Page 26 - Pipelines and Risers

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Introduction
Pipelines are used for a number of purposes in the development of offshore hydrocarbon
resources (see Figure 1.1). These include e.g.:

0 Export (transportation) pipelines;
Flowlines to transfer product from a platform to export lines;
Water injection or chemical injection flowlines;
Flowlines to transfer product between platforms, subsea manifolds and satellite wells;
Pipeline bundles.

The design process for each type of lines in general terms is the same. It is this general design
approach that will be discussed in this book.

Design of metallic risers is similar to pipeline design, although different analysis tools and
design criteria are applied. The last part of this book is devoted to riser design.

Finally, in Chapter 26, two pipeline design projects are used as examples demonstrating how
technical development described in this book is used to achieve cost saving and safetylquality.

1.2 Design Stages and Process

1.2.1 Design Stages
The design of pipelines is usually performed in three stages, namely;

Conceptual engineering,
Preliminary engineering or pre-engineering,
Detail engineering.