oil pipeline operation

[chrism91]

I was just wondering if anyone had an idea of how oil pipelines operate. Are they run 24/7? and if so do all of their pumping stations need to be operating? Can the pipeline still operate even if one or more pumping stations are out of service or would this depend on how much they are pumping? Ex. less oil to pump means less pumping stations used.

Thanks

 

[BigInch]

A pipeline run to its full economic benefit would usually be running at design capacity 24/7. All pumps and stations would be running. The flowrate would presumably drop if any given pump, including an entire station, was off line. In some minimum flow situations it could be better to operate the pipeline intermitantly at design capacity or near, rather than run pumps at off BEP (best efficiency point) for 24/7. Many pipelines have a range of operating flowrates defined for the number and locations of pumps that are running verses those that are off. As crude oil pipelines typically have a flowrate of the summation of the flows of all wells and fields that are operating at any given time, and ideally wells and fields change flowrates slowly over the years, rather than week by week. It is therefore more typical to find them running 24/7 with most pumps operating, 24/7 at near design capacity. The number of flowrates available depend on pump flow capacity, their configuration, series or parallel,pump maintenance schedules, spare pumps designed into the system to improve reliability and their pressure capacity. Theoretically you could get a different flowrate for every combination of pumps on and off that you can possibly manage to arrange.

Independent events are seldomly independent.