Technology

Plains Midstream Canada (PMC) is working with industry leaders and peers to improve best practices through collaboration and knowledge sharing to drive improvements when it comes to safety and environmental protection. We do this by integrating technology research and development proactively into our operations to provide a more comprehensive approach to asset integrity.

Pigging Program Joint Industry Research Initiative

  • PMC is participating in the Alberta Institute of Technology Futures, a Joint Industry Research Initiative for their pigging program.
  • Ongoing research includes quantifying cleaning results from different pigging tools and improving the efficiency of cleaning pigs to increase the cleanliness of our pipelines leading to enhanced pipeline integrity.

Hifi Fibre Optic Monitoring System

  • In 2016, PMC collaborated with Hifi Engineering to deploy their fibre optic based, high fidelity distributed sensing (HDS™) monitoring system at some of our pipeline locations.
  • This system collects a continuous stream of pipeline data and acts as a sensor along the length of our pipelines.
  • The HDS™ system works by monitoring high definition acoustic energy, strain, vibrations and temperature.
  • Data is transmitted in a continuous stream to our Olds Control Centre where alarms will indicate abnormalities.
  • This allows PMC to determine potential issues on the pipeline, with improved accuracy.

SuperCorr® Chemical

  • PMC is implementing a newly patented chemical called SuperCorr® which forms a coating inside a pipeline to  mitigate internal corrosion.
  • Initial field tests show that the chemical in the coating is retained six times longer than conventional corrosion inhibitors, thus increasing corrosion protection on coated PMC pipelines.

Eagle Array Technology

  • A new technology using ultrasound monitoring (BSI Eagle Array™) was installed to monitor internal corrosion of pipelines near PMC’s watercourse crossings.
  • This innovative technology takes pipe wall loss readings hourly, 24 hours a day and reports the readings to PMC personnel.
  • This technology is used to monitor our integrity and mitigation programs and help us continuously improve