"As part of our hydrocarbon leak reduction campaign, we purchased an Ultraprobe 2000 for each of our offshore and onshore installations. It is our intention to detect leaks earlier in their lifecycle, so as to manage them and avoid being in a reactive mode.
Each location has raised planned maintenance routines and each technician carries out a sweep of their areas at least once during their trip to identify any potential minor leak sites.
Offshore and onshore plants are fairly complex, with many thousands of potential leak sites. Identifying a leak source is not always easy. In some cases, minor leaks are indicated by smell and are so small that they can't be detected by the fixed or portable fire and gas detection systems. In the following examples, the Ultraprobe was used to pinpoint the leak source.
During an area inspection of an open process module, a smell of gas was reported to the control room. The Ultraprobe was then used to survey the area, and the leak was quickly identified as intermittently coming from the gland packing of a control valve.
In another example, a leak was thought to be within the acoustic enclosure of a gas turbine power generation package. This unit was responsible for providing 50% of the installation's power requirements, and to shut this down would cause considerable production downtime. The Ultraprobe was used and, despite the high ambient background noise, the leak source was identified as a weep from a compression fitting. This was subsequently repaired without the need for a shutdown.
The cost savings from these examples has more than returned our entire investment in the equipment. Alternative uses have also been found for the Ultraprobe, which include the detection of instrument air leaks and testing the door seals around pressurised modules. We consider this tool to be a useful addition to any hydrocarbon leak reduction programme."
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