Corrosion & Erosion Management

Viking is an industry leader with the extensive knowledge and experience to identify project-specific corrosion control alternatives during design, installation and operations. As a vital part of integrity management, corrosion control options are evaluated considering multiple aspects of the system and troubleshooting of ongoing issues are determined.

Our Services

Viking’s capabilities in corrosion engineering are well recognized within the industry and have played key roles in hydrocarbon developments worldwide.

The Corrosion, Materials and Integrity (MCI) Team for oil and gas developments and water and gas injection systems and other process facilities forms one of Viking’s core engineering services.

The MCI Team is involved at all stages of project development (Concept to Operations) and offers a significant interface with chemical systems engineering, flow assurance, operations, installation, and surveillance teams.

The Asset Integrity team develops whole-life cost solutions to corrosion and materials issues for downhole, subsea, flowlines, pipelines and process facilities.

Read more about our Corrosion Control Services below:

Protective Coatings & Linings

Protective coatings are essential to preserving the integrity of steel piping, pressure vessels, and tanks. And expert technical assurance is critical to the selection, installation, inspection, and maintenance of protective coatings and linings. Viking can provide the expertise to help you get the performance you need.

The cost of coatings maintenance is high.  An operator is likely to spend millions of dollars on coatings when fabricating a new facility only to spend millions more each year on fabric maintenance while still falling behind.  Ultimately, external corrosion leads to expensive replacement of steel and even more costly LOPCs.

Viking’s protective coatings specialists can turn a losing battle with corrosion into a winning program of action.  With attention paid to asset lifecycle, the coating process, and scope prioritization, we can get your coatings working for you.

Upstream, midstream, or downstream, new fabrication or fabric maintenance, we’ll work to ensure you get the most from your investments in protective coatings by navigating critical elements such as:

  • Design & Fabrication Issues Affecting Coatings

  • Requirements and Methods for decontamination (Oil, Grease, Salts)

  • Selection of Preparation Methods (Wet and Dry Abrasive Blasting, UHP Waterjetting, Dry Ice, etc.)

  • Selection of Appropriate QC Testing for All Process Stages

  • Coating Product Selection by Service Requirements

  • Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) Prevention and Remediation

  • Alternative Coatings (Metallization, Wraps, Moisture-cured Urethane Systems, Under-water coatings, Thermoplastics)

  • Selection and QA/QC for Linings (Internal Coatings) for Piping, Tanks, and Pressure Vessels

Services we provide include:

  • Consultation

  • Painter/Blaster Qualification & Competency Training

  • Inspection

  • Vendor Surveillance

  • Project Management

  • Safety & Quality Auditing

  • Writing and Revising Maintenance and New-build Coating Specifications

  • Program Creation and Optimization (Cost Analysis)

  • Failure Analysis

Over half of all LOPCs are caused by external corrosion. Investments in protective coatings are significant, but the cost of corrosion is much higher. Together, we can do it right and make it count.

Corrosion & Erosion Management

  • Corrosion and Erosion Modeling

  • Process modeling and simulation (HYSYS/OLGA combined models)

  • Customized Corrosion and Erosion Management Programs

  • Corrosion and Erosion Monitoring Systems – Design, Implementation, and Surveillance

  • Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) Prevention, Detection, and Mitigation

  • Failure Analysis and Root Cause Analysis

Cathodic Protection Design, Installation & Surveillance

Viking provides detailed engineering support for cathodic protection design. This also includes the qualification of coating applicators and anode manufacturing facilities. Associated responsibilities include supporting flowline and equipment installations for deepwater facilities and the post‐installation surveying of equipment.

Viking’s industry-renowned expertise on cathodic protection (CP) provides the right solutions for CP design, installation, maintenance and monitoring services. Viking’s well-established knowledge and significant experience in design in the areas of:

  • CP System Design, Specification, Review and Validation

  • Attenuation and Interference Studies

  • Anode Specification and Vendor Facility Inspection & Auditing

  • System Design Monitoring and Inspection Strategies During Field Design

  • Inspection and Auditing During Fabrication And Vendor Qualification including Welding, Coating, Anode Chemistry, Positive Material Identification

Corrosion Management

Material selection recommendations on a project are supported and supplemented by comprehensive corrosion, erosion, and souring reviews using various software packages.

Our engineering support also extends to developing and coordinating corrosion testing and inhibitor qualification programs, to validate both material and chemical selection choices. This exercise also involves the recommendation, specification and commissioning of corrosion probes and sand monitors. In addition, the team extends its expertise to help develop and implement surveillance programs to ensure ongoing asset integrity through the life of the development.

Corrosion engineering management also extends to the troubleshooting of corrosion problems on operating facilities. This includes the management and mitigation of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S) and microbiologically induced corrosion (MIC) modeling and failure mechanisms.

  • Downhole & Subsea Materials Selection and Qualification Erosion/Corrosion Risk Assessment and Modeling Scaling Studies (Formation Risk, Removal and Mitigation Strategies)

  • Topsides materials Corrosion Monitoring, and Erosion Monitoring Systems

  • Risk-Based Assessment and Inspection Planning Troubleshooting Corrosion Problems on Operating Facilities

Consult Our Specialist

Featured
Bruce Gordon
Bruce Gordon

Engineering Manager | Materials, Corrosion & Integrity

NOLA Office Team

Bruce is a chemical and materials engineering specialist with over 40 years in the energy industry. He has worked for Shell Development and Shell Offshore in the materials and corrosion specialty and has spent the last 25 years working as a project and process consultant for both onshore and offshore developments ranging in size from a single well or vessel upgrades to many of the biggest offshore projects in the world.

Phone: 281.870.8455

Connect on LinkedIn

Related Resources

Related Technical Articles, Courses & Calculators
Technical Article
Top Of Line Corrosion Part 2: Risk Assessment & Mitigation
Technical Article

Now its time to assess the TOLC risk and the corresponding locations in the system where TOLC may occur. From there we can determine the appropriate mitigation and control strategies.

Technical Article
Technical Article
Top Of Line Corrosion Part 1: Determining Risk
Technical Article

In Part 2 of this GATEKEEPER series, we will look at the different approaches available to assess risk in the system and will discuss the mitigation options available to us.

Technical Article
Technical Article
Risk Based Inspection
Technical Article

In determination of consequence and risk assignment, multiple aspects are considered such as the impact of failure on the health and safety of personnel and community in the impacted area, environment, cost of recovery (cleaning, maintenance, extent of operation, repairs) and business.

Technical Article

Related Project Experience

Project Successes
6 Critical Steps to Create a Successful Frac Program & Mitigate Well Failures: A Case Study

An independent oil operator experienced four back-to-back casing failures in his Oklahoma shale program. These current failures and setbacks were eating into his budget and eroding stakeholder faith in the ability to complete wells.

His initial comment was, “I’m not getting any sleep – I need some help. You’ve got to help me stop the leaks!”

BP Pipeline - Flow Assurance Management Program (FAMP)

BP Pipeline oversees the operation of 9 total oil and gas export systems from more than 20 different platforms in the GoM. The pipeline systems transport almost half-million barrels of oil and hundreds of MMSCF of gas daily from the producing platforms to onshore processing facilities.

The FAMP has been developed for BP Pipeline assets to ensure proper working of the high volume systems by organizing and delegating between operators, facilities, laboratories and onshore offices. By facilitating the review of system performance and operation, this information provides the basis of a continuous improvement approach.

Chevron - Materials & Corrosion Support

As part of the scope of work, GATE was commissioned to develop two comprehensive, user-friendly screening tools to guide subsea flowline materials selection decisions for wet gas and waterflood during concept selection and design using field specific data.

Shell - Rocky Umbilical Post-Mortem

GATE undertook an investigation into recovered, decommissioned equipment to determine both the cause of failure and investigate integrity of components that may not have failed. This information has proven invaluable to operators who can base the performance of other equipment of a similar type and construction in a similar environment. This was significant as the recovered materials ranged from the mud-line, to sea surface and topsides.

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Asset Integrity Management