The fourth biennial Pipeline Geotechnical Conference, and the 89th ARPEL Meeting of Experts (RANE), co-organized by ARPEL and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) were held June 25-27 in Buenos Aires.

The International Pipeline Geotechnical Conference (IPG 2019) is an international event to share knowledge, foster international cooperation, and promote technical progress by advancing the management of natural forces impacting pipelines – protecting the public, environment, energy infrastructure assets, and ensuring safe and reliable operations.

The event was attended by professional from ATMOS International, BGC Engineering Inc., CENIT, COGA, Gasoducto GasAndes S.A., Gie Group, Golder, IDS GeoRadar, Ingeciencia, Ingeniería y Geotecncia SAS, Micron Optics Inc., Morken, Naviq Consulting Inc., Nepta, Ocensa, OCP Ecuador S.A., Oiltanking Ebytem S.A., Oldelval, Omnisens, Pluspetrol, RCP Ingenieros, Rosen Group, SLOM, SRK Consulting Argentina S.A., TBG, Techint, TGI, TGN, TransCanada, and YPF.

The event was sponsored by the companies YPF, OLDELVAL, CENIT, INGECIENCIA, TGN, BGC, MORKEN, OMNISENS, and ROSEN, with the additional institutional support of the Argentine Institute of Oil and Gas (IAPG), the Association of the Hydrocarbon Industry of Ecuador (AIHE), and the Bolivian Chamber of Hydrocarbons and Energy (CBHE).

In pre-conference courses, which were held on June 25, the following topics were addressed: "Soil mechanics for stress analysis and design of pipelines,” presented by Jim Oswell from Naviq Consulting Inc.; "Forces of nature in pipeline integrity management," by Hugo Garcia, MSc in Geotechnical Engineering, and "Fundamentals of right-of-way maintenance", by Vicente Amórtegui, School of Engineering of Colombia.

The Conference also featured live virtual participation of two outstanding lecturers, Dalia Kirschbaum, Research Physical Scientists at the Space Flight Center of NASA, and Matthias Jakob, Senior Geoscientist of BGC Engineering.

In addition, the agenda consisted of about twenty technical papers dealing with the themes "Considerations on geohazards for design and construction,""Geohazard risk assessment and pipeline integrity management planning" and "Monitoring, mitigation and emergency repairs."

A plenary panel was held at the close of the conference with the participation of Moness Rizkalla from ASME, José Amórtegui from Ingeniería y Geotecnica, Arturo Heinke and Javier Herrera from YPF, Pedro Hryciuk from TGN, and Matthias Jakob from BGC Engineering.

The closing ceremony was led by Mauricio Martin, Executive Manager of Logistics of YPF, Moness Rizkalla from ASME, and Carlos Colo, Chairman of ARPEL.

On the last day, the Organizing Committee -composed of Moness Rizkalla, Dimas Robles, Mike Leach, Leandro Ivorra, Julian Corrales, John Malpartida, Jaime Aristizabal, Vicente Amórtegui, Francisco Oliveros, Hugo García, Gerardo Correa and Irene Alfaro- granted an award to the best paper of IPG 2019 entitled "Finite element modelling of a series of landslide episodes and stress relief procedures" prepared and presented by Hamid Karimian of BGC Engineering, who received a courtesy invitation to participate in IPG 2021.

The event was declared of interest by the Ministry of Tourism of Argentina, and broadcast by 13 media partners: Energía&Negocios, Revista Energía, Energy Press, El Gas Noticias, Energía a Debate, Finance Colombia, Gas Compression, Oil, Gas & Energy Law, Petroleum, Petroleum World, Petroquímica, Petroguía and Run Rún Energético.