The European Pipeline Research Group (EPRG) currently has 20 member companies based in nine countries, responsible for over 120,000 km of operational high-pressure gas transmission pipelines and with a pipe manufacturing capacity of approximately 4 MMt/a.

EPRG utilises the combined expertise of its member companies to address issues of common interest concerning the technical integrity of gas transmission pipelines, in the areas of pipe manufacture, pipeline design, construction, operation and maintenance.

It establishes research programmes to identify methods and practices for improving the integrity of existing and new pipelines, and develops recommendations and guidelines based on the results obtained. These are then published in journals and at conferences, enabling the findings to be made available to the wider pipeline industry. Much of EPRG’s work is incorporated in national and international standards for pipeline design, construction and operation.

Association structure

EPRG is governed by a Plenary Group – which comprises one voting representative from each member company and an elected Secretary General who acts as Chair – while more detailed technical activities are co-ordinated through three Technical Committees with a focus on corrosion, materials, and design respectively.

The Plenary Group acts to guide the apportionment of effort and funds between Technical Committees, determining the overall strategic direction and priorities of the association. The Plenary Group also awards contracts for each major project, and approves project reports and publications, including their contextual interpretation on behalf of EPRG.

The role of the Technical Committees is to review the projects in their portfolios and identify the direction of future work in the context of EPRG’s strategic objectives. The committees define project scopes, review progress on individual projects, and review interim and final reports.

International collaboration

EPRG currently holds a formal tripartite agreement with the Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) and the Australian Pipeline Industry Association (APIA) to facilitate the exchange of technical information and initiation of joint projects between the three organisations. EPRG has had a technical exchange agreement with PRCI since its formation in 1972 but in recent years, the technical exchanges have broadened to include APIA. One of the recent activities within the tripartite agreement has been for EPRG, PRCI and APIA to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate technical exchanges with the International Pipeline and Offshore Contractors Association.

In accordance with the tripartite agreement, 18 biennial Joint Technical Meetings on pipeline research have been held, with APIA’s involvement beginning in 2003 and with the 2007 meeting being the first held in Australia. The latest meeting, in May 2011, was held in San Francisco.

Recent activities

EPRG’s research projects are overseen by its three technical committees and focus mainly on providing understanding, guidance and engineering application methods in three areas.

In the areas of materials and manufacturing, EPRG’s recent activities have included identifying the areas of common ground and issues of difference between ISO, EN and API linepipe standards, and identifying the influence of material and mechanical parameters on pipeline safety and integrity.

In the areas of corrosion and corrosion protection, the EPRG has recently developed an accelerated test procedure for assessing long-term resistance to coating adhesion loss, developed the basis for determining the hydrogen-assisted cracking limits for linepipe steels in mildly aggressive sour service, and identified the conditions for the time-accelerated failure of mechanically damaged pipe due to hostile environments.

In the areas of design and operation, EPRG has provided updated guidelines for the assessment of girth weld defects, evaluated the applicability of equations used to predict the collapse behaviour of subsea pipelines and explored ways to improve the models used for predicting the remaining strength of pipes containing dent and gouge damage.

In addition to the work described above, EPRG has recently launched several new projects, and others are in preparation. Some of the issues being addressed include fracture control for pipelines transporting CO₂, guidelines for mechanised gas-metal arc welding, fitness-for-purpose assessment of Grade X80 pipe, and testing methodologies for sulphide stress-corrosion cracking.

Industry challenges

EPRG’s members face the same pipeline development and operational issues as pipe manufacturers and operators worldwide. These include the increasing cost of raw materials for pipe manufacture, reduced accessibility and concerns about environmental and social impact during pipeline construction, and the transportation of different products such as CO₂.

Regarding the integrity of existing infrastructure, the increasing age of the systems, the increasing expectations regarding public safety, and building encroachment along pipeline rights-of-way are some of the main issues facing the pipeline industry.