a subsea pipeline also known as offshore pipeline is a length of pipe that is laid on or below the seabed it is used to transport oil or gas across long distances under the dark Bottom of the Sea there exists an extensive network of subsea pipelines for reference this is a map of subsea pipeline Network in Europe in this video we'll break it down and see what is inside the network let's begin with the most possible simplified perspective before looking into the more complex aspects this is a Wellhead where oil or gas comes out from the
ground the pipelines that transport the oil or gas to the processing facilities onshore or offshore are flow lines also known as production pipelines or in-field pipelines export pipelines are responsible for transporting process oil or gas from the production platform to onshore and offshore facilities transmission pipelines carry oil or gas from one Coast to another primarily for trading purposes now that's way too simple to look at the subsea pipelines in reality there's no such thing as one straight pipeline that would handle everything it actually involves a comprehensive system let's start again on the well where Oil
comes out when a newly discovered Reservoir is tapped oil flows out under an extremely high pressure a subsidy tree installed it regulates pressure and controls the flow of oils a jumper it connects and transmits oil from the subsidy tree to a production manifold in this setting there are six Wells production manifold it collects and directs flutes from mutable Wells into one or more flow lines the plet itself at the connection point between two pipes plem similar to plet but it can connect and distribute the flow from more than two Pipelines a subsea boosting pump may
be installed when a reservoir has low energy or insufficient pressure a pump station can be utilized to increase the flow rate from here the flow lines are connected to Vertical pipes known as risers and transporting oil up to the production platform all of these machines require power to function if not they are just a bunch of useless Metals under the bottom of the sea to provide Power to these equipment a large cable known as an umbilical installed inside umbilical there are several components that serve different functions high voltage cables electric cables Fiber Optic Cables chemical
flute lines and a hydraulic fluid line the umbilical is connected to a suta and then connects to the sdu and then distributes the cables to the rest of the subsea system this is only the beginning of the network speaking about the network I'm always using virtual private Network or VPN to protect my personal information the VPN service that I'm using is private internet access when you're browsing the internet your personal information is exposed just like walking on an open road and everyone can see it private internet access will turn that road into a private tunnel
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the network to new drilling locations not so far away the production site may have multiple flow lines that are connected to more than one platform to increase production capacity or a flow line can connect directly to an onshore facility in some cases to save cost from building a new processing facility a subsea tie back is used which is a process that connects the new production site to an existing platform let's move on to the export Pipelines if each of those platforms has to build its own export pipelines to reach the onshore facilities it could result
in higher costs instead there will be a main export Pipeline and each platform connects to it export pipelines not only transport oil to onshore facilities they can also transport oil to fso vessels and oil tankers transmission pipelines multiple lines from the starting points May merge into a single transmission line and then split into multiple lines to different destinations now you have an overview of the subsea pipeline Network let's take a look at how they are installed in the shallow water human workers can be sent down but in the deep sea rovs serve as workers subsidies
manifolds and other devices are laid down to the seabed using cranes all these assist in precisely positioning these devices foreign the sizes of these devices are pretty big in reality jumpers are short pipes they can also be laid down using cranes rovs plug-in necessary cables before laying a very long pipeline the sea floor needs to be scanned and analyzed not all the time the surface will be flat and easy so to pick out the right path to lay the pipelines important seabed preparation such as trenching and rock placement it is important to create a suitable
surface to lay the pipes this is similar to earthwork on land except that this is under the water and has to be done by using different types of remote operated vehicles there are three main methods of laying the pipes under the water Towing installation for short pipe section eslay and Jay lay methods are for laying a very long pipeline let's focus on the SLA method in this animation a long pipeline is formed by many shorter pipes welded together for example this pipe has a length of 12 meters and a diameter of 1 meter made of
steel and coated with reinforced concrete so this is the actual color of the pipeline pipes are carefully welded together and covered to make sure there will be no chance for leakage this is a pipe laying vessel pipes are produced onshore and loaded on the vessel the supply ship constantly delivers more pipes each small pipe will be welded and then slowly dropped down to the sea floor once the pipeline started the vessel has to keep continuing until the construction is finished which means there would be no break in between even if it has to go through
a storm if the vessel is halting for too long the pipeline might break and collapse because of the stretch the touchdown point is near the other laid down pipe the pipe will be measured and cut and then be connected by using mechanical connectors [Music] or by underwater welding method umbilical cables are laid down by a ship with a giant spool pipeline is subjected to external damages and needed to be repaired first the pipe needs to be lifted by subsea cranes repair clamps will be installed and then drill into the pipe a bypass pipe installed to
redirect the flow of oil the valves here will close to stop the flow of oil in the damaged section the oil inside will be flushed out the damaged section will then be renewed after that the valves open to let the oil flow normally again thank you for watching if you have anything to add please leave a comment below my name Lucius I'll see you in the next video
