The first of the series of YEP-AMPP Journals, by Christopher Slater, Project Engineer, STORK, Aberdeen, is given below.
The 2022 Young Engineer Programme (YEP) consisted of 9 evening lectures presented by specialists in their field, to provide technical competency and knowledge across the field of asset integrity to delegates, combining with the Aberdeen branch technical programme.
Subsea 7 loaned their training facility for this purpose. that were covered during the 2022 programme:
• Fundamentals of corrosion
• Cathodic protection
• Coatings and linings
• Corrosion under insulation / fire proofing
• Integrity management / fitness for service
• Materials / welding
• NDT and corrosion monitoring
• Production chemistry / chemical treatments
• Presentation skills
The case study presented a scenario whereby we were engaged by a mock integrity services contractor to advise an international company that is a newcomer to the operation of production facilities in the UK sector of the North Sea. This consisted of analysing the scenario and current integrity status of the pressurised systems on the mock platform through the evaluation of the provided data and performing an initial risk assessment to identify key threats to the mechanical integrity of the pressurised systems. The brief to develop our proposed application of a systematic methodology to manage corrosion and surveillance activities allowed for approaches to prolong service life, the use of innovative solutions, the assessment of material options for the new pipeline, and the possible impact of H2S on operations to be explored and practical experience of these aspects to
be achieved.
In the accumulating case study and later presentation, we were guided to develop this in a way that gave us valuable experience of approaching/dealing with the mock prospective client, including the production of an overall high-quality presentation with a balance of presentation skills and team coordination through presentation, all of which were developed through delivery and exposure to the task.
Throughout this programme, the technical lectures and opportunity for direct implementation of learnings from lectures have given me invaluable exposure to fields of asset integrity that I hadn’t previously been exposed to, as well as providing opportunities to develop further practical knowledge of aspects I am familiar with.
I believe that this programme has given me a stepping stone’ towards further progressing my career within asset integrity and has opened new career avenues on the back of it.
AMPP Member Leadership Development Programme
We all had the opportunity to enrol in AMPP’s Member Leadership Development Programme (MLDP) ahead of the conference. The intent of this programme was to provide enhanced leadership skills and training to members who may have an interest in serving in upper-level member leadership roles within the organisation in the future. The programme was led by Kim Ray, the Director of the EMERG Student Outreach Programme at AMPP, in partnership with Lauren Kaufman Blachman of Kaufman Blachman Consulting. The programme consisted of a series of learning sessions. On the Sunday preceding the conference, a full-day in-person event was organized, followed by five monthly online sessions. We have also participated in additional online meetings in which we, within groups of other participants on the programme, will later present the culmination of our work on a case study to the Joint Executive Committee of AMPP.
The leadership programme included training sessions that help provide a more in depth understanding of AMPP, its governance structure, the strategic plan, as well as its products, programmes, and services. In addition, participants would also intensify their own leadership skills with sessions in emotional intelligence, change management, communication skills, presentation skills, and much more. This special event kicked off on the first day of the conference. The morning session included an introduction to some members of the AMPP Joint Executive Committee and AMPP Chief Staff Officers who were available to come along to share their welcomes and provide positive insights into the programme. This initial in-person session, among other team building activities, included an Emotional Intelligence workshop providing a depth of personal insight in order to enhance our ability to use emotional intelligence to feel more positive and be a more effective influence throughout our personal and working lives. During this, there were several interactive break-out activities allowing for the opportunity to get acquainted with the American and other international participants and build relations that would be carried throughout the conference trip and furthermore into the rest of the MLDP programme.
This experience left me feeling much more confident to go forward with my leadership and management skills, as I was able to develop effective communication skills and an understanding of effective leadership. I feel much more confident going ahead as a leader to manage change. Also I have gained experience on how to navigate situations with heightened emotions effectively, being able to read a room and recognising what actions to take, through better emotional intelligence, depending on scenarios faced in professional and personal situations.
AMPP 2023 Conference + Expo
Due to the wide array of topics associated with materials protection (corrosion control and protective coatings), I planned my schedule to cover further development and advanced technologies in the field of plant inspection but also include a range of topics across the broader field. Kicking off on Sunday, the first day of the conference, proceedings consisted of a Coatings 101 workshop, which gave basic awareness of a typical protective coatings project, from understanding the need for a project and the selection of coating criteria to the unique challenges faced in the industrial coating industry. The afternoon consisted of a symposium on “Digital asset transformation: application of data science and analytics for corrosion management” – featuring a presentation on “eddy current array technologies, the utilisation of digital twin technologies for predictive corrosion and proactive management, and overviews of operators” developed holistic corrosion management software and dashboards. In the evening, we attended the opening reception for the conference. Monday included several symposia, including “Facilities integrity: day 1” (including presentations on tank linings and composite repairs), “Corrosion under insulation” (including presentations on the utilisation of on-line inspection and monitoring solutions for CUI management), and “materials and cost of corrosion” – including effective service forecasting assessments and initial material selection for the improved lifecycle and project costs. In the evening, we attended a meal with some senior ICorr members who attended the conference, including Stephen Tate (President), Gareth Hinds (Past President), Danny Burkle (CED Chair and past YEP attendee, from 2018’s winning team), and also Peter Elliot (former UMIST lecturer). Tuesday presented a busy day visiting symposiums on “sweet and sour corrosion”, “corrosion management”, “facilities integrity: Day 2”, “materials and integrity in oil sands”, “marine coatings and corrosion”. The most notable and interesting presentations I attended included a talk on “the importance of leadership in corrosion management” which stressed the importance of leadership as opposed to management in the success of a corrosion management programme. Another highlight was a presentation where a failure investigation was shared summarising the step-wise failure analysis to understand intergranular stress-corrosion cracking (IGSCC) failure mechanism observed for carbon steel pipelines and piping, believed to be related to the presence of mineral wool insulation of a certain vintage. Also included in these symposia was a presentation by one of our colleagues from the AMPP MLDP, a PHD student from Texas A&M University.
Tuesday evening was kicked off with a BP sponsored drinks reception, followed by the headlined EMERG Scholarship Awards Ceremony and Emerging Leaders Bash where we were presented with our certificates for the YEP programme. Wednesday was mainly focused on attendance of symposia on “Corrosion Protection in Offshore Wind” a topic that is new to myself but attendance provided great insight and learnings on the subject. This day also included the attendance to the Exhibition, sadly not making the putt for the chance to win a Scotty Cameron putter but was able to visit stands of a few of my company’s NDT equipment and condition monitoring suppliers for equipment demos. As part of the exhibition we also had the opportunity to get a walkthrough of paint inspection methods and equipment, and also visit the AMPP Student Poster presentations where a few of our colleagues from the MLDP were presenting.
On Thursday, the final day of the conference proceedings, symposia attended consisted of “Hydrotesting, Mothballing and Preservation” including failure investigations on stagnant lines and conclusion of presence of MIC, “Aboveground Storage Tank Bottom Cathodic Protection” including presentation on the findings of an off-line inspection and corrosion identification of a water storage tank and “Machine Learning for Corrosion Management” including overview of Ultrasonic Guided Wave techniques utilisation for machine learning for corrosion monitoring in Pipes. As part of the package for attending the Conference we also have access to the recorded sessions on-demand to revisit attended sessions or catch-up on sessions that we wished to attend but clashed with schedules at the time – so the takeaways from the conference are still very much ongoing, which is a huge benefit to my continued professional development. Through the exposure to a wide range of asset integrity innovations and in-development solutions, it has sparked a real interest to better understand these technologies and diversify my knowledge in subjects such as corrosion monitoring solutions and cathodic protection.
Conclusions
Overall, from the outset of the programme itself and the opportunities created following, the Young Engineer Programme has given so much exposure to field of corrosion, asset integrity and related topics. This has been such an invaluable experience, opening doors and my mind to further progression in my professional life.
Each aspect of this journey has afforded many networking opportunities to better integrate me as an individual in the asset integrity industry and develop professional relationships and rapports with subject matter experts in the fields of asset integrity.
I would like to thank ICorr, especially Yunnan Gao (ICorr’s Vice President), a former colleague at STORK and now with BP, for introducing me to the programme in the first place and would encourage any prospective candidates of the YEP programme to go for it and take hold of all the opportunities that are available from it.
ICorr Microbiologically-Influenced Corrosion (MIC) Courses
The next ICorr MIC course is scheduled for October at the headquarters in Northampton. MIC is one of the least understood corrosion phenomena, despite being responsible for a number of high-profile failures. The Aliso Canyon gas leak in 2015 was caused by external MIC rupturing a storage well and the civil lawsuits were settled for US$ 1.8 billion on 27/9/2021[1], on top of utility fines and the cost of repair and containment.
MIC phenomena affect all systems with even traces of water in most industries. Different microbial groups have been identified and are affecting most construction materials.
The ICorr course is the only MIC training programme that is certified by a recognised professional organisation.
Dates:
The awareness course is scheduled for 4/10/2024
The certified MIC technologist course is scheduled for 23/10 to 27/10/2024
Venue:
ICorr headquarters, Northampton, UK
Registration:
Email: admin@icorr.org
Telephone: +44 (0) 1604 438 222
(1) SoCalGas agrees to $1.8-billion settlement in 2015 gas leak – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
