Five Reasons Why Oil & Gas Needs RFID Technology - PART 2
Add bookmarkExpeditious inspection and maintenance
As of the beginning of 2012, there were more than 190,000 kilometres (118,000 miles) of hydrocarbon-carrying pipelines planned or under construction worldwide - enough to wrap around the globe almost five times.
With the majority of these oil and gas arteries stretching out subsea or across huge tracts of inhospitable and uninhabitable land, essential pipeline maintenance through physical inspection is an extremely time-consuming venture.
RFID tags can be embedded in all pipeline components, from nuts and bolts to flanges and couplings. The writeable nature of the tags means that "a running commentary" can be kept after every service, and scanning a pipe with an RFID reader will show events from the parts' lifespan, from the exact time installed to its recommended replacement date, prior maintenance history and any faults associated with the product line.
This easily accessible "wear-and-tear" history can both cut down on the time expenditure and workforce required by physical inspection as well as provide an interactive service history that can help to prevent unplanned downtime and the monetary and environmental consequences associated with containment loss.
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