Background
In 2010, the National Energy Board (NEB) contracted Det Norske Veritas (DNV), now DNVGL, together with TERA Environmental Consultants and BGC Engineering Inc. to conduct a literature review of the existing worldwide understanding of the physical/technical issues associated with onshore pipeline abandonment and to scope remaining knowledge gaps and potential studies and research projects. The report, titled “Pipeline Abandonment Scoping Study”, was completed in 2010 and was based on more than 430 abstracts of published papers, which were reviewed and narrowed down to 83 relevant documents, and then obtained for more detailed reviews by subject matter experts. Additionally, various pipeline abandonment standards from North America, South America, Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom were reviewed for this Study. The outcome of the Study was an analysis and identification of existing knowledge gaps, and recommendations for potential future research projects to fill those gaps. Over the past 7 years, PARSC has worked to address the gaps identified in the Study.
Project Objective
The objective of this review (PARSC 018) will be to determine if the work identified in the 2010 study was addressed by PARSC’s work to date and if not, what scope elements of the 2010 study remain to be addressed and why. In short, the project will provide a “report card” on the results accomplished by PARSC in meeting key requirements of the original Scoping Study.
The scope of this project does not include conducting an updated literature review on the current status of pipeline abandonment research, and from that review identifying remaining knowledge gaps and prioritizing any recommended future work that could be considered. In short, the scope of this project does not include updating the original Scoping Study.