There are over 4 million kilometres of transmission pipelines transporting crude oil and its products, and natural gases around the World. These costly and valuable, but potentially hazardous, assets are ageing,
with most over, or approaching, 50 years old. This ageing can cause defects such as corrosion in the pipelines, but the good news is that these pipelines are not exhibiting increased failure rates. Part of the reason for this is good management of the pipelines, and also the ability to find and assess these defects, both quickly and safely. This article explains how the industry assesses the defects, and why pipelines continue to perform safely.