I confess I wouldn’t expect a pipeline engineer to know much about electricity and electronics. But, it’s one of the (optional) core competencies in our list of 240, so, here we are. Some pipeline engineers might know the basics around voltage, current and power.

It does make me wonder how many of us who work with pipelines have deep electrical/electronics knowledge. I think it’s not typical, so if you’re one of them, you’re a bit unique. I’d be interested in knowing what circumstances as a pipeline engineer (not designing stations, I get that application) where deep electrical expertise is utilised.

Corrosion, like maths, doesn’t depend on an opinion. Corrosion (also known as rust) just needs electrochemistry (science) to explain that otherwise mysterious reaction in metals.

There are factors that affect corrosion, such as acidity, oxidising agents, temperature, and electrolyte velocity.

There are different types of corrosion: intergranular corrosion, pitting, galvanic, crevice, and that old chestnut, stress-corrosion cracking.

There are a few ways to prevent corrosion – many are a variation of a theme: coatings or cathodic protection.

Rust is just science; no opinion required. But, determining the best solution to prevent it? Now there’s an opinion-based black box to be deciphered.

Understanding how materials behave in different circumstances, or when exposed to different environments, or put under different kinds of pressures or stresses: that’s an important part of engineering and materials science.

Knowing the whys and what-fors around the materials used in pipelines is important. Not only the steel or plastic for the conduit itself, but also the coatings that go on the (metal) pipes, the instrumentation tubing, the electrical cables.

The materials will all also have specified manufacturing processes with quality control to ensure the quality of the product. Knowing about these is all part of being a pipeline engineer.

Fluid mechanics, or hydraulics, describe the flow of fluids. Different types of fluids (which includes gasses) will behave differently. The fluid characteristics vary by fluid; it’s like a personality. Fluids have a viscosity, density, and, a Newtonian-ness. (That’s not a word. Google Newtonian fluid if you need to know more).

Flow through pipes can be laminar or turbulent. We can observe those differences in rivers with different flow velocities.

But wait, there’s more. Compressors and pumps, measuring and metering, pressure drops and capacity curves. All essential knowledge for the hydraulics specialist, and a basic core understanding requirement for pipeline engineers.

I’ve kept my soil mechanics handbook from university. It’s a good reference for soil descriptions, as well as the concepts of consolidation, compaction, and permeability. Fortunately, those topics don’t change much with time.

Long-distance pipelines are mostly buried. They will be buried in soil, and will be affected by the behaviour of that soil. The ground the pipeline is buried in could be rocky, dry, or just plain mucky (a geotechnical term if I’ve ever heard one).

Sometimes specialists are needed to help with steep slopes, or hard rock. Being a pipeline engineer means knowing when that specialist is needed.

Being a civil engineer in the energy pipelines game makes me a bit of an anomaly. I’m mostly surrounded by people with degrees in mechanical or process/chemical engineering.

So, while my university education about properties and thermodynamics of hydrocarbons was minor, it’s still very important that I know a bit about them. And, in these transition times, we might see other fluids and gases in the pipelines. Understanding the chemical and process behaviour of those, too, is becoming very important.

The characteristics around density, viscosity, vapour pressure, dispersion, and flammability limits are all part of being an energy pipeline engineer.

A buried pipeline (regardless of what it’s transporting) is, in essence, an engineered structure. The elements of a structure (we usually think of a bridge or a building) apply equally to a buried pipeline.

There are stresses, and compression and tension also play a role. The concepts of columns and beams, with restrained and unrestrained ends, are applicable to pipelines as well as bridges.

The materials used to make the structure matter too: often steel, rarely concrete (for gases anyway), more use of plastic is happening now. The behaviour of the material in the structure influences the pipeline structure lifecycle.

There’s a general expectation that pipeline engineers should have a fundamental understanding of engineering mechanics. Even if your graduating discipline was electrical or chemical engineering, if you’re working with long tubes buried underground, it’s worth knowing about statics and dynamics.

There are normal and shear forces to understand, and equilibrium, and moments of inertia. Also important is vibration, the effects of thermal expansion, and axial stress on pressurised pipe.

Many of us would have to dig deep for those problem-solving equations. This is where Google, and even nowadays YouTube, can be a bona fide source of refreshers on this information.

This should be the top competency requirement for any engineer: a sense of internal governance around our own technical knowledge. It’s the combination of technical and behavioural expertise.

It’s being professional: knowing – and taking seriously - our responsibilities to stakeholders (including, most importantly in the transmission pipeline world, the public).

Included in this competency is understanding legal obligations and awareness of contractual requirements, and the EA Code of Ethics.

A key part of technical governance is the ability to communicate technical matters to stakeholders. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to explain a complex topic in a non-complex way.

Acts, regulations, statutes, legislation, Commonwealth, State, laws, rules.

Some of us either get heart palpitations from those concepts, or, are entirely bored with them. It’s probably best to be somewhere in the middle, though, if you’re striving to be competent at your job.

Legal and regulatory frameworks, for any industry, drive the decisions, philosophies, priorities, and policies – which affect just about everything we do.

Know the legislative structure, the regulatory regime, and differences in the approach to regulation. Find out by reading the Acts, read the regulations. Ask about how legislation applies on the project or pipeline you’re working on.

You might be able to do quite well not knowing about the industries related to your industry. But you’re a more well-rounded worker if you understand the interactions amongst what you do, and who else might be affected by what you do.

For pipeliners, it’s useful to at least know about exploration and production, and network distribution.

Even more important, these days, is also knowing about the product you’re shipping. That might all be changing, or, it might not within your career duration. Either way, knowing the who, what and why of the related industries is part of being competent.

Well, yes, of course. Of course, a set of competencies for Australian pipeline engineers has to include, as one of the core topics, a general competency for knowing AS2885.

“Knowing” AS2885 (or any standard) requires skills in applying and interpreting the content. We say it often: AS2885 is not a textbook to learn by. It won’t teach you about pipeline engineering. The Standard is the minimum requirement to operate by.

It’s a reasonable amount of work required to *really* understand AS2885. It doesn’t happen just by reading it. It’s better to be read with an actual pipeline situation in mind.

A key aspect of project management, quality management, and even risk management, is understanding the business context. The context is the ‘environment’ in which a business or industry operates. The context of, say, fast-moving consumer goods businesses is very different to, say, the pipelines industry.

Knowing an industry’s structure and its participants sets the context, and helps a worker in the industry to see the big picture.

The pipeline industry has upstream participants (producers), midstream participants (transmission) and downstream (distribution). There are direct participant and indirect participants.

Knowing the context of your industry builds a good network, and promotes engagement.

It makes sense to start with the fundamentals. The fundamentals are the basics, the principles, and that which additional knowledge is built upon.

Given that the competency framework I’m working from here is a Pipeline Engineering Competency framework, a fundamental in this case is to have an engineering degree.

And after that, the fundamentals for pipelines do seem so basic, but that’s the point. Still, someone not in pipelines wouldn’t be able to describe the basics, like the typical materials used; the key bits on the ends and in the middle; the varieties of pipelines; and a pipeline’s lifecycle phases.

I’ve been writing lately about pipelines, pipeliners, and pipeline engineers. And then I wrote about relevant Australian Standards related to pipelines. Now I’m going to write about pipeline engineering competencies.

Australian pipeliners are fortunate to have access to the Pipeline Engineering Competency System. It was developed about 10 years ago, and, like Australian Standards, the system is reviewed and revised at regular intervals.

Competency is the bedrock of any engineering or technical field. With the (important) focus turning to non-technical skills (leadership, communication), it seems competence is just ‘expected’. But we all have experiences where that was a flawed assumption.

There’s an Australian Standard for natural gas quality, once it’s processed for use, in homes, power stations, and industry.

That Standard is AS4564 (not to be confused with AS4645, the distribution network standard). The “General purpose natural gas” Standard gives certainty of quality, so that it’s a consistent and reliable fuel.

I know you’re all wondering, so I’ll answer the question: at this stage, no, it doesn’t specifically recognise hydrogen in the fuel mix.

Australian Standards are updated regularly and when they need to be. Once the knowledge around hydrogen is certain enough to write into Standards, the committee will.

There are pipelines, and then there are pipelines. Some are long and thin, and some are short and wide. Another differentiator is what pressure the stuff inside is at, as it wings its way from source to use: is it at high or low pressure.

While AS2885 outlines requirements to allow pipeline operation at high pressures, the requirements are different for operating at low pressures. That’s why we have the Australian Standard AS4645: Gas Distribution Networks. AS4645 sets out the requirements for the reticulation system bringing gas into homes and buildings.

It’s another case where pipelines are similar, but different.

Something that you don’t think about when you think about pipelines (!), is to think about the bit between the individual (coated) pieces. It’s the bit that’s the welded bit, where there’s no factory-applied protective coating.

There’s some bare pipe there, after you’ve welded the separate bits together. Now what? Well, we apply “FJC” – Field Joint Coating. And that’s where Australian Standard AS4822 comes in. AS4822 provides requirements for products and the tests required to assure us the applied FJC will stand the test of time. Then those field joints get buried along with the rest of the coated pipeline.

Associated with the AS2885 suite of standards for petroleum pipelines is AS3862: External Fusion-Bonded Epoxy (FBE) Coating for Steel Pipe.

Bare steel buried underground has a tendency to corrode. Fortunately, the pipeline industry has developed excellent coating products, like FBE, to protect the pipelines from corrosion.

The local AS3862 standard carries over from when Australia had its own steel pipe mills and coating plants to match. Those left us 10 years ago, and now our pipe is made and coated overseas. But AS3862 still has very useful local requirements around mandatory tests, and for transporting the coated pipe long distances.

I’ve had the great fortune to have spent the past 20 years working on committees that are responsible for the AS2885 suite of standards, for Australian petroleum pipelines.

There are seven parts to the series, covering General Requirements, Design&Construction, Welding, Operations&Maintenance, Subsea, Pressure Testing, and Pipeline Safety Management.

If you add them all up, there are over 1000 pages in the series. Those pages set out minimum requirements and expectations, and guidelines and background information.

But it is not meant to be a textbook: its purpose isn’t to teach. But that’s becoming a very grey area. Hence the 1000 pages.