2.1 Introduction

Before designing an offshore pipeline, the design engineers need to understand the environments in which the pipeline will be installed and operated. What is the water depth? What are the water currents? How big are the waves? All those parameters will affect the mechanical design of the pipeline system. The fluids inside the pipeline will also influence the pipeline design. Is it single-phase or multiphase? Are the fluids corrosive? How much sand will be in the fluids? What are the operating pressures and temperatures? All these will influence the pipeline metallurgy selection. A list of the data that will affect the pipeline design follows:

• Reservoir performance

• Fluid and water compositions

• Fluid PVT properties

• Sand concentration

• Sand particle distribution

• Geotechnical survey data

• Meteorological and oceanographic data

In this chapter, all the parameters that would affect the pipeline design will be covered. The design engineers should try to collect all these data and have a good understanding of their impacts before they start to perform the pipeline design.

2.2 Design Data

There are numerous parameters that can affect the pipeline design and operations. The following sections will cover the most critical ones.