Detailed Plan

Current US pipeline control security is antiquated and in need of upgrading.

The recent Colonial pipeline ransom-ware attack (May 9th 2021) by “The DarkSide”, highlighted the fact that the current control/security system is vulnerable to attack. Colonial voluntarily shut down its pipeline as a precautionary measure.

Colonial’s “single” pipeline shut down was significant enough to prompt a state of emergency declaration by the President of the United States, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and directly affected 6 states crippling the gasoline and jet fuel supply.

Perspective: Colonial constitutes only a small part of the greater pipeline infrastructure in the US. According to Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) there are currently 2.6 million miles of oil and gas pipeline in the United States. The control system “SCADA” is known to have vulnerabilities.

I propose to perform a feasibility study that would explore how Cardano’s blockchain tools might be implemented into the industries existing control system. The study would reveal how an immutable consensus mechanism could be built into the system to validate both input and output.

Each station transmitter could be given a unique ID verifiable by the blockchain. By using verifiable ID’s from system transmitters, technicians can act with certainty, rather than possibly acting on counterfeit data.

I will also examine how smart contracts could be used in the greater pipeline system verifying system commands using oracles and other tools only allowing access if certain equipment after pre-arranged criteria is met. I see this out on the horizon a bit, but it could end up being a totally new way of controlling stations and should be looked at seriously.

I am a long-term QA inspector in the US oil and gas industry, and have worked for the “major” oil and gas companies and have a unique perspective to little known industry standards and practices.

Currently I am Chief inspector overseeing the construction of a 150-million-dollar natural gas turbine compressor station upgrade that provides NG to two nearby Northeastern cities whose combined population is 500,000. Later this year I will be overseeing the installation of the SCADA control system that will remotely control this station. During this phase of my project, I will have face to face access to industry experts that can give me needed input on how blockchain might be integrated into pipeline control, and data acquisition and processing.