EXPLAINER

ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NEWS.

AUG. 8 2006 6:34 PM

My Pipeline's Corroded
But I thought oil prevented rust.
By Daniel Engber
Download the MP3 audio version of this story here, or sign up for The Explainer's free daily podcast on iTunes.

Severely corroded pipelines will force BP to shut down its oil eld at Prudhoe Bay,
Alaska, company ocials said on Sunday. After a major spill in March, the company
discovered stretches where the pipe had lost more than 70 percent of its mass to
corrosion. Why does oil corrode a pipeline?
It has water in it. The crude oil that ows from Prudhoe Bay isn't the pure stu we might
HOW
AN
PIPELINE
useDOES
to stave
rustGET
in CORRODED?
our cars. When an oil company pumps crude out of the ground, it
HOW
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AN OIL
OIL o
PIPELINE
GET
CORRODED?
can also pump out a hot mixture of water, carbon dioxide, sulfur, and microorganisms.
(Crude oil with lots of sulfur in it is called "sour," as opposed to "sweet.") If enough of
these contaminants collect in a steel pipe, they'll work together to eat away at its inner
surface.
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Water is the main concern. If there's only a little bit of water in the oil, or if the oil is
owing fast enough, you generally won't have a problem. That's because the water will be
dispersed in tiny droplets that are suspended in the ow. These suspended droplets won't
react much with the steel surface of the pipes.
Problems can arise in stretches of pipeline that run at lower pressures. In these spots,
water droplets can coalesce and fall out of the oil ow. They might inundate globs of sand
or dirt that have also fallen out of the crude-oil mix and form a watery sludge on the edge
of the pipe. Once a watery muck forms in one part of the pipe, the natural process of
corrosion speeds up. The crude can also serve as a breeding ground for anaerobic
bacteria, which form slimy, sulfur-producing colonies on the inside of the pipe.
To make matters worse, crude oil comes out of the ground hot, and the pipelines are
insulated to maintain those high temperatures. Oil ows better when it's hot, but heat
also exacerbates corrosion within the pipes.

Sometimes the oil companies introduce corrosive bacteria, water, or gas into reservoirs
themselves. When an oil eld gets old, it starts to lose pressure, and it becomes harder to
draw out the remaining crude. Engineers can try to add pressure underground by putting
in seawater or carbon dioxide. While this increases the eld's output, it also sours the
product and leads to more pipeline corrosion.
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Bonus Explainer: What can the oil companies do to stave o internal pipe corrosion?
Very little. It would be far too expensive to build pipelines out of stainless steel, and
there's not much you can do to protect the inner surface of a carbon steel tube from
water damage. The companies can paint the outer surface with a protective coating, but
there's no way to do that on the inside. (You could paint the inner surface of pipe sections
before welding them together, but the assembly process would destroy the coating.)
Companies can ush their pipelines with various chemicals that create a mildly
protective lm on the inner surfaces. They can also wash them with a biocide to kill o the
sulfur-producing bacteria.
HOW
HOW DOES
DOES AN
AN OIL
OIL PIPELINE
PIPELINE GET
GET CORRODED?
CORRODED?

Bonus Bonus Explainer: How do the oil companies test for corrosion in the pipes?
They can use ultrasound to measure the thickness of the pipe walls. They can also run
corrosion tests by inserting "coupons," or 3-inch strips of metal, into the pipe at various
points. After six months or so, they remove the coupons and check to see how much
they've corroded. The best way to measure corrosion is with a "smart pig," a bulletshaped sensor that ies through the pipe measuring the shape of its inner surface.
Got a question about today's news? Ask the Explainer.
Explainer thanks Srdjan Nesic of the Institute for Corrosion and Multiphase Flow Technology at
Ohio University, Steve Nikolakakos of Russell Corrosion Consultants Inc., and Van Cosby and
Dennis Gerson of IBM. Thanks also to reader Lee Goodman for asking the question.

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WHO'S WINNING, WHO'S LOSING, AND WHY.

JUNE 22 2016 4:47 PM

Why Marco Rubio Is Running for Senate

Its about 2020, of course.
By Jim Newell

HOW
HOW DOES
DOES AN
AN OIL
OIL PIPELINE
PIPELINE GET
GET CORRODED?
CORRODED?

Cheer up, guys, theres always 2020. Supporters of Marco Rubios presidential run at a
primary-night event in Miami, March 15.
John Parra/Getty Images

Finally. Sen. Marco Rubios public Hamlet routine about whether to run for re-election is
over. No longer will we have to bother with reports about what his conscience is telling
him and how events like the Orlando shooting helped him arrive at the conclusion that

was wisest for his political future. He is running because thats his best available option for
positioning himself ahead of the 2020 Republican presidential primaries, period, the end.
Theres nothing wrong with that; go get em, tiger. But one more day of this hammy awshucks routine and Rubio mightve chewed up all that was left of the scenery at the
Russell Senate Oce Building.

JIM NEWELL

Jim Newell is a Slate sta writer.

There were two paths before us, Rubio writes near the end of his letter explaining
why he chose to run. There was one path that was more personally comfortable and
probably smarter politically. But after much thought and prayer,this guy!together
HOW
AN
OIL
PIPELINE
CORRODED?
HOW
DOES
AN to
OIL continue
PIPELINE GET
GET with
CORRODED?
we DOES
chose
public service; to continue down the path that provides the
opportunity to make a positive dierence at this critical and uncertain time for our
CONTINUE READING
nation.

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