In the field with UK pipeline operators

Simon Joyce, Principal Engineer and Head of Innovation for Future of Energy at SGN, and board member at UKOPA, shares his insights into:

• UKOPA’s role in ensuring the safety and integrity of the UK’s pipeline infrastructure.
• The biggest challenges facing pipeline operators today.
• How digitalisation and AI-driven technologies are evolving to enhance safety and efficiency in pipelines.
• The ways in which UKOPA collaborates with regulators and policymakers.
• UKOPA success stories.
• Key trends and developments in UK pipelines. 

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Sponsoring this episode of the World Pipelines Podcast is the TDW SmartPlug® Isolation System — The safest inline isolation system on the market. Learn more here. 

Creators and Guests

Host

Elizabeth Corner

Elizabeth leads the editorial teams at World Pipelines, commissioning articles and features, and representing the magazine at industry events.

Guest

Simon Joyce

Principal Engineer and Head of Innovation for Future of Energy at SGN, and board member at UKOPA.

What is World Pipelines Podcast?

The World Pipelines podcast, with Elizabeth Corner, is a podcast that connects and unites pipeline professionals to learn about issues affecting the midstream oil and gas industry.

Elizabeth Corner: 00:01

Hello, and welcome back to the World Pipelines podcast, a podcast series for pipeliners featuring short, insightful interviews with people in the oil and gas pipeline industry. I'm your host, Elizabeth Corner. And for this season of the podcast, I am talking to people from membership associations for the pipeline sector. Throughout the series, we're exploring exactly what these associations do to move the midstream sector forwards and to support pipeliners all over the world.

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Elizabeth Corner: 01:17

In this episode, I am very happy to be talking to Simon Joyce, who is principal engineer and head of innovation for future of energy at SGN and a board member at UKOPA, the United Kingdom Onshore Pipeline Operators Association. At SGN, Simon's work focuses on decarbonising the gas industry and driving changes that will shape the future of sustainable energy infrastructure. He leads technical assurance and safety initiatives in the Future of Energy Directorate, specialising in critical areas such as hydrogen trials, hydrogen policy evidence and biomethane. Then as board member of UKOPA, he advocates for the organisation's work to improve pipeline integrity across The UK and internationally, and it is in this capacity that he is here to speak to us about the association, so welcome Simon.

Simon Joyce: 02:13

Thank you for having me.

Elizabeth Corner: 02:14

Thank you for taking the time to be on the podcast. We saw each other last week in Berlin for the PTC, so I know it's a busy time for you at the moment, so we appreciate your time.

Simon Joyce: 02:24

Thanks for thanks for having me, I really appreciate the invite and looking forward to the podcast.

Elizabeth Corner: 02:29

So let's start by talking about what ECOPA does. So what is UKOPA's role in ensuring safety and integrity of The UK's pipeline infrastructure?

Simon Joyce: 02:38

Well, UKIPO came from the Pipeline Safety RECs in 1996, that's when it was established and it's the sort of authoritative view of The UK Pipeline Operators on issues relating to safety management, operations, integrity management, and it's made up from around 29 pipeline operators. So it's the the interest of those operators it really focuses on, but other organizations are invited to come along, to to to help support including regulators, like the HSE, the Environment Agency, other organizations as well. We really press the need for communication, to understand issues, and to help our members through good practice guides, training, technical bulletins to help them to to overcome those challenges that running a pipeline has. For example, we have there's issues with corrosion, there's issues with integrity. We have working groups which manage that sort of thing.

Simon Joyce: 03:36

So UKIP is the voice to ensure that pipeline safety continues in The UK.

Elizabeth Corner: 03:42

Great. And to set up our discussion for today, and this is something I've been asking all of my guests, what are in your view some of the biggest challenges facing those pipeline operators and how does Youkopa work to help them with those?

Simon Joyce: 03:57

There's a lot of challenges with running pipelines. In my experience, every day is different, but for our operators that's exactly the same as well. I think the biggest change overall is third party damage. So we really wanna have a proactive approach on that, and this is what EUCOPA does. It it really tries to look at that challenge and say, look, what what's gonna happen in the future?

Simon Joyce: 04:16

So we really work with local authorities and regulators, and so they are given the tools that they need to have to follow the best practice. And we invite them to join in writing that best practice as well. I suppose the other issue is corrosion. Still pipelines, they'll corrode over a bit long period of time, but there are threats from third parties in regards to that too. So we've been looking at initiatives around what the what it looks like with battery storage and AC interaction around pipelines as well.

Simon Joyce: 04:42

So we try to take a very, very kind of proactive approach and provide training courses as well to ensure that people know how to manage those issues on the ground as well as working on a day to day basis with those different stakeholders who may create some issues on our pipelines. I'd say those two are our biggest challenges, the party damage and corrosion on our pipeline.

Elizabeth Corner: 05:01

And those two issues then, they really galvanize the pipeline operators to seek out solutions and to talk to each other and to look for help outside of their organizations.

Simon Joyce: 05:10

Yes. We've got a varied amount of organizations, some are very big, some are very small, and what we do is we come together on one platform in the working group to talk through those issues and say, this threat's your threat and how are we gonna work on this together? And over the years, we've done that on many occasions with things like wind turbines near pipelines, how does that work? How can they be managed? By working together, we're stronger.

Simon Joyce: 05:34

And that's the great thing about Yucopa was a place where operators can talk very freely and create good practice which can help us on those day to day issues which come up and you think, what do I do? You've got Yucopa there to help you and that's part of the the great thing about Yucopa is that everyone coming together, everyone learning and everyone putting together good practice for the industry.

Elizabeth Corner: 05:55

Yeah. And so is it a regular thing that a pipeline operator would come to Yukopa with a particular thought or challenge and then ask for your advice or ask for your help?

Simon Joyce: 06:04

Yes. That's quite a regular thing. We actively ask the participants in the working groups and the board to come with their problems, but people can just write to us and say, look, we've got this issue. What do we do? And we can work on it together.

Simon Joyce: 06:21

In my time working in The UK, but there's been many problems and issues that have occurred. The expertise is in the room somewhere to say, this is how I managed it or this is how we could manage it. Do we need to do something to help everyone to get through this problem and this challenge? We try to do that in a in a way that collectively we're helping the whole of the The UK to to be better.

Elizabeth Corner: 06:41

Well, leads me on to my next question because when we're thinking about something that affects everyone, the whole of The UK and beyond, the transition to net zero is obviously a major focus across the pipeline industry. How do pipelines fit into The UK's energy future and what role does UCOPA play in helping that transition?

Simon Joyce: 07:00

Well, as you know, there's been a seminar recently, a technical seminar on net zero challenge. Pipeline's gonna be here for many years to come, so we can't hide away from that. The molecule is still gonna be around to be transported every type. So you, Copa, take a view that make sure that we ensure that the new fluids today are captured and we're managing those safety issues that may occur in the in the future. So we do embrace that change.

Simon Joyce: 07:24

So we keep informed of members of the changes within The UK and those developments. We hold technical seminars on that, but also we're looking to see if maybe in the future we might have to adapt our good practice, our learnings for hydrogen, biomethane, CCUS. And the technical seminar in Newcastle last week was really helpful to get that out there. The projects that are happening in The UK like FutureGrid, LTS futures, regards to hydrogen, the information was given to the members to say, look, this is happening. It's happening now.

Simon Joyce: 07:53

How do we as an organization adapt to that change and make sure we work closely with all the regulators and other institutions to develop the requirements for the future? So it's safe to say that I think UKIP will be part of that in the future. It may be looked very different Mhmm. With the net zero challenge, but we are embracing it, but also aware that the risks involved with it as well.

Elizabeth Corner: 08:12

Mhmm. It's so important, I think, for companies to share what they're doing in this space because we're all kind of grasping for where we find our own place in it.

Simon Joyce: 08:20

Absolutely. I think I think most of us have realized this, that we're gonna have to real change within the industry, but we have to be adaptable to that. It's a bit unpredictable, but if we can start thinking about it in a way which is across the board and working together on it, it's a lot more reassuring for all of us. That's just the pipeline side of things. We need to also consider when we have a lot more electricity operators and a lot more grids, how does that look for our pipelines?

Simon Joyce: 08:48

What's the risk for that? And there is a risk there, so we need to make that challenge as well. So it works on different levels, this net zero challenge.

Elizabeth Corner: 08:55

Really interesting. Another thing that is changing a lot is our reliance or our hope for technologies to AI driven technologies, digitalization. How is the pipeline industry evolving to use those things for the greater good?

Simon Joyce: 09:11

So AI has been used quite a lot in the industry right now, and I think that we are trying to keep people safe. I think there's a role to play for AI and some of the the information we capture and looking for trends. So we capture a lot of the full data from the industry, so things like product loss and defects or pipelines. We can look at that and see, is there trends there that could be looked at, but we need to also look at the trends of people who potentially cause issues to our pipelines as well. Is there ways that we can work better?

Simon Joyce: 09:41

So we're starting to look at initiative around maybe satellite surveillance and how good practice looks for that because we think that's got a role to play. We looked at, in the past, things like drones and how they would work on our pipelines, and that information is really important. And it can start saying these are maybe your hotspots, and these things need to be concentrated on, and that brings the safety and that gives the efficiencies as well that we really need in the industry.

Elizabeth Corner: 10:06

And how does UKOPA collaborate with regulators and policy makers, you know, do you help shape best practice and industry standards?

Simon Joyce: 10:16

Yes, we do. We've got a lot of regular meetings with the regulator every year. We speak to the health and safety executive every year, but they're also invited to our meetings. We invite the environment agency and we speak to a lot of those policymakers as policymakers as well, particularly the institutions who make a lot of our for the standards in The UK. We have regular conversations with them and also inform some of their standards as well, particularly, TD two, which is around risk risk assessments on pipelines.

Simon Joyce: 10:44

So we invite them in. We would like to see them there because we feel that it's it's a good knowledge share and it's also getting that different perspective. We're operators. We're running the network. We're trying to run it safely, but those gaps that may occur, they can help correct the course of any kind of issues that might have come up.

Elizabeth Corner: 11:00

And I wonder if you would share with us any success story that you can think of where Yucopa's work has directly contributed to improving safety or improving operational efficiency, where you've seen a result.

Simon Joyce: 11:14

Yes. It's evolving, but one of the recent things we've done, and I did mention at the beginning of the interviews around, the AC interaction work. I worked in pipelines and had this issue occur. This is where voltages in in induced onto pipelines, Currents as well can be quite problematic for corrosion and for personal safety. The Corrosion Prevention Working Group in New Copa, which I was leading at the time, led an initiative to bring all the industry together, including electricity operators, the regulators, Ofgem, to change and to make sure that everyone in The UK was aware of this situation because when you overhead lines that come in can create problems on pipelines.

Simon Joyce: 11:55

So by having industry led conferences and actually bringing out new guidance, has been really, really helpful to raise the awareness of it. And we're starting to see some success now with operators from other areas contacting pipeline operators and saying, may have a problem here. How can we work together to ensure that there's no damage?

Elizabeth Corner: 12:14

Mhmm. Yeah. So it's about awareness, which leads me to my next question and this may be the answer to that anyway, but if Yucopa were to launch a public awareness campaign right now, what is the current message that you would want everyone to hear?

Simon Joyce: 12:28

Third party damage can happen and that third party damage is something that could be easily avoided by ensuring that you contact the operator for whoever whatever system that may be to say, I think I've got a pipeline here, or can I have the maps for this area? Because pipelines are very, very important to the infrastructure of The UK. Your simple work in in an area, so please contact us, and we can really help you through. Has led a lot of initiatives to try and do that in the past, and we still do, particularly around training. So please contact us and please let us know that you're doing some work near a pipeline.

Simon Joyce: 13:07

And Yucopa has got a vast array of information which can really help you in this, So I think my public awareness campaign was really check if you've a pipeline in the vicinity of the work you're doing.

Elizabeth Corner: 13:18

And what is the most surprising or unusual challenge during your tenure that Yucoba has had to tackle?

Simon Joyce: 13:25

I think for us, we've had to a number of challenges and they're unusual sometimes, but I think working with farming groups is one of our ones. We've had to adapt our to sort of new audiences, particularly most pipelines run across fields, across land, and we need to do some we've had to do some work with the farming groups in regards to training in agricultural colleges so that the future generations of farmers know how to keep the pipeline safe. So that's unusual because we're coming in as someone they've never probably speak to. They're probably talk to an operator, and we'll come in and talking to them and say, this pipeline is under your field and it could be a problem. So we do have to adapt our communication skills sometimes, not just to farmers, to landowners, but also to regulators and to policymakers as well.

Simon Joyce: 14:08

So it's a different communication style sometimes needed. Those challenges are slightly unusual sometimes because you get asked some very difficult questions, but we do tackle them.

Elizabeth Corner: 14:17

I think perhaps we need some farmers that signed up to wild pipelines.

Simon Joyce: 14:20

Oh yes, absolutely, yeah. And we should sign up to some farming publications as well.

Elizabeth Corner: 14:24

Yes, I should, yeah. Now to finish off our chat today, I wanted to ask you, you know, for those working in or for those interested in The UK pipeline industry, what are the key trends and developments that they should be paying attention to in the coming years?

Simon Joyce: 14:39

Definitely net zero, I think net zero is one key thing, that's why we do talk about it quite a lot and I know that the industry is focusing on that and and I think that's really, really important. So you gotta keep an eye on the future, and that needs to be managed. But that change is great, but we do need to keep the existing assets in a good condition for years to come. Pipeline industry is not going anywhere. In the Yucopia, you've got a great amount of people there who have got very backgrounds.

Simon Joyce: 15:06

If you want an industry which is ever changing and really going forward, pipeline industry in Yucopia are the place to be.

Elizabeth Corner: 15:12

Thank you so much, Simon.

Simon Joyce: 15:13

Thank you.

Elizabeth Corner: 15:15

My thanks to Simon Joyce for enlightening us about how UKOPA supports UK Pipeline Operators in facing all of the current and future challenges of safe, efficient, modern pipeline transport. Thanks for listening to the World Pipelines podcast. Subscribe for free wherever you get your podcasts. If you have enjoyed this episode, please rate and review and forward to a colleague or friend.

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