Articles Main page

After the installation of the pipeline, it is subjected to a pre-commissioning hydrotest to verify the integrity of the onshore or offshore pipeline before charging the service fluid in the pipeline system. Hydrostatic test is a way to test pipeline joints (i.e. girth weld and flanged joints) for strength and leaks. The test involves filling the pipeline system with a benign fluid, usually water, and pressurization of the pipeline to the specified test pressure, generally higher than max. operating/ design pressure depending on the Design Code or Operator’s requirement.

Offshore pipeline route survey is among one of the few first (pre-engineering) and last (as-built) steps which are required to be carried out in case you want an offshore pipeline to be brought into reality. Once an offshore pipeline project is conceptualized by a desktop study of the preliminary routing of the subsea pipeline based on data in public domain (such as GEBCO, NOAA) or field data available with the Operator, the next wise step is to go for a reconnaissance (recce) survey of the route. Survey of the pipeline route not only provides eyes to the Designer but also to the Constructor, as all the stake holders are visionless underwater.

Survey and soil investigations are among the prime activities which are carried out after an onshore pipeline is planned. An appropriately and accurately surveyed onshore pipeline route dramatically reduces the efforts required for onshore pipeline design and construction. Therefore, survey is one of the foundation activity which is carried out to firm pipeline route centreline, explore dumpsites locations and intermediate station/ terminal facilities on ground, obtaining topographic features, ground profile and soil data along the pipeline route...

HDD Analyser is a comprehensive program for the design analysis of pipelines crossings by horizontal direction drilling methodology. HDD Analyser performs the pipeline stress analysis and HDD design calculation in compliance with the International Codes and Standards. This program can be used to analyze and assess the safety of a given HDD crossing for pipelines during installation, post-hydrotest and during operation stages.

This article is focused strictly on girth welding process for the construction of pipelines. The target readers are the professionals who are involved in the pipeline welding processes but are not the experts as this article covers the hydrocarbon pipeline welding in a bird's eye view perspective and does not dig into the minutest details.

This article explains the wall thickness analysis for offshore pipelines using DNVGL-ST-F101: 2017 Code Compliance Web application. The submarine pipelines wall thickness selection is generally performed based on the criteria specified in Section 5 of DNVGL-ST-F101, 2017 detailed as below:

Submarine pipelines in deepwater are mostly laid directly on the seabed. To place a pipeline on the seabed securely, the seabed should be ideally as flat and regular as possible. However, that is not the case many times due to the presence of various geophysical features on the seabed. If such geophysical features make the seabed irregular or undulating, then pipeline may face the risk of spanning and overstressing beyond the allowable limits. In shallower waters, pipelines may get unstable due to close exposure to waves, currents and tidal movements. Submarine pipelines in deepwater....

A pipeline traverses through various diverse locations which are difficult to approach during regular operation. For the construction of the pipeline enormous chunk of land is temporarily acquired by the Pipeline Operator from the land owners. Once the pipeline is buried, land is returned to the owners for their use such as agriculture etc. which limits the accessibility to the pipeline in due course of time. Therefore, pipelines are required to be constructed such that it requires minimal human interference during operation and ensures high level of safety & integrity throughout its design life. The onus to fulfill such high quality and reliability standard rests on the first....

To cater to huge energy requirements for ever increasing industrial growth, which world is witnessing, the importance of continuous supply of energy gains utmost importance. To supply for the ever increasing energy requirements it becomes imperative that pipelines of larger diameter are installed so that higher throughput can be delivered. This minimizes the impact on environment and also the resources required to install the pipelines thus ensuring the energy sustainability. However installation of large diameter pipelines comes with its fair share of challenges as well. This article covers the major challenges faced in design, engineering, manufacturing and installation of large diameter pipelines, including its cost and time implications.

This article is intended to throw light on the differences between pipeline engineering and piping engineering, which are important organs of any engineering firm active in oil and gas sector. Pipeline and piping engineering do not only sound similar but share a lot of common activities. Both the engineering department belong to mechanical disciplines and deals primarily with pipes. Various codes have defined the battery limits for pipeline and piping activities, however, there has always been a contest between Pipeline and piping disciplines.....

This paper broadly elucidates the nuances involved in mechanical design (or wall thickness selection) of deepwater pipelines such as requirement of thick-walled line pipes to sustain collapse due to external over-pressure and tensile stresses generated due to installation forces etc. This article expects the reader to be acquainted with the offshore pipeline design code DNVGL-ST-F101.

This article details the various coating systems which are applied on hydrocarbon pipelines now a days. It also provides the properties which desired in an effective pipeline coating system and provides a comparative study between FBE, CTE and 3LPE coatings based on those properties.

This article briefly introduces the hydrocarbon pipelines, both onshore pipelines and offshore pipelines. It explains the various stages of the hydrocarbon pipelines and provides the vital details of activities which are performed during the design and installation stage of the pipelines.

Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is a steerable trenchless method of installing underground pipelines in a shallow arc along a prescribed bore path by using a surface-launched drilling rig, with minimal impact on the surrounding area. Directional boring is used when trenching or excavating is not practical. The tools and techniques used in the HDD process are an outgrowth of the oil well drilling industry.