Building the World's Longest Heated Pipeline—A Technology Application Review

The world depends on oil for much of its energy needs and global demand for oil is forecast to increase significantly in the future as countries such as China and India continue to develop Much of the world's conventional or “easy” oil sources have already been located and developed, so oil companies are increasingly turning to more difficult nonconventional oil sources that require innovative technology to be developed successfully. Often it is the physical properties of the oil that define it as nonconventional, such as being unusually heavy or viscous or containing a high percentage of wax, presenting difficult flow assurance and transportation problems that must be overcome. This paper describes the development of an Indian oil field containing a kind of oil so waxy that it is solid at ambient temperatures, requiring the construction of the world's longest heated pipeline to transport the waxy crude more than 600 km from a remote desert location to a coastal refining hub. The topics covered include the evaluation of various transportation solutions, selection of a skin effect heating system, thermal insulation, power sources and distribution, challenges associated with the design and construction, and lessons learnt that could enhance the safety and reliability of future projects.