Deloitte Insights, in a recent survey, indicated that energy companies, and by extension gas pipeline companies, are spending less than 2.5% of revenue on technology, while the average for all industries is around 4.3% of revenue.

At the same time, physical pipeline infrastructure - the safest mode of transporting hydrocarbons over long distances - will become increasingly important over the years to come. This is due to both regulations and public pressure but also to pipeline companies recognizing the need to optimize their operations as infrastructure ages and building new pipelines becomes more difficult.

Keeping pipelines and associated facilities operating safely, reliably, and effectively requires pipeline companies to have both IT and OT software. Let's explore how pipeline management software solutions, generally found within both the IT and OT environments, can assist gas pipeline companies in protecting and achieving higher efficiency of existing infrastructure.

Types of Pipeline Management Software

Pipeline management software solutions cover a broad spectrum of what gas pipeline companies do daily. However, the various software types can roughly be divided into three different tool categories: design and analysis, operational and commercial.

Each of these categories consists of functionalities to assist gas pipeline companies in managing their pipeline and facility assets, regardless of how long they have been in operation. Typical examples of when each of these tools prove beneficial for gas pipeline companies are below.

Design & Analysis tools

An offline pipeline design and analysis tool should be used for both steady state and transient analysis before new pipelines and facilities are built. This ensures each is planned for suitable locations and with correct sizing to meet both current and future demands. The same tool could also be used to evaluate whether an existing pipeline can be converted to transport a different product, highlighting the need for extra equipment as needed.

Similarly, an offline pipeline design and analysis tool could be used to analyze historical data associated with a pipeline incident to evaluate if potential remediation is required to the pipeline or facility because of the incident. It is also very common to use an offline design and analysis tool to make sure that the pressure rating for each of the pipeline sections is safe and to indicate whether the maximum operating pressure should be changed.

Operational tools

Operational tools are used during the transport of gas in the pipeline. At the heart of any real-time operation is Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition, or SCADA for short. SCADA controls and monitors the transport of gas in pipelines and facilities using a variety of communication protocols to read and write data to field devices.

The operational tools are equipped to detect data falling outside normal operating conditions. Whether the result of a pipeline rupture, abnormal flow conditions, or simply a faulty field device, operational tools deliver functionalities to analyze the likelihood of which type of event it is and alert operators to the specific location of the issue.

Commercial tools

There are two sets of commercial tools - those used before the transport of gas and those used after the transport of gas in the pipeline system. The commercial tools for pre-transport of gas are used to plan and schedule the amount of gas that should be received from the supplier and delivered to the customer. This process could involve both nominations created by shippers or generation of forecasts based around weather or other non-weather-related parameters.

The commercial tools used after the transport of the gas are comprehensive and can involve the collection of Electronic Flow Measurements (EFM) data from field and verification that the corrected volumes or energy received from field at supply and delivery points are accurate. These verified measurements for the hour or day can then be compared with the contractual commitments for the gas day and billing can be performed.

Summary

Although the amount of revenue spent by pipeline companies is less than averages in other industries, the trend is that pipeline companies will continue to invest in pipeline management software solutions. Several types of gas pipeline management software solutions are available in the market today, all of which can meet specific use cases depending on the pipeline company's requirements.

Regardless of those requirements today or in the future, tools focused on design and analysis, operations, and commercial transport can help companies manage their pipelines and facilities safely, reliably and efficiently.

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