With all the excitement around shale gas in Ohio, we have started to evaluate our portfolio of technologies and compile a go to list of those that seem poised to support the local oil and gas opportunity. For example;
1) EWI developed an inspection system for the offshore oil industry designed to be deployed inside riser pipes to inspect integrity of the pipe joints . A variant of this system would be ideally suited for deployment inside casings to inspect threaded connections, look for corrosion, and evaluate perforations.
2) EWI worked with the natural gas transmission industry to develop an in-service pipeline repair system. The fully automated tools developed in this program have lead to a conceptual system that is currently being vetted for deepwater applications and will be capable of inspecting and repairing in-service piping that is buried and not easily accessible. This has tremendous promise for downhole connector repair and other internal pipe repair applications
3) HDPE and MDPE have become the staple for water and natural pipelines. EWI recently completed a program for the US DOT and NYSEARCH to develop advanced techniques for PE pipe nondestructive inspection. This technique can be rapidly deployed on all PE pipe joints created in support of Ohio shale gas. Adding an extra level of assurance that natural gas pipelines will be leak free.