FTP Secure Solutions - Perimeter Security

Pipeline Protection

Secure Pipe™ - Case Studies

NYSEARCH (USA) – The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) identified that the majority of pipeline incidents are caused by “damage by outside force”. Property damages alone for over 300,000 miles of transmission pipe in the U.S. can cost operators millions of dollars annually. This being a high priority area, NYSEARCH installed an FFT Secure Pipe™ system in 2003 along a high pressure gas pipeline at a test site in New Jersey, USA.

Client Quote: “The PSE&G test site in New Jersey has been in place for over two years and has experienced many field tests using many types of excavating equipment. During that time, FFT has been able to resolve all site and system related problems, to the point, where the system is providing reliable and accurate locate data (well within 150 meters). We believe that the PSE&G site offers a wide range of diversity including soft and rocky soils, trafficked roadways, residential/commercial districts, unusually deep HDD sections and is probably one of the most difficult and challenging sites that Secure Pipe will encounter. To date, no nuisance alarms have been produced by nearby excavating equipment. Yet the system sensitivity is such that many alarms recorded are caused by pipeline survey and other vehicles driving over the cable. NYSEARCH believes that this technology is critical to safe guard our pipelines and to assure the integrity of our natural gas pipelines”.

NYSEARCH and FFT are currently testing at their second test site, on a Questar pipeline located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and continuing to develop signature recognition software for excavating equipment for future Secure Pipe systems.

The Client Quotes: “Secure Pipe is the only underground sensing technology, currently available, that has the potential to sense the existence of nearby excavators without impacting or damaging the cable. There are several advantages to this technology such as:

1) Ability to detect quasi-static, dynamic and transient events.
2) Ability to provide and alarm and location of event or impact.
3) Alarms are generated without contacting or damaging the cable.
4) Ability to tune and de-tune the system for different environments and disturbances.
5) Flexible settings and user interfaces to help eliminate unwanted alarms.

This technology has the potential to dramatically improve safety and help assure pipeline throughput, by minimizing risks associated with third party impacts. By installing Secure Pipe technology, or systems like it, on critical supply pipelines, overall safety will improve and provide an added level of security for all pipeline operators”.

British Petroleum (Europe) – Had a requirement for a third party intrusion detection system along sections of a 1,700km crude oil pipeline that passed through a number of mineral spring areas. Any sort of pipeline damage leading to a crude oil leak would have a catastrophic effect on both the environment and the revenue created from selling the pristine mineral water, so pipeline protection was mandatory. FFT Secure Pipe™ has been installed on the most critical sections first, with plans to roll the system out to additional pipeline sections over the next few years. Being able to utilise the existing fibre optic communications cable already installed alongside the pipeline makes Secure Pipe an extremely cost effective solution for long distance pipelines such as this.

Asian Natural Gas company – in a highly populated country, they needed a way of monitoring main Natural Gas pipelines against accidental damage by earthmoving and construction equipment to eliminate potentially catastrophic accidents. They ran extensive tests on the FFT Secure Pipe™ system, and concluded that the system not only did everything FFT said it would do, but they were getting location accuracies considerably better than the published specifications! Secure Pipe is being progressively implemented across the country.

A global oil company’s Asian operations needed a system to detect and locate earthquakes and landslides along a crude oil pipeline so that action could be taken to shut down the flow before any major environmental impact could take place. The system was installed in 1999, and within weeks detected and gave the location of a major landslide so that the pipeline could be shut down and inspected. This system is still in operation today, running 365 days a year in real-time.

European Natural Gas company #1 – Pipeline monitoring 30km of main gas pipeline against intrusions and third party interference. A single Secure Pipe system was installed in 2003, meeting all of the customers’ expectations and requirements. The system was delivered on time, commissioned on time, and they have experienced no failures or problems since acceptance.

European Natural Gas company #2 – Due to a number of recent incidences throughout Europe, the Government mandated that any new high pressure main gas pipelines must have some sort of detection or protection systems to prevent accidental damage or Third Party Interference (TPI) causing a major explosion and the subsequent loss of life and property damage. The options for their new pipeline were to cover it with a cement slab or have an active solution such as FFT Secure Pipe™. Even including the supply and installation of the sensor cable, Secure Pipe was only a fraction of the cost of any alternative options, yet provided pinpoint location accuracy over the entire pipeline, in real time.