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TAP-694-Formulating Guidance on Hydrotesting Deepwater Oil and Gas Pipelines

Office/Division Program
TAP
Project Number
694
Category
Research Initiation Date (Award Date)
Research Performing Activity
Stress Engineering Services
Research Principal Investigator
Dr. Ray Ayers
Description

As oilfield exploration has moved into deeper waters, BSEE has encountered different approaches to hydrotesting deepwater pipelines and risers. There are different and various pipeline designs, for example, pipe-in-pipe and single pipe, which introduce specific problems to the BSEE pipeline engineers when considering hydrotest requirements. In shallow water fixed platform pipeline design, parameters such as product gradient, water depth, hydrotest pressures, and hydrotest location are well understood and accepted. As pipelines are designed for deeper water depths, environments are being encountered that significantly alter the way pipelines are designed, hydrotested, and are assigned regulatory specifics such as Maximum Allowable Operating Pressure (MAOP) and Maximum Source Pressure (MSP). As water depths increase to 10,000 feet and beyond, BSEE recognize that there are several factors impacting hydrotest methodology which need to be considered during this study.

Latest progress update

This project has been completed.

Associated Attachments