DID YOU KNOW?

Pipeline Transport is a transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquid and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air have also been used.
As for gases and liquids, any chemically stable substance can be sent through a pipeline. Therefore sewage, slurry, water, or even beer pipelines exist; but arguably the most important are those transporting oil and natural gas.

There is some argument as to when the first real oil pipeline was constructed. Some say pipeline transport was pioneered by Vladimir Shukhov and the Branobel company in the late 19th century. Others say oil pipelines originated when the Oil Transport Association first constructed a 2-inch wrought iron pipeline over a 6-mile track from an oil field to Pennsylvania to a rail road station in Oil Creek, in the 1860s. No matter, piplines are generally the most economical way to transport large quantities of oil or natural gas over land. Compared to railroad, they have lower cost per unit and also higher capacity. Although pipelines can be built even under the sea, that process is both economically and technically very demanding, so the majority of oil at sea is transported by tanker ships.

Oil pipelines are made from steel or plastic tubes with inner diameter typically from 10 to 120 cm (about 4 to 47 inches). Most of the pipelines are buried underground at a typical depth of about 1 - 2 metres (about 3 to 6 feet). The oil is kept in motion by a system of pump stations built along the pipeline and usually flows at speed of about 1 to 6 m/s. Multi-product pipelines are used to transport two or more different products in sequence in the same pipeline. Usually in multi-product pipelines there is no physical separation between the different products. Some mixing of adjacent products occurs, producing interface. This interface is removed from the pipeline at receiving facilities and segregated to prevent contamination.

Crude oil contains varying amounts of wax, or paraffin, and in colder climates wax buildup may occur within a pipeline. Often these pipelines are inspected and cleaned using pipeline inspection gauges pigs, also known as, scrapers or Go-devils [1]. These devices are launched from pig-launcher stations and travel through the pipeline to be received at any other station down-streams, cleaning wax depositions and materials that may have accumulated within the line.

For natural gas similarly constructed of carbon steel and varying in size from 2 inches to 48 inches in diameter depending on the type of pipeline. The gas is pressurized by compressor stations located along the pipelines and is odorless unless mixed with a mercaptan odorant where identified by the proper regulating body.

Types of Pipelines
In general, pipelines can be classified in three main categories depending on its main purpose, the categories are as follows:

1. Gathering Pipelines - Group of smaller interconnected pipelines forming complex networks with the main purpose of bringing crude oil or natural gas from several near by wells to a treatment plant or processing facility. In this group, pipelines are usually short, couple of hundred of meters, and with small diameters. Also sub-sea pipelines for collecting product from deep water production platforms are considered gathering systems.

2. Transportation Pipelines - Mainly long pipes with large diameters, moving products (oil, gas, refined products) between cities, countries and even continents. These transportation networks include several compressor stations in gas lines or pump stations for crude and multiproducts pipelines.

3. Distribution Pipelines - Composed of several interconnected pipelines with small diameters, used to take the products to the final consumer. Basically, feeder lines to distribute gas to homes and businesses downstream, or pipelines at terminals to distribute final products to tanks and storage facilities are included in this group.