Installing offshore pipelines: Facing the challenge of bringing gas onshore

Due to great demands for oil in recent years, offshore pipelines are also receiving great attention. To date, over a third of the growth in drilling worldwide is expected to come from offshore pipelines alone. This fueled a greater need for the development of offshore pipelines than before, and the number of petroleum engineers needed to efficiently develop and manage these systems has also increased.

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The task wouldn’t be easy, though. Offshore pipelines are known for being complicated systems as they are installed at the bottom of the sea, and engineers are required to have years of education and training before they can operate offshore pipelines. The location of these pipelines alone makes for an extremely demanding installation process; more so with all the details that come with the nitty-gritty of a system’s operation and upkeep.

Specialized knowledge is required to fulfill such a specialized function. Unfortunately, there has been a notable shortage of literature on petroleum engineering, prompting industry experts Boyun Guo, Shanhong Song, Ali Ghalambor, and Jacob Chacko to write Offshore Pipelines, an up-to-date reference for engineers and developers to conquer the challenging task of bringing oil and gas onshore.

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The authors wrote the book with pipeline design engineers, pipeline operation engineers, and management personnel in mind, taking into consideration the following objectives:

• For learners to be able to learn cost-effective methods in the management and operation of offshore pipeline systems.

• For learners to be acquainted with the burgeoning science of “deepwater pipelining,” a relatively new technology which has been only developed in the past 10 years.

• For learners to be able to master the art of designing pipelines at a low cost without compromising safety and long-term operability.

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This Ali Ghalambor Twitter account updates followers on the oil and gas industry.

Deepwater pipelines: Challenging and conquering the depths

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Rapid modernization and globalization has posed a significant effect in the world today. Excluding the repercussions it has on the environment, it has posed a threat in the maintenance of supply of oil and natural gases. While it is deemed that these are nature’s gift in great amounts, tapping into them is another issue.

Because of the increasing demand in oil products and because of the fact that oil reserves have been almost drained to nothing, the oil industry has been scourging the seas for new reservoirs, conquering the depths to ensure that there is enough supply of the so-called “black gold.”

Offshore Pipelines, which Dr. Ali Ghalambor wrote together with Tian Ran Lin, Shanghong Song, and Jacob Chacko, states that there is a growing interest in offshore pipelines. It is said that more than third of the worldwide growth in drilling came from deepwater and offshore pipelines. Although this has been a growing trend for the last 10 years, deepwater pipelines pose a different challenge compared to the more conventional hydraulic fracturing.

In deepwater extraction of oil reserves, the most critical issues are: collapse resistance, low variation in actual mechanical properties, and sour service resistance.

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Collapse resistance means that the pipelines should be able to withstand internal pressure at certain depths. As the exploration goes deeper, the yield strength and the wall tolerance of pipelines should increase. During the wielding process of the pipes, it is expected that pipes should have a low variation in actual yield strength, not exceeding the specified maximum strength of 100 mega pascals. If such restrictions and specifications are observed, buckling can be avoided during the laying process. Sour service resistance is another factor that must be considered. If line pipes and risers are exposed to sour environment, clean pipes are mandatory to ensure that pipes are corrosion-resistant.

Other considerations are the conditions of the seabed and the repair contingencies. The seabed is governed by different terrains that threaten the integrity of the pipelines. These terrains that can challenge the strength of pipes are: faults, unstable slopes, mudflows, and turbidity. Another consideration is the repair that comes with deepwater pipelines. While the probability of damage and repairs in a properly planned offshore pipeline is small, the risk that comes with it is a big concern as addressing repairs underwater is difficult and challenging.

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