Chapter 2: From the Well to the Consumer

Hydrocarbon-producing wells deliver a vast number of chemicals and chemical mixtures into the flowlines, into subsurface and surface treating facilities, and then into the pipelines that deliver a product to a customer. This chapter describes the continuum of maintenance and integrity concerns that affect the connected pipeline and surface facilities and thus the steady flow of products from the wellhead to the final user of hydrocarbon chemicals.

The consumer facilities may use a product, such as natural gas, to directly generate power and heat, or the hydrocarbons may be subjected to processing, such as at a refinery or chemical plant. In this book, the chemicals produced from the wells that then transit the pipeline systems are grouped by phase as