it on wet. It’s like pulling a wet T-shirt out of a bag when you put it on, and you start wrapping it on, and you’re spraying water on it, and that water interacts with the resin, kicks off, and you end up with this thing that’s built like a tank.

Jim: This is incredible. I think I’ve seen a video of this being…

Ron: Pulled through.

Jim: Trying to get gouged. On an HDD application, where you’re pulling it through a borehole, it’s got rocks and all kinds of crazy stuff in there, this is designed to specifically protect the pipe when that’s happening, right?

Ron: It is. In fact, we have done multiple tests and actual live poles all over the world at this point now. We’ve put this through every test we can find and excelled. At this moment right now, Denso is working with another organization to develop a full scale HDD coating test, because the last one they came up with, they had to change the test because of the performance of this product.

Jim: That’s awesome. Congratulations, man.

Ron: Thank you.

Jim: That is an awesome achievement. I know Denso’s got to be happy with it.

One of a kind product. Nobody else has that out here.

Ron: There’s people that are trying, but if you put tests against tests, this thing stands up.

Jim: Awesome. Thanks for being on the show. Appreciate it.

Ron: My pleasure.

Santiago Leon – InduMar

Jim: Now, we’re here on InduMar’s, speaking with Santiago. Santiago, welcome to the show.

Santiago Leon: Thank you for having me.

Jim: It’s great. Santiago, what do you do for InduMar?

Santiago: I’m a sales engineer working with the domestic market in the US as well as the international, mainly in Mexico.

Jim: Here we are at the corrosion show. What are you guys talking about? What are you guys featuring here at the show?

Santiago: One of the main products we want to showcase is our BoreShield ARO II. It’s a sacrificial outer wrap, water activated urethane pre impregnated in fiberglass tape to protect the integrity of the pipe when you’re going to drag it through HDD, your boring applications.

Jim: Excellent. This is a picture of what it is here. Here’s the wrap, here’s the puller. It’s going to be pulled through, and that protects it. It’s like a protective outer shell to keep the pipe from being damaged, and specifically the welds like we were talking about, right?

Santiago: Correct. Most commonly, it’s the girth welds that you want to protect. We’ll generate the wrap plan specifically for the dimension of the OD of the pipeline that’s going to be pulled, as well as if it’s going to be a very geologically tough ground.

Jim: Rocks and stuff like that.

Santiago: Rocks, heavy duty. We want to protect the whole pipeline so it’s not compromised before we put it into service.

Jim: How tough is this stuff? Can it get banged up?

Santiago: We’ve pulled it through some very heavy duty, sharp, jagged rocks in Spokane, Washington, and it came out the other side as if nothing had penetrated it.

Jim: Wow. Nothing got through the actual coating itself, which is pretty thick. You put that on, it’s like a half inch thick or something?

Santiago: Correct. Right before our BoreShield ARO, you could see where the coating was, you could see bare metal. When it reaches our wrap, the rock rises up, goes all the way down, and then comes back.

Jim: That’s crazy. This is great technology, especially for the HDD world, because that’s always a problem. You paid a lot of money to have a pipe coated, and then if you’re dragging it through there, then you’re getting the coating ripped off anyway, so that’s not a good deal. That’s great technology, man. Thanks for being on the show.

Santiago: Thank you very much.

Karen Zambrano – Polyguard

Jim: All right, everybody, still here at AMPP, this time on the Polyguard stand with Karen. Karen, welcome to the show.

Karen Zambrano: Thanks, Jim.

Jim: It’s interesting, Karen, because I’ve dealt with Polyguard ever since I came back to the United States for Pipeline & Gas Journal. I always think of the RD 6 and the wraps and stuff, but you work in a different area of Polyguard, right?

Karen: Yes, I do. I work out of the mechanical division. Our mechanical division produces vapor barriers and also an anti-corrosion inhibitor as well. That’s one reason why I’m here at AMPP today, to help folks find solutions for the corrosion issues that they’re having.

Jim: You’re talking about exterior pipe corrosion in this case.

Karen: Yes, exterior corrosion.

Jim: What’s the product called?

Karen: RG 2400.

Jim: RG 2400, tell us about that.

Karen: The RG 2400 gel is typically applied on the external pipe. Usually, it’s applied under insulation, so it has to have a protected jacketing. Depends on what type of insulation is specified. This product can be used not only in the oil and gas industry, but the food and beverage industry and commercial industry as well. Different piping systems.

Jim: You have the pipe – because I’m not technical, so you got to dumb it down for me – you got the pipe, then you put this gel on the outside, and then you wrap that whole thing in insulation for whatever the surface is, whatever it’s going to be used for.

Karen: Yes. If it’s an existing pipe with corrosion, then all you’d have to do is wire brush, and then apply the gel, hand applied. Typically, the installation contractors will install the insulation right after, and then you’ll have an exterior vapor barrier and then an outer jacket, depending on the system.

Jim: Tell me, because I’m not technical, and I don’t understand these things, that gel, is that just Vaseline or something you put over the top of it to keep water from getting to it? What is that? It’s a special mix, no doubt, but does it adhere to the pipe? How does it work? How does the gel work?

Karen: Hydrophobic gel, once you apply it to the pipe, it transforms the metal. That way, if any kind of watering res comes through the insulation, it changes its PH balance to where it’s non-corrosive. That’s how it works. It doesn’t dry, it doesn’t cure, so the guys out in the field don’t have to wait once they apply it. They can start insulating right after.

Jim: It could be like putting the gel on, insulating right behind, super quick.

Karen: Yes, exactly.

Jim: That’s awesome. It’s exciting for me, guys. It’s exciting for me to learn something new about what’s going on at Polyguard. Thanks very much, Karen, for being on the show.

Karen: Thank you, Jim. I appreciate it. Thanks.

Pedro Bordieri – CSNRI

Jim: Hey, Pedro.

Pedro Bordieri: Hey.

Jim: Welcome to the show.

Pedro: Thank you.

Jim: We’re here at AMPP on the CSNRI stand to talk with Pedro, first, about the show. Pedro, how’s the show going so far? I know it’s only the first full day.

Pedro: It’s been going good so far. We had a good opening ceremony yesterday. We had a surprising amount of people coming to the booth and now some useful engagement for us.

Jim: It was really busy last night. I was quite surprised. I was even more surprised to hear about this new technology, and you’re the champion of it inside of CSNRI. Tell us about this new technology.

Pedro: We’ve launched a partnership with the Inductosense technology, which is complementary to our composites line. As an engineer, we always get asked, “How are you understanding what’s going on underneath the composite wraps that you are installing?”

We need to have a better understanding of the corrosion mechanism that’s attacking the underneath of the composite. That way, we can potentially extend the life of this composite and have a better idea on what kind of design life we can expect out of these repairs.

We’ve launched this partnership with Inductosense, this company from the UK. They specialize in wireless monitoring sensors.

Jim: You put that under the wrap, is that how it is, and it detects what’s going on underneath the wrap?

Pedro: Exactly. The sensor is basically a UT sensor that’s wirelessly powered with a handheld data collection device, and then you can use that to activate the sensor through our wraps. This is completely novel, something that hasn’t been able to be done in the past because of the nature of UT probes.

It needs to be in contact with the direct metal. Just by changing how you acquire that thickness measurement, we’re now able to install that underneath composite repairs. We’re creating what we are advertising as a smart composite.

Jim: Exactly. How far apart do you have to put these sensors? Wherever there’s a wrap, you’re going to have one in there and you just make a mark, because there’s a magic wand or something you put over the top of it, right, to check the measurement?

Pedro: Yeah.

Jim: How far apart would you put them if it was a big section? 6 feet, 10 feet?

Pedro: Usually, when we are brought in to provide a design with composite materials, we know exactly where the area of concern is. We know where the internal corrosion mechanism is acting more substantially on the pipe. That’s the data that we use to design for structural reinforcement on that section.

Because we know exactly where this area is, we can install the sensors at a minimum of two inch pitch distance. That, at the end of the day, is up to the operator’s decision because they know exactly where that area of concern is.

Once that area of concern is identified, the sensors are installed, we can provide a structure reinforcement to that area with composite materials.

Jim: That’s awesome. That’s incredible. There’s always new technology and new things coming out, but congratulations on that. Thanks for being on the show.

Pedro: Thank you. I appreciate it.

Lauren Lopez – NOV

Jim: Hi there, everybody. Now, we’re here on NOV’s stand. Welcome to the show.

Lauren Lopez: Thanks, Jim. Thanks for having me. Excited to be here.

Jim: Lauren, tell us a little bit about what you do here at NOV.

Lauren: Sure. I am the business development manager for Fiber Glass Systems, focusing on energy transition. We have multiple groups here today with NOV, but I’m with Fiber Glass Systems. We also have our Tuboscope internal coatings group here as well.

Jim: Awesome. How’s the show been? I know it’s a little bit early. It was just last night, and then now. This AMPP, is that an important show for you?

Lauren: It is. AMPP, we’ve been coming here for several years. Corrosion control is who we are. These two groups that are here, this is all that we do. It’s definitely an important show for us, and we’re excited to be here.

Jim: Awesome. Tell us, we were talking a little bit earlier about this. It’s an iteration on a system you guys had. Tell us a little bit about that. We see the video going in the background, so people can check it out while we’re talking.

Lauren: It’s perfect timing. We have our Super Seal Key Lock joint that we’re featuring here today, and we’ve made some optimizations to it. We’ve added essentially a positive layer to prevent over insertion, and then we have these keyholes where you’ll insert your nylon keys.

There’s an O ring in there as well, so you’re getting a high pressure restrained joint in a matter of minutes. Instead of having a curing time with some of our other products, we’re giving you something that’s ready to go full pressure in two minutes or less.

Jim: In two minutes, really?

Lauren: Yeah.

Jim: Wow.

Lauren: This one here, you’ll probably see behind us…

Jim: Look, they’re going to put the keys.

Lauren: … There’s a time lapse up here, so it’ll be done in two minutes. Of course, as we get bigger, it might be a little longer, a couple more minutes here or there. For the most part, really quick joining systems, and that results in massive insulation savings in the field. We see a lot of people getting very excited about it with us.

Jim: Absolutely. When you see this video and how quick, see the timer going up in the corner there, and you see how quickly they put this…Watch. Watch this now, because they’re going to put these rods in. It’s crazy. That seals the deal. Once it’s there, put that in…

Lauren: After it’s there, it’s entirely done, ready to go, full pressure.

Jim: Wow, that’s some amazing technology. Thanks so much for being on the show. Appreciate it.

Lauren: Thanks so much, Jim. Appreciate it.

Jose Orozco – NOV

Jim: All right, everybody, we’re still here with NOV because they have so many innovations going on here at the show. We’re here with Jose. Jose, welcome to the show.

Jose Orozco: Nice to meet you.

Jim: Tell us, first, before we get started, tell us a little bit about what you do here at NOV.

Jose: We do most of the corrosion control. We provide different products, especially IPC, internal pipe coating. We do liner inserts as well, which we call TK Liner. We also have our ZapLok, which is…

Jim: Right, that’s what we were just looking at. That’s cool, man. That’s some cool stuff.

Jose: That’s some of the stuff we’re trying to promote here, as well, now, our new stuff, we’re also providing nickel services as well. Nickel plating, which is an electroless nickel plating process. That’s what we’re trying to offer here.

Jim: What do you do specifically here?

Jose: I mainly take care of the TK Liner system.

Jim: TK Liners, that’s what we want to talk about. This is new. This is the TK Liner system right here.

Jose: This is basically, we insert a liner inside, a fiberglass liner inside the tubing itself. The main purpose of this is to protect the integrity of the pipe itself. We do use it for production and as well as for salt water disposals, basically anything that has to do with production.

Jim: Any high corrosive environments, you got to have something like that going on.

Jose: Exactly, especially in CO2 injection wells as well, which is very strong on that.

Jim: Tell me something, does that get done section by section, or does that get done after you get it linked together? How does it physically get put inside?

Jose: What we do with the whole process is that we obtain these fiberglass liners from our sister company, which is Fiber Glass Systems. You know, they provide a good quality product. From there, we obtain the tube, which is about 33 feet to up to 44 feet long.

Then, we insert it, make sure that the OD itself is clean before we insert it, and we’ll insert it. Then, we fill the annulus with cement.

Jim: Interesting.

Jose: This cement is a product of NOV as well, and it’s designed for the same purpose, to keep the actual constant friction through the whole pipe, make sure it doesn’t…

Jim: That it doesn’t move around and stuff when it’s in production.

Jose: Of course, once we put the cement, we put flanges at the end, if you can see here. We put flanges at the end to protect the end as well.

Jim: Excellent.

Jose: When that is done, and then we buck them on.

Jim: Nice. That’s amazing. Somebody would come to you, this application specifically is good for anything that’s really corrosive, and they would be like, “Hey, we’re getting ready to set up a production well. We need to have something that’s going to keep it from being corroded on the inside…”

Jose: Correct. There’s some parameters that we like to follow. We’ll take some data from the well itself to make sure that it’s compatible to their production.

Jim: Is that how it gets sorted out? It’s like, “Hey, here’s what you’re producing. We suggest you use this liner because it’s going to save the lifetime of the pipe and all that.”

Jose: Right.

Jim: Awesome.

Jose: That’s basically the TK Liner system.

Jim: Awesome. That’s new? It’s commercial now?

Jose: It’s commercial, yes. We’re selling it now. We provided for eight rounds, premium connections, and all the way to nine and five eighths.

Jim: Excellent. Jose, thanks so much for being on the show. I appreciate it.

Jose: Thank you, sir.

Russel: I hope you enjoyed this month’s episode of the Pipeline Technology Podcast and Jim’s conversations from AMPP. If you’d like to support the podcast, please leave us a review on  Apple Podcast, Google Play, or wherever you happen to listen. You can find instructions at PipelinePodcastNetwork.com.

If there’s a Pipeline & Gas Journal article where you’d like to hear from the author, please let me know, either on the Contact US page at PipelinePodcastNetwork.com, or reach out to me on LinkedIn. Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you next month.

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