Post by Nikhil Hasurkar

✨Transporting hydrogen through pipelines introduces risks that don't exist with natural gas. The materials behave differently. The safety margins change. And for teams looking to requalify existing offshore infrastructure for hydrogen transport, the question has been: what exactly needs to be tested or upgraded? ✨✨DNV has published DNV-RP-F123 Hydrogen pipeline systems, a new recommended practice for offshore hydrogen pipelines covering design, operation and requalification. The RP supplements DNV-ST-F101, our submarine pipeline standard first published in 1976 and now marking 50 years of service to the energy industry. While the RP is issued as an addition to DNV-ST-F101 for offshore pipelines including landfall, the RP addresses hydrogen specific integrity mechanisms, material selection and safety considerations that are equally relevant for onshore hydrogen pipeline applications. The review process involved evaluating all sections of the document to identify potential gaps, applicability, and areas of concern specific to onshore pipeline design, construction, and operational considerations. Through this thorough examination, the DNV-RP-F123 was also found to be fundamentally suitable for application as a guideline or as an appendix to the existing onshore pipeline code. DNV-RP-F123 was developed through the H2Pipe Joint Industry Project, which ran from 2021 to 2026 and brought together 37 industry partners across operators, manufacturers, engineering companies and academic advisors. The result is guidance grounded in extensive testing, shared data and real technical experience, built to be used directly in engineering projects and qualification work. 🎉🎉Hydrogen service fundamentally changes the integrity picture for pipeline systems. It cannot be treated as a simple variant of natural gas. This RP provides an initial evidence-based framework for assessing hydrogen-specific risks and gives teams the technical clarity to move projects from study into execution. DNV is aiming to launch phase 3 of the H2Pipe JIP this spring to further develop DNV-RP-F123.