Corrosion related process safety incidents - 2025
Posted: 09 May 2026, 12:41
While just going through the process safety incidents reported or inv stigated during 2025, following were the findings, just so relevant...
The following mechanisms continued appearing across refinery and petrochemical event analyses:
Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
Pitting corrosion
Sulfidation corrosion
CO₂ corrosion
MIC (Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion)
Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)
Under-deposit corrosion
Erosion-corrosion
Tank bottom corrosion
Dead-leg corrosion
A 2025 technical review noted that corrosion remains a root contributor in roughly 25–30% of major hydrocarbon process safety incidents.
Across these incidents, the recurring organizational weaknesses were:
1. Poor effectiveness of RBI programs
2. Deferred inspection / overdue thickness monitoring
3. Weak temporary repair governance
4. Inadequate corrosion loops definition
5. Failure to detect localized pitting before leak initiation
6. Aging infrastructure beyond original design life
7. Weak Management of Change (MOC) during process conversion
8. Inadequate online corrosion monitoring
9. Poor dead-leg identification
10. Incomplete integration between inspection and operations teams
Useful references for deeper study as it provided:
US Chemical Safety Board (CSB)
Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS)
AMPP (formerly NACE)
European Process Safety Centre (EPSC)
Source: ChatGPT
The following mechanisms continued appearing across refinery and petrochemical event analyses:
Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI)
Pitting corrosion
Sulfidation corrosion
CO₂ corrosion
MIC (Microbiologically Influenced Corrosion)
Stress Corrosion Cracking (SCC)
Under-deposit corrosion
Erosion-corrosion
Tank bottom corrosion
Dead-leg corrosion
A 2025 technical review noted that corrosion remains a root contributor in roughly 25–30% of major hydrocarbon process safety incidents.
Across these incidents, the recurring organizational weaknesses were:
1. Poor effectiveness of RBI programs
2. Deferred inspection / overdue thickness monitoring
3. Weak temporary repair governance
4. Inadequate corrosion loops definition
5. Failure to detect localized pitting before leak initiation
6. Aging infrastructure beyond original design life
7. Weak Management of Change (MOC) during process conversion
8. Inadequate online corrosion monitoring
9. Poor dead-leg identification
10. Incomplete integration between inspection and operations teams
Useful references for deeper study as it provided:
US Chemical Safety Board (CSB)
Center for Chemical Process Safety (CCPS)
AMPP (formerly NACE)
European Process Safety Centre (EPSC)
Source: ChatGPT