Geoscience Application for Marine Pipe Line Identification and Validation

Abstract

Indonesia as the largest archipelagic country in the world with a larger water area than the mainland has the potential of natural resources in the Ocean. This is a challenge for both exploration and exploitation. Underwater utilities are one of the solutions to connect the distribution of natural resources from sea to land. In the oil and gas industry, the distribution of oil and gas from the sea platform to the mainland is via undersea gas pipelines. Based on the regulation of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources no. 16 of 2020 CHAPTER III, the target for development and transmission of natural gas until 2024 is 17,300 km, including subsea pipelines. In addition, the Decree of the Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries No. 14 of 2021 strengthens the arrangement of submarine pipelines and cables in Indonesia. To arrange submarine cables and pipelines, it is necessary to update the condition of submarine pipelines and cables. The data can be used as a reference for action plans for the arrangement of existing pipelines and cables as well as the future construction of new lines. Geoscience methods such as Bathymetry, Side Scan Sonar, and Magnetic surveys can be applied to get an overview of the underwater pipeline conditions. The first stages are referring to secondary data from the Indonesian Navy Hydrographic and Oceanographic Center (PUSHIDROSAL) pipeline, and then determine the survey lines for bathymetry, side-scan sonar (SSS), and Magnetic. From the bathymetry data, the coordinates and estimates of objects in the form of pipes are obtained. The estimate object will be validated with the image from Side Scan Sonar. Furthermore, quantitative evidence of the object is carried out by observing the value of the magnetic anomaly. Bathymetry results in the research area (9301000 S- 9299500 Sand 224250 E - 227000 E) there is an object that is suspected to be piped. Then its overlapped with the SSS image, it is clear that the appearance of an object stretches along the path. Furthermore, it is validated with magnetic data at the location and shows a magnetic anomaly along with the suspected object. The graph of a high magnetic amplitude deviation indicates that the object contains metal (pipe).