Maintenance response decision on corrosion defects of oil and gas pipelines

For time-dependent loss defects of corrosion metals, the ultimate value of integrity management is to develop a scientific and reasonable maintenance response plan. At present, however, the corrosion defect maintenance response level in China is mainly discriminated in reference to foreign criteria, which may not be suitable for China's pipeline status. In this paper, a defect maintenance response level criterion applicable to China's pipeline situations was established by means of comparison and analysis. Then, its corresponding graphic maintenance response judging method was proposed. Finally, a method for determining the planned defect response time and reassessment time intervals was provided from the aspect of actual engineering application. It is shown from practical application results that the response level criterion established in this paper is more suitable for China's actual pipeline situations of long distance and diverse and complex routing. And the response level criterion and the planned response time determination method are intuitive and convenient with higher engineering application value.