OREANDA-NEWS. October 19, 2009. III International Scientific Conference “Practical Aspects of Corrosion Protection” (PACP-2009) stated its work within the frames of International Specialized Forum of Gas Distribution and Effective Gas Use “GasSUF-2009” on the premises of Gazprom VNIIGAZ.

The Conference was organized by Gazprom, Gazprom VNIIGAZ, Non-Profit Partnership “SOPCOR”. The Conference brought together 290 delegates from over 30 subsidiary enterprises and organizations of Gazprom, scientists from Russian and foreign industrial institutes, experts from oil & gas companies of 13 countries (Beltransgaz, Wintershall, Gasunie, GDF Suez, China National Petroleum Corporation, Moldovagaz, etc.)  

The main focuses of the Conference were improvement of technical reliability of operation of the Unified Gas Supply System, research and process solutions in the area of insulating coatings and corrosion protection systems, development of updated standard structure and training of qualified personnel.

Member of Gazprom’s Management Committee, Head of Gas Transportation, Underground Storage and Utilization Department Oleg Aksyutin stated in his opening report that increase in reliability of UGSS operation is one of Gazprom’s priority goals. An important role in such process is given to the development of new technical and process solutions, as well as improvement of regulatory documentation.

Today Gazprom carries out work on improvement of System of management of technical state and integrity of the linear section of trunk gas pipelines. It is planned to connect it with information-management systems developed within the frames of Gazprom’s Informatization Strategy. Oleg Aksyutin stressed that the introduction of the System will mean that management of GTS technological state has reached the new level: from prescription-based model to risk analysis-based model. It will enhance the control over GTS reliability and safety and at the same time optimize costs.

Mr. Aksyutin paid special attention to Gazprom’s targets in the area of corrosion protection of equipment. In particular, these targets include improvement of Gazprom’s current regulatory base for corrosion protection and unification of requirements for corrosion protection equipment, materials and technologies.

Oleg Aksyutin mentioned that Gazprom is now actively involved in addressing the stated issues. In particular, Gazprom VNIIGAZ has already worked out the open structure of Corrosion Protection Standards using advanced Russian and international experience. First documents from the standard package will enter into force in the end of 2009 – the beginning of 2010.