Asset Integrity Management in Mitigating Oil and Gas Pipeline Vandalism in the Niger Delta Region—Deep Burial Solution

Pipelines, as means of transportation of water and hydrocarbon have been considered “effective, safe and reliable”. Over the years, pipeline failures in Niger Delta region of Nigeria have resulted in loss of lives, water pollution, soil contamination, air pollution, destruction of infrastructures and aquatic lives, and other losses. The study area, Niger Delta region is located on Latitude 4°50' 00"N, longitude 6°00'00"E and comprised of nine coastal states of Nigeria (about 70,000 km2). Failure data were collected using: Questionnaires administered to experienced pipeline engineers in the International oil and gas companies (IOCs), Personnel interviews, and reports from the Department of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). This study assessed the strategies employed by four IOCs to mitigate pipeline failures in the process of asset integrity management. Design and construction methods detailing pipelines laying to infiltration discouraging-depth were studied. The results obtained showed that vandalism is presently the major cause of pipeline failures. Deep burial solution was therefore explored as a vandalism mitigation approach and its cost of implementation for a typical Φ20"× 15 km trunkline in the region showed 9.627% (≈809.3 million Naira) rise compared to the normal burial option, and this difference accrued mainly from equipment and personnel cost. This is a paltry sum compared to the huge losses due to vandalism. Finally, this study posits that the available regulatory framework is now inadequate for pipeline design, construction, and operations due to this challenge and requires urgent amendment in favour of deep burial option.