Abstract
Characteristic of high pour point oil may cause problems in pipeline transportation if it is not handled carefully, especially in long and hilly terrain pipeline. It may form solid in ambient temperature, and further may cause pipe plugging along the line, especially in sloping pipe area. The pipeline is 20 inch diameter stretch 250 km from Tanjung oil field to oil refinery in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan Province of Indonesia.
Alternatives of transportation had been considered, such as insulation line, heating, chemical, etc. Alternative chosen was transportation of mix fluid of the high pour point oil and water. Transportation of mix liquid may prevent accumulation of solid oil particle at places along the line and avoid pipe plugging, and the method was also considered low cost of investment and operation. Such method of transportation has been conducted since 1963 and reached peak pumping of 44.000 BOPD oil production. At present time total oil production has declined to only 7800 BOPD, and transportation of the oil production is conducted periodically 12 times a year in oil-water mixture of 65% oil and 35% water, with total oil transported 250.000 Barrel per-pumping period.
On year 2002 it was experienced an operational failure, when the pipeline was plugged caused by solid oil particle accumulation, causing interruption of pumping. An effort to remove the plugging has succeeded by conducting "rocking" method and injection of light oil, and such method was able to bring transportation to normal operation in considerably short time.
A simple modelling approach of the high pour point crude oil transportation has been obtained using Multi Phase Flow Dynamic Model OLGA to study characteristic of the flow in pipeline through a hill, and predict critical operation conditions to avoid unexpected transportation failure in the future.
