Time takes a steep toll on our infrastructure. When steel is exposed to the elements, it begins to corrode. If not addressed, this can lead to structural failure. At best, failure causes interruptions to production; at worst, it can put the health and safety of your employees and your company’s position in the marketplace at risk.
Oil and gas companies cannot allow aging steel assets to become a liability. Avoiding the ravages of time isn’t easy— but it is manageable. These proactive strategies can help companies mitigate the costs and dangers of aging assets.
Make Monitoring a Systematic Process
Visible signs of aging don’t necessarily indicate that your carbon steel assets are at risk of imminent failure. If the issue is recognized early, it is possible to remove the existing rust and take steps to protect the asset to extend its life.
To catch rust and other issues early monitoring must be a routine part of your organization’s maintenance schedule. Systematically monitoring your organization’s carbon steel assets is a large undertaking. There are advancements in the industry helping to reduce the time and costs associated with asset monitoring.
If monitoring leads to significant savings on replacement and prevents unexpected downtime, it’s worth it. Address issues uncovered by inspectors immediately. This may create an immediate short-term cost, but it prevents far larger costs.
Remove and Repair Corrosion When Possible
The cost of repairing carbon steel assets, though significant, is usually far less than the cost of replacing equipment. This effort is most effective if corrosion is identified early enough for it to be addressed with economic efficiency. The second part of the equation effective removal and repair of corrosion.
It’s valuable to establish protocols for disabling equipment during repairs in ways that minimize the disruption to operations and ensure the safety of the maintenance staff. With skilled technicians who can address existing corrosion and a maintenance schedule that allows your team to account for planned downtime, you can extend the life of your carbon steel assets while reducing the impact on your organization’s bottom line.
Develop an Equipment Replacement Plan
Replacing a piece of equipment by choice rather than by necessity is always preferable. Pre-emptive action for successful asset maintenance requires several things. First, companies need criteria in place to determine the service life of an asset to understand if it is in good working order, needs repair, or needs replacement.
Abandoning an asset too early costs unnecessary time, production, and money, while relying on an asset for too long brings even more risk and heavier losses. It’s crucial to define clear benchmarks to assess conditions and solutions.
Develop plans to expedite the process for new steel assets to be ordered, shipped, and installed to ensure efficient asset replacement. Your replacement process should be continually improving; a cost effective replacement plan develops over time, evolving from the positive and negative experiences of the previous replacement process.
Apply a High-Performing Anti-Corrosion Coating
Mitigating corrosion starts by insulating the carbon steel asset as early as possible. The surest way to manage the life of carbon steel is to stop rust in its tracks. EonCoat’s Corrosion Protection Coating is easily applied to the surface of carbon steel assets, dries within minutes, and chemically bonds with the steel to provide unbeatable, long-lasting protection.
What distinguishes EonCoat from traditional coatings on the market is its durability, longevity, low cost of application, and personal and environmental safety. EonCoat is engineered to provide long-term protection even if the surface of the asset is scratched, scraped, or dented. Apply EonCoat’s Corrosion Protection Coating to the surface of new and existing carbon steel assets to reduce the costs associated with managing corrosion. Inspectors still have the responsibility to monitor these assets, but since EonCoat leaves them so thoroughly protected, they will rarely require intervention.
EonCoat was designed with the needs of oil and gas companies in mind. Our anti-corrosion coating is easy to apply, and once in place, it provides a self-healing, dual-layer defense to secure your carbon steel assets over the long term.
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