PIPELINE BASICS

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PIPELINE BASICS MODES OF TRANSPORTATION OF PETROLEUM PRODUCTS

� Rail � Road � Sea � Pipeline

A comparison of share of petroleum products carried by various modes of transportation in India in 2003-04 is shown below:

Movement of Petroleum Products in India

43%42%

11% 4%

Road Rail Pipelines Coastal

CROSS COUNTRY PIPELINES A Cross country pipeline is generally laid across cross country locations in addition to Pipeline Operator’s own premises, mostly passing thru agricultural and waste lands and crossing various roads, railways, canals, rivers and other utility lines enroute. The pipeline stations like pumping stations etc. will be developed in the lands under the Pipeline Owner’s possession for respective purposes. Cross country pipelines are generally laid underground maintaining a minimum top cover of 1 metre duly following relevant statutory and technical specifications. A corridor of appropriate width, say 18 metres is required for pipeline laying activity all along the pipeline route for movement of construction equipments deployed during construction. This corridor is acquired under Petroleum & Mineral Pipeline (Acquisition of Right of User in Lands) Act, 1962 and its amendments. As per the act, after due publication of gazette notifications (called 3(1), 5(1), 6(1) notifications) under the above act thru Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, the pipeline owner acquires Right of Use (ROU) for laying and maintenance of the pipeline along the desired corridor. The land owners are allowed right to use the same after completion of pipeline laying for the original usage, mostly for agriculture purpose, with out carrying out any permanent construction.

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Sub sea / under water pipelines require specific approvals from concerned authorities. Suitable OFC communication cables are also laid along with pipeline for data and communication needs of pipeline operations. WHAT CAN BE TRANSPORTED? Crude Oil, Refined Petroleum Products (HSD, SKO, MS, ATF, Naphtha, Black Oil, FO, LDO), Petrochemical Products, Chemicals, LPG, Natural Gas, Any other Gas. ADVANTAGES OF PIPELINE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION The advantages of the pipelines over the other modes of transport for supply of petroleum products are listed below:

• It is a safe and reliable mode of transport system.

• It is an economical and dependable mode of transport system particularly to the sensitive and strategic areas.

• It provides a long term infrastructural option.

• The difficulties in handling large volume of products by rail from one loading point is reduced.

• Minimum transit loss. The transit losses in rail/road transportation is as high as 0.3 to 0.5% of throughput, while in case of pipeline, it ranges from 0.05 to 0.10% of the throughput which gives added advantage to pipelines.

• In pipeline containers remain static whereas the cargo is moved. In case of other modes the container moves along with the products and returns empty carrying the dead load.

• Pipeline reduces congestion in some heavy trafficked routes.

• The pipeline is hardly effected by natural calamities like flood, earthquake etc.

• Land cost is minimum because once pipeline is buried the land can be restored back for use.

• The energy consumed per unit distance per unit weight of products moved by pipelines is comparatively much less than railways.

• The environmental impact on the pipeline is limited mainly to the period of laying the line and operation. During operation there may be deterioration in the air quality owing to running of the pumps and emissions of hydrocarbon which occur during storage and despatch activities but of little effect on the environment. Therefore the environmental impact on the pipelines is relatively insignificant as compared to other modes of transportation system.

In case of transportation through pipeline, the investment is huge. As a rule of thumb, investment of one crore of rupees is required, for one kilometer of 12- 14” dia pipeline

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along with it’s related station facilities. However the operating costs are relatively low due to low friction and energy requirement in pipeline transportation. When large volumes are required to be moved into the hinterlands over a long distance, the investment becomes viable. The pay back period normally ranges over 5 years.

DESIGN LIFE Conventionally, pipelines are designed for continuous operation for a period of 35 years. These lines are however adequately protected against internal / external corrosion and can be maintained in excellent condition. There are pipelines which are under operation even beyond such periods such as Haldia - Barauni, Gauhati - Barauni Pipeline etc.

PIPELINE ACCIDENTS STATISTICS (Source: Office of Pipeline Safety, USA)

Combined data for hazardous liquid, natural gas transmission, and natural gas distribution pipelines in USA for the year 2002-2003 indicates that “outside force” damage contributes to a larger number of pipeline accidents and incidents than any other category of accident causes. Outside force damage can be caused by earth movement, lightning, heavy rains and flooding, extreme temperatures, high winds, excavation by an operator or third party, fire or explosion external to the pipeline, vehicle strikes, rupture of previously damaged pipe and vandalism. The data shows that the largest portion of outside force damage results due to excavation. The range of excavation damage runs from damage to the external coating of the pipe, which can lead to accelerated corrosion and the potential for future failure to cutting directly into the line and causing leaks, or, in some cases, catastrophic failure.

When only hazardous liquid pipelines are considered, corrosion contributes to a higher number of accidents than other categories. Given below in the table are some recent statistics showing the causes of pipeline accidents for Hazardous Liquid Pipelines for the period Jan’02 to Dec’03.

Reported Cause Number

of Accidents

% of Total

Accidents

Product Loss(KL)

Property Damages ($)

% of Total

Damages Fatalities Injuries

Excavation 41 15.0 5600 9,207,822 12.2 0 0 Natural Forces 13 4.7 802 2,646,447 3.5 0 0 Other Outside Force 12 4.4 488 2,062,535 2.7 0 0 Materials or Weld Failure 45 16.4 6669 30,760,495 40.6 0 0

Equipment Failure 42 15.3 909 2,761,068 3.6 0 0 Corrosion 72 26.3 9088 18,734,697 24.8 0 0 Operations 13 4.7 1302 602,408 0.8 0 4 Other 36 13.1 3150 8,918,974 11.8 1 1 Total 274 28007 75,694,446 1 5

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PIPELINE SAFETY RECORD (Source: Office of Pipeline Safety, USA)

Pipelines operate more safely than any other modes of oil transportation. The table given below shows Accident Rates of Petroleum Transportation Methods i.e. the likelihood of occurrence of a particular type of accident for a mode of transportation compared to an oil pipeline. These figures include only accidents involving petroleum shipments, not all accidents for a given transportation mode. Accident Rates of Petroleum Transportation Methods Values less/more than 1.0 indicate risk of accident is lower/greater than pipeline transportation. It can be seen that truck accidents result in deaths at least 87 times more often than pipeline accidents. Likewise, truck accidents result in fires and/or explosions about 35 times more frequently per barrel of oil transported per mile. Mode of Transport Death Fire/Explosion Injury

Truck 87.3 34.7 2.3 Rail 2.7 8.6 0.1 Barge 0.2 4.0 3.6 Tank Ship 4.0 1.2 3.1

*Comparisons based on calculated rates per ton-mile. (Source: Allegro Energy Group)

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PETROLEUM PIPELINES : INDIA In India, the first crude oil pipeline was built between Nahorkatiya (Assam) to Barauni in 1960s and the first product pipeline between Guwahati – Siliguri in 1964. The success of these pipelines led to implementation of lot more pipelines in the country. Currently there is a network of 3 nos crude oil pipelines of total capacity of 34 MMTPA traversing through 4000 Kms and a network of 17 petroleum product lines of total capacity of 62 MMTPA traversing through 6600 Kms. There are also 2 nos. LPG pipelines owned by Gas Authority of India Ltd. with a total capacity of 3.8 MMTPA. Details of existing Petroleum Product Pipelines and Crude Pipelines in India are given below:

Petroleum Product Pipeline Length (Kms) Capacity (MMTPA)

Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL)

1. Guwahati – Siliguri 435 0.818 2. Koyali – Ahmedabad 116 1.100 3. Barauni-Kanpur 676 3.500

• Kanpur – Lucknow (Br. Line) 69 1.700 4. Haldia – Barauni 525 1.250 5. Haldia Mourigram Rajbandh 269 1.350 6. Mathura Jalandhar 526 3.700

� Mathura – Delhi 147 3.700

� Delhi – Ambala 214 2.200

� Ambala – Jalandhar 165 1.350

� Sonepat – Meerut (Branch Line) 70 0.600

7. Kandla Bhatinda 1443 8.800 � Kandla – Panipat 1113 8.800

� Panipat – Bhatinda 218 1.500

� Kot – Salawas 112 0.750

8. Digboi Tinsukia � Black Oil 36 0.200

� White Oil 39 0.530

9. Koyali – Viramgam – Sidhpur 249 4.100 10. Koyali – Navgam 78 1.800 11. Mathura – Tundla Pipeline 56 1.200

Subtotal 4591 28.350 Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) 1. Mumbai – Pune 161 3.670

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Petroleum Product Pipeline Length (Kms) Capacity (MMTPA)

2. Vizag- Vijayawada - Secunderabad 572 5.380

Subtotal 733 9.050 Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) 1. Mumbai – Manmad – Indore 552 4.330 Petronet India Limited (PIL) 1. Vadinar – Kandla (VKPL) 100 11.500 2. Kochi – Karur 293 3.300 3. Mangalore – Bangalore 364 5.600 Subtotal 757 20.400 Total 6633 62.130

CRUDE OIL PIPELINES

Pipeline Length (Kms) Capacity (MMTPA)

Duliyajan Barauni Pipeline (OIL) 1157 5.5 Salaya – Mathura - Panipat (IOCL) 1870 21.0 Haldia - Barauni (IOCL) 943 7.5 Total 3970 34.0

PETROLEUM PIPELINE SYSTEM: FROM THE WELLHEAD TO THE CONSUMER There are essentially three major types of pipeline systems:

� Gathering pipeline systems � Crude Oil pipeline systems � Refined Products pipeline systems.

Gathering pipeline systems gather crude oil from production wells. Crude oil pipeline systems transport crude oil from the gathering systems to refineries. Crude oil systems can be tens to hundreds of miles in length and cross state and continental borders. Refined products pipeline systems transport refined products such as HSD, SKO, MS, LPG etc. and petrochemicals from refineries to the end user or to storage and distribution

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terminals. Refined products pipelines can extend tens to thousands of miles and cross state and continental borders. The pipe used in oil pipeline systems can range in size from 2 inches to 42 inches in diameter. Oil pipeline systems are owned and operated by many different companies. Given below is a typical schematic illustrating a pipeline system from the wellhead to the end consumer.

�

Crude oil gathering lines

Chemicals & feedstocks

Manufacturers

Wholesale & Retail Sales

Refinery & Chemical Plant

Refined products transmission line Pump

Station

Crude oil offloaded from overseas

tankers

Bulk product storage facility

(tank farm)

Crude oil transmission lines

Product deliveries

Pump Station

Crude oil from wells on land

Crude oil from offshore drilling

platforms

Crude oil storage & treatment

tanks Bulk storage facility

(tank farm) distribution terminal

Storage facility (tank farm) for direct served user such as

airports

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BASIC PIPELINE SYSTEM

Any pipeline system will typically consist of following components:

� Main pumping station attached to a storage terminal (dispatch terminal)

Facilities o Storage Tanks o Booster / Mainline Pumps o Pressure Control & Metering o PIG launcher o Corrosion Inhibitor Injection o Fire Fighting, Electrical & Instrumentation

Despatch terminal – Storage Facilities

Despatch Terminal – Piping Manifold

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Despatch Terminals – Booster Pumps

Despatch Terminal – Mainline Pumps

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� Main Pipeline

Facilities o Line Pipe & Bends o Pipeline coating o Insulation Joint o Cathodic Protection o Sectionalizing Valves & Appurtenances

� Intermediate pumping stations

Facilities o Pigging Facilities o Pumping Facilities o Sectionalizing valves & appurtenances

Intermediate Pumping facilities

Intermediate Pigging Faclities

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� Intermediate tapoff stations

Facilities o Pigging facilities o Pressure Control & Metering o Storage Tanks o Corrosion monitoring o Fire Fighting, Electrical & Instrumentation

� End receipt station / terminal

Facilities o PIG receiver o Pressure Control & Metering o Storage Tanks o Corrosion monitoring o Fire Fighting, Electrical & Instrumentation

� Telecom & SCADA

PIPELINE MATERIALS

� Pipes � Pumps (Compressors for gas) � Valves (Ball Valves, Gate Valves, Plug Valves, Hammer Blind Valves etc.) � Pressure / Flow Control Valves � Density Meter � Flow Meter � PIG launcher / Receivers & PIG signalers � SCADA & telecom � Leak Detection System � Electrical & Instrumentation