Innovative new technology used to isolate gas pipelines in need of repair or maintenance has shown to prevent gas leakages and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 95% compared with venting pipeline contents to atmosphere - the equivalent of switching off 1,760 gas boilers for a year or taking 1,000 cars off the road
The UK’s National Gas, which owns and operates over 7,600km of gas pipelines underground, has successfully adopted STATS Group’s Remote Tecno Plug® (RTP) on a recent project near St Cyrus in Scotland.
The RTP was trialled to reduce the emissions released during pipeline isolation, a crucial process used by operators to stop gas from leaking while they perform upgrades and maintenance on the pipes. Usually, this is done through reducing the volume of gas in the pipeline by a process called recompression and then venting the remaining gas to atmosphere.
STATS Group personnel monitoring a 48in Remote Tecno Plug, St Cyrus, Montrose
The efficient use of the RTP allows the work to be undertaken more quickly, with zero leaks during operations, improving safety and with the overall discharge of greenhouse gases significantly reduced.
Project managers estimated that traditional venting techniques would have emitted 233 tonnes of gas. However, the RTP reduced emissions to 9.5 tonnes, saving gas released into the atmosphere, but also resulting in significant cost savings of over £100,000 of gas not wasted.
This success has prompted National Gas to formalise a policy encouraging the use of this RTP technology in future isolation projects across the UK - with potential for these tools to be adopted by the individual gas distribution networks across the UK in future.
The UK has a legal obligation to reach net zero emissions by 2050 to address climate change, but gas is still integral to the UK, keeping the lights on and industries fuelled. It’s also important for the country’s energy security, making it resilient to demand spikes or pressures on the system.
STATS Group's 48in Remote Tecno Plug in situ St Cyrus, Montrose
The gas emission savings on the project near St Cyrus was the equivalent of switching off 1,760 gas boilers for a year or travelling 5.9 million miles in a 2018 Ford Fiesta - equal to removing more than 1,000 cars off UK roads for a year.
Kirsty McDermott, Senior Engineer at National Gas, said: “Using plugs like the RTP can greatly reduce emissions for temporary pipeline isolations, and on this project emissions were reduced by up to 24 times compared to traditional recompression methods.
“In addition to the environmental and economic benefits relative to reduced venting requirements, carrying out the trial work allowed us to interrogate the integrity of our pipelines and ensure they continue to deliver energy to where it’s needed across the UK.”
Neil Mackay, Group Senior Business Development Manager at STATS, said:
“This was the first use of our innovative pipeline isolation plug technology on the National Transmission System and following the successful outcome on the project, National Gas will update existing policies to make the use of isolation tools business as usual, which in turn will reduce barriers, increase efficiency and enable more critical maintenance work to be completed.”
STATS' RTP technology successfully sealed a 56km-long, 48-inch pipeline, ensuring a leak-proof and fail-safe isolation. It maintained full pressurisation at 55bar in the initial use of RTP on the National Transmission System, which surpasses traditional methods like venting or recompression. The technology offered secure double blocking and monitored isolation, allowing safe and efficient maintenance activities, such as welding.
In addition to operational phase tests, extensive integrity tests, independently evaluated by Specialist Engineering 3rd Parties DNV and Pipeline Integrity Engineers (PIE), were conducted to ensure the technology's reliability and safety. This work will allow for future projects to consider isolation tools in different applications.
Based in Kintore near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, STATS employs more than 380 staff in the UK, North America, the Middle East and Australasia and is a market leader in the supply of pressurised pipeline isolation, hot tapping and plugging services to the energy industry.
Remote Tecno Plug® (RTP) - is a hydraulically activated mechanical plug featuring locks and dual elastomer seals. This provides leak-tight double block and monitored isolation, enabling maintenance or repair activities to take place safely and efficiently.
STATS provides specialist engineering services for the maintenance, integrity and repair of oil, gas and petrochemical installations and infrastructure.
STATS have gained an excellent reputation for providing a responsive, client-centred approach combined with expertise and innovative products which enhance safety and environmental performance, reduce system or plant downtime, improve asset performance, and support decommissioning and abandonment.
The group operates from its headquarters in Kintore, Aberdeenshire, in the UK; Edmonton, Canada; Houston, USA; Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Qatar in the Middle East; Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Perth, Australia.
On 5 July 2023, STATS was acquired by Japan Stock Market listed Mitsui and Co Ltd, becoming part of Mitsui’s Iron & Steel Business Unit.
Mitsui is a global trading and investment company with a diversified business portfolio that spans approximately 63 countries in Asia, Europe, North, Central & South America, The Middle East, Africa and Oceania. Listed on the Japanese stock market (Prime Market), the group has over 46,000 employees with annual revenues of US$107bn and total assets in excess of US$115bn.
Website: www.statsgroup.com
Website: www.mitsui.com