EXPLORATION • DRILLING • FIELD SERVICES
Storage tanks in the oil & gas sector are
particularly vulnerable
to corrosion due to the extreme environments they are located in
CORROSION CONFRONTING
Tackling the costly issue of corrosion is an ongoing headache for oil & gas operators across the world. Louise Davis meets a specialist from a coatings company whose aim is to empower the industry in its efforts to reduce rust
T
he global cost of corrosion, both in terms of money and the eff ect it has on the environment, is not talked
about enough, according to Ekaterina Mezhentseva, Global Solutions Manager, Jotun Performance Coatings. Determining accurate statistics is diff icult for something whose cause, eff ect and mitigation tends to be a gradual process spanning multiple years. However, Mezhentseva says: “The annual cost of corrosion is estimated at around US$2.5 trillion, which is equivalent to 3.4% of the global GDP, as per data published by NACE in 2013. This does not include the indirect cost related to corrosion, such as downtime and other eff ects on society – so the total cost is far greater.”
10
www.engineerlive.com As well as the shocking fi nancial
costs, Mezhentseva also highlights a worrying knock-on eff ect, which is that corrosion is a big source of CO2 emissions globally. “According to the World Steel Association data, steel production represents around 10.5% of total global CO2 emissions. Between 20% and 40% of steel produced today is intended to replace corroded steel. And if we continue the same approach to tackling corrosion, by 2030, as much as 9.1% of the total CO2 emissions will be associated with steel produced to replace corroded steel,” she details.
CRUSHING CORROSION Although there is still a long way to go in terms of getting the oil & gas industry to limit corrosion, engineering
operators have got considerably better at dealing with it over the years. As in many other parts of the broader engineering sector, Mezhentseva has noticed the rise of a more proactive approach here. She says: “Preventative maintenance is a known approach in corrosion management. Understanding operational and environmental factors aff ecting steel and causing corrosion and taking actions early enough is a key.” She adds: “The awareness of
corrosion and consequences related to corrosion has been increasing signifi cantly in the industry, and we can see this confi rmed in the large- scale study related to maintenance in the oil and gas industry that we recently launched.”
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