Course Instructors

Professor Phil Hopkins has more than 26 years’ experience in pipeline engineering, and is Technical Director with Penspen Integrity and Visiting Professor of Engineering at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He has worked with most of the major oil and gas companies and pipeline companies around the world, providing consultancy on management, business, design, maintenance, inspection, risk analysis and safety, and failure investigations. He is the immediate past-chairman of the Executive Committee of the ASME Pipeline Systems Division and has served on many other professional committees, including the British Standards Institution, European Pipeline Research Group, the American Gas Association’s Pipeline Research Committee, and the DNV Pipeline Committee. More than 1700 engineers and technical personnel around the world have attended his Pipeline Defect Assessment and Pipeline Integrity-related courses.

Direct Assessment Methods for Pipeline Integrity Course

Kurt Lawson is Vice President of CC Technologies Systems, Inc., a corrosion engineering and research firm specializing in corrosion, corrosion control methods, research, failure analysis, and cathodic protection monitoring, design and construction. He has more than 17 years of field experience in the corrosion testing and evaluation of buried structures, including reinforced soil structures, pilings, reinforced concrete structures, and cathodically protected tanks and pipelines. Work on these structures has covered a wide range of techniques including basic potential surveys, application of advanced AC and DC electrochemical methods, advanced potential surveys utilizing digital storage oscilloscopes, and complex finite element computer modeling of cathodic protection systems and their effectiveness.

Nick Park has 12 years of software product management experience with more than six years specifically in the pipeline industry. As a Consultant and, most recently, Vice President of Technology for GeoFields Inc., Mr. Park is involved in the design and implementation of data management systems for complex pipeline operations, which are currently being used by thousands of individuals across a diverse client base. Mr. Park has an MS in Geographic Information Systems and continues to provide support to a range of mapping and GIS projects.

Bob Simmons is the Pipeline Integrity Manager with Metalogic Inspection Services. With headquarters in Houston and Edmonton, Metalogic focuses on advanced inspection technology, software and procedures for pipeline excavations, ILI and DA correlation. Bob has been in the Non Destructive Testing industry for 18 years, the last 14 of which have been focused on SCC, Corrosion, ERW and Mechanical anomaly verification and assessment on pipelines. Bob’s current focus is working with operators on the development and implementation of excavation programs to ensure proper documentation and maximum correlation accuracies are achieved with ILI and DA techniques.

Dr. Raymond R. Fessler worked on the Pipeline Research Committee project on SCC since its inception in 1965. He personally conducted most of the early field investigations of SCC, from which he identified the major factors that cause high-pH SCC in pipelines. He also managed the laboratory portion of that program from 1965 to 1982, which added significantly to an understanding of the phenomenon and explored a number of possible solutions to the problem. For the past several years, he has been the SCC consultant for GRI and PRCI. He recently completed a comprehensive gap analysis on SCC, and he actively participated in drafting the NACE Recommended Practice on SCC Direct Assessment.
John Mackenzie is a senior pipeline specialist with Kiefner & Associates, focusing on the areas of Integrity Management Plans and Stress Corrosion Cracking. John was previously with TransCanada Pipelines for 25 years, where he was responsible for the company’s original investigation into SCC (1986-1990). This work led to the discovery of near-neutral pH SCC and identified the conditions under which it occurs. He also served as Chair of the PRCI’s SCC Subcommittee for two years.

Gary Smith is president of Inline Services, a Houston-based company specializing in pigging equipment and services. He has 27 years experience in the pipeline pigging industry, working in services such as commissioning and maintenance of pipelines as well as with designing and manufacturing pigging equipment.
Dr. Martin Phillips is a Senior Engineer with CC Technologies Services, Inc. He has more than 20 years experience with ILI and pipeline integrity services, including management of multi-pipeline inspection programs using different ILI tools and development of ILI tools for metal loss and cracking.
George Williamson has 25 years of experience in pipeline and oil and gas field operations, maintenance, and engineering. He is a registered professional engineer.

Bill Bruce is director of welding technology with CC Technologies. Prior to joining CCT, he was a technology leader at Edison Welding Institute and a senior engineer at Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. He is a member of the American Petroleum Institute API 1104 Committee and is the chairman of the Maintenance Welding Subcommittee.
Chris Alexander is a Principal at Stress Engineering Services, Inc. In terms of pipeline work, He has been integrally involved in assessing the effects of dents and mechanical damage on the structural integrity of pipelines. These efforts have involved full-scale burst and cyclic pressure fatigue testing, as well as modeling dents using finite element analysis. Dr. Alexander has also been involved in assessing the use of composites in repairing pipelines and offshore risers. He has published more than 50 technical papers and has made international presentations on a wide range of topics.

He has received B.S. M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

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