Automated Oil and Gas Pipeline Vandalism Detection System

Abstract

Abstract Oil Pipeline Vandalism is the act of drilling into the pipelines with the intent to steal the products. Between 2010 and 2012, a total of 2,787 line breaks were reported on pipelines belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), resulting in a loss of 157.81 metric tonnes of petroleum products worth about N12.53 billion. Nigeria's Oil and Gas pipelines need to be monitored constantly and continuously to stop these pipeline attacks before damage to the pipelines are sustained and the petroleum products is illegally accessed and siphoned off. The Automated Oil and Gas Pipeline Protector works by detecting the earth vibration signals unique to ground digging and pipeline breakage using custom designed sensing units (SUs). A single SU of the Automated Oil and Gas Pipeline Protector consists of geophones, an Arduino Mega Board, a GSM/GPRS/GPS shield, a Lora Communication Shield and a Lithium Battery Pack enclosed in a sealed anti-corrosion case. SUs are buried underneath the ground, above the buried pipeline, and are spaced 200 m apart. Acquired seismic signals are processed by the Arduino Mega controller board using a customized algorithm that quantifies the activities going on at the surface of the earth into threatening activities (e.g. digging and drilling), and non-threatening activities (e.g. walking and running). After detecting a threatening activity, the SU sends an alert message to the mobile phones of the patrol officers in patrol cars spaced 20 km apart on the pipeline route., and to dedicated control centres. Testing of the Automated Oil and Gas Pipeline Protector has been conducted in Effurun, Delta State, Nigeria. The system demonstrated the ability to detect a vandal digging within 20 seconds of the activity's commencement. The system also demonstrated the ability to alert the appropriate authorities via text messages containing the date, time, type of activity detected, alarm confidence rate, GPS location and driving directions to the vandalization site. Future work includes the integration of a line of sight (LOS) drone to assist local authorities in navigating and mobilizing to the vandalization site with the appropriate number of armed personnel to handle the vandals. The system will also be deployed to provide constant monitoring of a buried oil and gas pipeline at the Federal University of Petroleum Resources for further data gathering, testing and analysis.