LIMPET - Hydrocarbon Flow Monitoring for Midstream Pipeline Applications (Stage 2)

"The oil and gas (O&G) industry has a rapidly growing problem with leak detection, security breaches and the prevention of incidents. These incidents affect global prices, oil and gas supply and cause long lasting and highly destructive damage to the environment and the lives of those who live and work near these pipelines. From 2010-14 in the EU, an oil spill incident saw spillages of 289m3 on average of crude oil, with multiple spillages exceeding 1000 m3 (Concawe 2016), with the estimated cost of oil clean up alone (exclusive of fines etc) was €14 per gallon, making the average cost per incident in the EU €0.86 million. (http://bit.ly/2nEHX4c). These numbers are increasing annually and represent a significant threat to the public, environment and critical infrastructure security.

Utilities are losing over 20% of their water supply through leakages. Water companies are not only losing a precious resource in clean water, but leakages are also affecting consumers with higher prices for water. Companies also have reduced profits due to lost revenue. Moreover, significant fines imposed by Ofwat for missing leak targets further negatively affect their bottom-line.

This project seeks to thoroughly test Limpet, an effective pipeline monitoring solution that is accurate, stable and reliable across a complete technology stack. The system will result in a step change in pipeline leak monitoring as it will facilitate the identification of all sized leaks on O&G pipelines near real-time, enhancing asset management. Limpet combines innovative hardware and software, capitalising on the power of transformational data collection, communication, analysis and visualisation.

The Limpet solution is a high value proposition for O&G and water companies and society as a whole with the following benefits:

(1) Continuous pipeline monitoring and visualisation with real time alerts ensuring uninterrupted supply of O&G.

(2) Greatly improved detection rates of 99+%.

(3) An estimated 20% reduction in operation and maintenance costs due to reduced call outs for leaks.

(4) A retrofittable hardware device with an estimated lifecycle of 10+ years.

(5) Reduced environmental impacts due to reduced hydrocarbon leaks.

(6) Reduced wastage of an important resource in desalinated water.

We expect the project to result in the timely commercialisation of the Limpet solution. In the long-term, the project will result in job creation within the UK and globally (however Dashboard will always remain headquartered in the UK). We envisage hiring cumulatively over 85 FTEs in the 5 years after Limpet's market launch."