Pipeline Ice Risk Assessment and Mitigation (PIRAM)

Over 25% of the world's petroleum reserves are believed to be in arctic regions and other ice-frequented environments, and as world energy demand increases, development of oil and gas resources in harsh ice environments is being increasingly considered by industry. The advancement of safe, cost-effective and reliable engineering solutions for pipeline infrastructure in ice environments is a key requirement for such field developments. Pipeline infrastructure includes components such as umbilicals, flowlines and pipelines. The Pipeline Ice Risk Assessment and Mitigation project (PIRAM) is C-CORE's response to this need. The PIRAM joint industry project is primarily focused on regions such as the Beaufort Sea, Russian Arctic and the Caspian Sea – where immediate field production development challenges require safe, economic pipeline design to deal with the risk of ice keel interaction. It is anticipated that these models can be modified and applied to the East Coast Canada environment where export pipelines may eventually be required. This program will develop engineering models that address pipeline protection challenges from gouging ice features in these areas. The work under PIRAM will see CCORE expand on its recent efforts to develop analysis and design capability to assess the risk of ice feature on facilities, and provide appropriate mitigation and protection strategies. The work will be performed in partnership with oil and gas operators, engineering firms, as well as academic and government researchers, to build on the region's existing expertise in ice hazards management.

The total budget for the PIRAM project is $3.176 million. PIRAM is one of two projects under the program "Protection and Risk Mitigation Strategies for Subsea Infrastructure in Ice Environments". The combined program has a total value of $8.5 million, funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA) under the Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF), other government sources, and oil and gas industry operators with interests in Arctic and Sub-arctic offshore production. The second component of this program is the Subsea Ice Risk Assessment and Mitigation project (SIRAM). SIRAM will develop solutions for the assessment and development of protection requirements of subsea and wellhead facilities from iceberg keel impact, with an initial focus on the east coast Canada iceberg environment. These projects began in January 2007 and will be completed in December 2008.