Saudi Aramco: The Importance Of Non-Destructive Testing In Oil & Gas

Saudi Aramco’s Mohammed Abufour explains why advanced NDT solutions are essential to enhance asset integrity quality in the oil & gas industry Being able to predict the reliability of oil and gas assets and inspect their integrity is a high priority for oil and gas operators. Of the possible degradation problems affecting oil and gas operating facilities, corrosion, hydrogen and stress-related corrosion, and cracking in steels are among the most serious. These types of damage are difficult to detect, especially in the large volume of operating equipment that require thorough inspection. As a result of the severity of these inspection challenges – and the major failures they can cause – there has long been motivation to develop advanced non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies for related defect and crack detection. What is NDT? Non-destructive testing is a valuable technique used by many industries to evaluate the properties of a material, component, structure or system without causing any damage. There are five main conventional types of NDT: visual inspection, radiography, ultrasonic testing, magnetic particle testing and penetrant testing. Many advanced NDT...