Project Objective
The objective of this project is to develop, for all aspects of an abandonment project, a recommended long-term monitoring program that is risk based and practical. The program should consider situations where the pipe is abandoned in place and where it is removed, with a focus on abandonment in place.
Project Scope
The purpose of the recommended program is to assist pipeline operators, regulators and land owners in the development, review and acceptance of a detailed long-term monitoring program in a specific abandonment project. As such, the recommended program will act as a first step and as a common starting point for specific detailed work by pipeline operators and stakeholders, and should cover all necessary aspects and address typical and most special situations that may be encountered.
The major components of the project are envisioned as follows:
- Literature review to identify any prior work, program or practice developed or in place in other jurisdictions, such as the United States, Europe and Australia.
- Building from past guidelines and recent examples, develop a structure for the major elements of a long-term monitoring program that would generally apply to all abandonment situations, including a discussion of conditions to be monitored, suggested monitoring methods, and suggested monitoring frequencies, based on pipeline characteristics, land use categories, special site conditions, and technical issues that may be present.
- Summarize the above information in a recommended program document.