ARPEL/EPGEO: Regional Geotechnics Project — Good Practices in Pipeline Integrity Management to Face Geohazards

Abstract

Due to the importance for the Oil and Gas Industry to have a technical document that consolidates the knowledge on management of geohazards for Latin America, the Geotechnics Project Team (EPGEO under its acronym in Spanish) of the Regional Association of Oil, Gas and Biofuels Sector Companies in Latin America and the Caribbean (ARPEL) developed the “Guidelines for Monitoring and Inspection of Pipeline Integrity Management to Face Geohazards” between 2014 and 2016. These guidelines contain the experience of the different operators in the region, given the highly-complex geological-geotechnical pipeline routes (due to the mountain range of the Andes in South America or the Central System in Central America), as well as the high technical requirement derived from the dynamics of the triggering agents in equatorial and tropical areas. In this respect, this document presents the main results of such consolidation and its dissemination, some relevant aspects to be taken into account in interdisciplinary works with reference to third parties, as well as the new guidelines that the EPGEO has proposed to develop that complement the management of geohazards in a Pipeline Transportation System (PTS).