Task 7. Leak Detection Systems

I. Word usage and common errors.

1. Staff (Personnel) refers not to a single person but to a group. Note the alternative! *”The new gas station has a staff of over eighty”.

S There are over eighty members of staff at the new gas station,

X There are over eighty staffs at the new gas station.

2. Next. Explaining dates in the future* for example when arranging to meet someone, can be confusing. For example, if today is Monday and you say you will meet someone “next Friday” what does it mean? It would be clearer to say “this Friday” or “Friday this week» for the nearer date, or “Friday next week” or “the Friday after next” for the later date. British people find it confusing too - so don’t worry about asking them to make it clear what they mean. Another common mistake is:

S I’ll see you the week after next

X I’ll see you next next week

II. Pronunciation practice.

Important asset, government regulations, internal poli­cies, population and environment, environmental constrains, minimum staff, training requirements, pipeline operators, unauthorized extractions, maximum flow, high expectation* location accuracy, hydraulic behavior, occasional leaks, unex­pected situation.

III. Read and translate the text. What notions are to be explained to the first-year students if they are to listen to a lecture on the subject? Explain the necessary notions (such as “unauthorized extractions”)

Leak detection systems

Since oil and gas pipelines are an important asset of the economic development of almost any country, it has been re­quired either by government regulations or internal policies to ensure the safety of the assets, and the population and environ­ment where these pipelines run,"

Pipeline companies face government regulation, environ­mental constrains and social situations. Pipeline companies should comply with government regulations which may define minimum staff to run the operation, operator training requi­rements, up to specifics including pipeline facilities, technology and applications required to ensure operational safety. As an example, in the State of Washington, it is mandatory for pipeline operators to be able to detect and locate leaks of 8 percent of maximum flow within 15 minutes or less.

The social situation also affects the operation of pipelines. In third world countries, product theft is a problem for pipeline companies. Sometimes one can find unauthorized ex­tractions in the middle of the pipeline. In this case, the detec­tion levels should be under 2 percent of maximum flow, with a high expectation for location accuracy.

Different types of technologies and strategies have been implemented, from walking the lines, up to satellite surveil­lance. The most common technology to protect these lines from occasional leaks is known as Computational Pipeline Monito­ring Systems or CPM. CPM takes information from the field related to pressures, flows and temperatures to estimate the hydraulic behavior of the product being transported. Once the estimation is done, the results are compared to other field references to detect the presence of an anomaly or unexpected situation, which may be related to a leak.

IV. True or false?

1. Oil and gas pipelines require government regulations to ensure the safety of their operation, and the population and en­vironment where these pipelines run.

2. Pipeline companies do not face government regulation, environmental constrains and social situations.

3. Pipeline companies should comply with Kioto protocol which may define minimum staff to run the operation, opera­tor training requirements, up to specifics including pipeline facilities, technology and applications required to ensure ope­rational safety.

4.It is mandatory for pipeline operators to be able to detect and locate leaks of 80 percent of maximum flow within 5 minutes or less.

5.The social situation does not affect the operation of pipelines.

6.Most common technology to destroy pipelines with the help of occasional leaks is known as Computational Pipeline Monitoring Systems or CPM.

7. CPM takes information from the field related to envi­ronment.

V. Make up the titles of the scientific articles.,

The American Petroleum Institute has published several articles related to the performance of CPM in liquids pipelines, the API Publications are:

- pipeline/Computational/for/liquids/monitoring/pipelines

- methodology/based/detection/Evaluation/for software /leak/systems

- variable/and their/effects/Pipeline/on leak/uncertainties/ detectability

VI. Single or double? Fill in the missing letter if necessary.

Different types of technol...ogies and strate...gies have

be...n imple...mented, from wa...lking the lin...es, up to satel...ite surveil...ance. The most com...on technology to pro.;, tect these lin...es from occasional lea...ks is known as Co... mputational Pipe...line Mo...nitoring Sy...stems or CPM. CPM takes infor...mation from the field re...lated to pressures, flows and tempe...ratures to estim...ate the hydraulic beh... avior of the prod...uct being transp...orted.

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