NEWS 2005
Posted November 14, 2005
November 15, 2005
Cross Canada Lecture Tour
Geohazard Management Trends in the Onshore Pipeline Industry
Speaker: K. Wayne Savigny, Ph.D., P.Eng., P.Geo. Vice President, BGC. Geohazards account for a relatively small number of pipeline incidents but their costs are high. For most of its history, the pipeline industry took a reactive approach to geohazard management. Incidents were viewed as random and unpredictable. Proactive approaches gained a foothold as a collaborative experiment between industry and regulators, fostered by advances in computer modeling. By the late 1990s, momentum shifted somewhat, placing emphasis on the systematic identification and relative ranking of geohazards as well as the susceptibility of rights-of-way to geohazard expression. Early ranking methodologies based on indexing methods were cumbersome, however, particularly in comparing multiple geohazards both amongst themselves and with other hazards affecting pipeline systems. More recent developments overcome this limitation by using probabilistic estimates for hazard likelihood and pipeline vulnerability, which facilitate risk cost determination, direct integration into system wide risk assessment models, and development of geohazard risk management programs with defensible annual budgetary accrual. The lecture traces this evolutionary path, highlighting how current practices conform to NEB and CSA risk management guidelines. Examples are provided of large international pipeline systems that have adopted proactive geohazard risk management and, to their surprise, have learned geohazards represent much higher corporate risk exposure than previously recognized. The lecture concludes by advocating broader application of quantitative geohazard risk management.
About the speaker: Dr. Savigny earned his B.A.Sc. in Geological Engineering at Queen's University and his Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering at the University of Alberta. He conducted his Ph.D. research on in situ creep properties of ice-rich permafrost soils, which are widespread along proposed pipeline routes in the Mackenzie River valley. Since beginning his consulting practice in 1978, he has been involved with numerous oil, gas, liquids, water and slurry pipelines in Canada, the United States and South America. He is currently a Vice President with BGC Engineering Inc. in Vancouver.
Location: Edmonton Petroleum Club, 11110 - 108 St.
Time: cash bar 5:30; dinner 6:00
Date: Tuesday, November 15
Cost: GSE Members $30; Non-members $35; Students $20; payable at door
Register: Space limited. Reserve before Friday November 11th by following this link or emailing minnes@mobileaugers.com . Please indicate if you have special dietary requirements:
NEWS ARCHIVES
CONTACT
c/o. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
7th Floor, Danadeo Innovation Center for Engineering
9211 - 116 Street NW
Edmonton, Alberta
CANADA T6G 1H9
Email GSE
Email Web Admin
Registration Form