Guidelines for Data Collection Requirements – Final Report

Summary:
The objective of this project was to develop industry guidelines for data-collection requirements that are important for risk assessment in natural gas transmission and distribution systems. The data-collection guidelines are based on an analysis of the factors that fundamentally influence risk and are important for natural gas distribution and transmission. Data-collection requirements were developed to assist the industry in determining the data that needs to be collected for regulatory compliance, integrity-management programs, and risk management. The analysis includes the data required during manufacturing, engineering and design, installation and construction, integrity management, and operations and maintenance.

Project Objective:
Guidelines for natural gas distribution and transmission data-collection requirements were developed to assist the industry in determining the data that needs to be collected for regulatory compliance, integrity-management programs, and risk management.

Project Description:
For regulatory compliance, natural gas distribution and transmission operators have prescriptive data-collection requirements such as leak surveys and cathodic-protection readings. They must also assess risk for integrity management programs, which can involve the use of sophisticated models that may require data and inputs that are not readily available.

As operators review their records in response to National Transportation Safety Board recommendations, many are identifying noteworthy gaps in the data needed to substantiate system design, maximum allowable operating pressure, and risk modeling and trending. One of the top priorities noted by industry experts is the need for industry standards and guidelines to assist operators in understanding the importance of various pieces of data in terms of risk-modeling accuracy and reliability. These guidelines could be used to develop data-collection strategies and prioritize records operations based on how important the data is to understand the risk.

The objective of this project was to develop industry guidelines for data-collection requirements that are important for risk assessment in natural gas transmission and distribution systems. The data-collection guidelines are based on an analysis of the factors that fundamentally influence risk and are important for integrity management and risk modeling. The analysis includes the data required during manufacturing, engineering and design, installation and construction, integrity management, and operations and maintenance.

The results of this project will be used to assist the industry in determining what data needs to be collected for regulatory compliance as well as internal integrity management and risk management.

This project takes a holistic perspective of natural-gas assets and operations to determine the data-collection requirements. This project complements two other OTD projects, which are limited to specific operations: (5.11.m) Intelligent Utility Installations and (5.11.t) Essential Data Capture for PE Fusion Operations.