Drone For Oil & Gas Pipeline Inspections

Aerial Inspection with Drones
Pipeline Inspection with UAV Thermal Camera

Oil & Gas Pipeline Inspections

Thousands of miles of pipelines stretch out across the U.S, The Middle East and Asia carrying oil and gas from wells to refineries. With any pipeline, corrosion can cause leaks and constitute a significant risk. Not only is a leak potentially catastrophic to the environment, but it can also cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to remediate and take years to clean up. Inspecting pipelines is a necessity that’s challenging, time-consuming, and expensive for O&G companies.

Now, Using Drones, You Can Get Better Data, Faster

Traditional methods of inspecting oil and gas assets are dangerous and time-intensive. Teams of roustabouts, engineers, and EHS professionals drive from asset to asset, or walk pipelines, and take notes on a clipboard or mobile device. While helicopters move inspection to the air, they introduce additional safety risks and lack the agility to navigate complex assets and dangerous terrain.

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Benefits

Benefits of Using a Drone for Oil & Gas Inspections

Harm reduction. Sending a drone into a confined space instead of a person helps companies reduce the potential for harm to inspectors by removing the need for them to enter potentially hazardous situations.

Savings. Drones help companies dramatically reduce inspection costs by removing the need for building costly scaffolding and reducing turnaround times, often by several days.

Increased inspections. With cost reductions come the possibility for an increased frequency of inspections, increasing the longevity of key assets and leading to even greater savings over time.

Overview

Assets in Oil & Gas that Drones Are Helping Inspect 

The drone that sits in a fixed cage, allowing it to collide and continue flying. This unique design makes it a perfect tool for collecting visual data inside confined spaces, where collisions are likely due to the complexity of the environment.

Here are the key assets in the Oil & Gas industry where the Oil Gas Drone is helping with indoor inspections:

  • Storage Tanks
  • FCC Units and Cokers
  • Chimneys and Smokestacks
  • Offshore Rigs, Jackups, and Drilling Ships

Suitable For

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  • Asset monitoring
  • Security monitoring
  • Gas emissions monitoring
  • Real-time spill detection
  • Offshore platform inspections
  • Flare stack inspections
  • Pad inspection and change detection
  • Vegetation and encroachment inspection
  • Thermal/hot-spot inspection and detection
  • Site selection
  • Permitting and vegetation regrowth support
  • Above ground piping and facility inspections
  • Methane detection and spill monitoring
  • ROW monitoring for infrastructure health and vegetation encroachment
  • Construction progress monitoring
  • Site and route selection, including erosion and elevation evaluation
  • Thermal monitoring and change detection
  • Fixed-site security monitoring
  • Environmental monitoring
  • Automated berm and containment measurement
  • Construction management and operations support
  • External pipeline integrity inspection
  • Internal tank wall thickness measurements