SELECTION METHOD FOR OFFSHORE PIPELINE COATINGS

Abstract

Corrosion protection for offshore pipelines is essential to ensure the integrity of the pipeline and the system. One of the common methods to prevent corrosion is the use of coatings to the structure. The pipeline coating plays an important role in the corrosion protection of the system by providing a barrier between metal and the corrosive environment. The selection of correct coating is therefore crucial for effectiveness of the anticorrosion system.

The selection process can be challenging because of the availability of a large number of products with the limited availability of product performance data. Not always the manufacturer’s information can be considered adequate because of the varying nature of application environment and misapprehension of the capabilities of the product. Since, it is difficult to evaluate the performance accurately, the coating selection criteria has been greatly subjective. Technical criteria have been difficult to establish. Nevertheless, a large number of laboratory test methods do exist to characterize the coating performance but these are not always clear how results correlate with the actual service performance due to the lack of information on actual performance of the coatings; therefore these test methods are hardly considered as acceptance criteria for selection of the coatings.

In this article a method for selection of offshore pipeline coatings has been presented. This method suggests a simple and structured approach and eliminates ambiguities in the coating selection process. The system can easily be adjusted according to the requirements of a particular pipeline project.