OUR EXPERTISE

Introduction to new investigative techniques for buried pipelines: CIPS and DCVG

Our company specializes in CIPS, which is the latest investigative technique for buried pipelines. This technique used mainly in the USA, measures the metal protection level along a pipeline by measuring the potential on and off. The CIPS campaign can be conducted alone or in conjunction with a DCVG campaign.

In the first case, an operator walks along the pipeline and automatically records the On and Off potentials of the metal.

In the second case, two operators walking one behind the other, record the potentials as well as the longitudinal gradients along the pipeline.

If the analysis of the recorded data, shows under-protected areas, or on the contrary overprotected, it is imperative to return to these zones to make measurements of longitudinal and lateral gradients using a different equipment and this in order to accurately assess the nature of coating defects.

Foreign companies such as ConocoPhilips entrusted us with the execution of the CIPS and DCVG campaigns along pipelines. Coating defects have been revealed through the use of these techniques.

To date, a length of about 500 kilometers has been investigated by our teams on pipelines buried in Algeria.

Principle of a CIPS campaign

Conduct of a CIPS campaign

Output data

The output data is automatically recorded by the datalogger throughout the on-site campaign. Following this work, the data will be uploaded for analysis: