Pipeline Leak Severity Control for Carbon-Aware Oil Production
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Solution Overview
Problem
The oil and gas industry faces challenges in comprehensively estimating carbon emissions from pipeline leaks in multiphase flow pipelines, including oil spillages and gas leaks, which contribute to climate change and incur additional carbon emission costs for maintenance and recovery processes.
Innovation Solution
A system and method to estimate Equivalent Carbon Dioxide (ECO2) associated with pipeline leaks, determine the probability of failure, and calculate an environmental consequence factor, ultimately outputting a severity factor to adjust production operations using an interactive user interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If real-time monitoring and automatic control systems are implemented to mitigate carbon emissions, then environmental protection is improved, but device complexity and operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the complex monitoring task into distinct functional modules: sensor units for detecting leak parameters, a processing unit for calculating severity factors based on multiple inputs (leak rate, environmental sensitivity, distance to water bodies), and control units for executing specific mitigation actions. This modular segmentation reduces overall system complexity by making each component specialized and manageable.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary calculations of severity factors and environmental impact assessments before actual leaks occur by pre-programming response protocols. When leaks are detected, the system immediately executes pre-determined control actions (such as shutting down specific pipeline sections or activating containment measures) without requiring complex real-time decision-making, thereby simplifying operational complexity.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If production operations are altered or shut down based on severity factors, then carbon emissions are reduced, but productivity decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial shutdowns rather than complete production stops by selectively closing valve sections or isolating specific pipeline segments where leaks are detected. This allows the majority of the production system to continue operating at full capacity while only the affected portions are curtailed, thereby reducing carbon emissions from leaking sections without significantly impacting overall productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The control system dynamically adjusts production operations based on real-time severity factor calculations. When leak severity is low, the system maintains normal production; when severity increases, it progressively escalates mitigation actions (from monitoring to partial shutdown to complete shutdown). This dynamic responsiveness ensures productivity is preserved whenever possible while automatically reducing emissions when environmental risk thresholds are exceeded.
3Measurement precision
If comprehensive environmental parameters are monitored and analyzed, then measurement precision of environmental impact is improved, but difficulty of detecting and measuring increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that receives raw data from multiple sensors (leak detection sensors, environmental sensors, pipeline condition sensors) and transforms this complex multi-parameter input into a single integrated severity factor. This intermediary calculation layer simplifies the measurement complexity by aggregating numerous environmental parameters into one comprehensible metric that directly indicates environmental impact level.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces complex manual environmental assessment procedures with automated computational algorithms. Instead of requiring physical measurement and evaluation of multiple environmental parameters by human experts, the system uses computer-based calculations to automatically process sensor data and generate severity factors, thereby reducing the practical difficulty of detecting and measuring environmental impact while maintaining high measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure describes methods and systems, including computer-implemented methods, computer program products, and computer systems, for determining carbon environmental impact for oil and gas pipeline leakages. One computer-implemented method includes: determining, by one or more hardware processors, an amount of Equivalent Carbon Dioxide (ECO2) associated with a pipeline leak in a hydrocarbon reservoir; determining, by one or more hardware processors, a probability of failure of the pipeline leak in the hydrocarbon reservoir; determining, by one or more hardware processors, an environmental consequence factor of the pipeline leak in the hydrocarbon reservoir; determining, by one or more hardware processors, a severity factor of the pipeline leak in the hydrocarbon reservoir based on at least one of the amount of ECO2, the probability of failure, or the environmental consequence factor; and outputting, by one or more hardware processors, the severity factor in a user interface.