Class project at Texas A&M University

1. Gas Pipeline Design
Abass Babatunde
Mohammad Dalu
Ibizugbe Nosakhare
Cyril Iyasele
Natural Gas Engineering
May 12, 2010

2. Outline
 Introduction
 Natural gas gathering
 Transportation of natural gas
 Pipeline components
 Pipeline design
 Conclusion / recommendation

3. Introduction
The efficient and effective movement of natural gas from producing regions
to consumption regions requires an extensive and elaborate transportation
system
 Gas transmission to consumer may be divided into:
Gathering system Compression station
Main trunk line Distribution lines
 Pipelines provide an economical method of transporting fluids over great
distances

4. Natural Gas Gathering
 The gathering system is made up of branches that lead into trunk lines
 Must be large enough to handle production of additional leases

5. Transportation of Natural Gas
 Gas produced from a well usually travels a great distance to its point of use
 Transportation system comprises complex pipeline networks
 Designed for quick and efficient transport of gas from origin to areas of high
demand

6. Pipeline Components
 Pipes
 Compressor Stations
 Metering Stations
 Valves
 Control Stations & SCADA systems

7. Pipeline Components
PIPES
 Measure anywhere from 6 to 48 inches in diameter
 Certain component pipe sections consists of smaller diameter pipe (0.5 in)
 Consists of strong carbon steel material, to meet API standards
 Covered with a specialized coating to prevent corrosion when paced under ground

8. Pipeline Components
COMPRESSOR STATIONS
 Natural gas is highly pressurized as it travels through interstate lines
 To ensure the flowing gas remains pressurized, compression is required
 Compressor stations usually placed at 40 to 100 mile intervals along pipeline

9. Pipeline Components
METERING STATIONS
 Measures the flow of gas along pipeline
 Placed periodically along interstate gas lines
 Allows monitoring and management of gas in pipes

10. Pipeline Components
VALVES
 Gateways: allow free flow or restriction of gas flow
 Interstate lines include valves along entire length
 Gas flow may be restricted if a section of pipe
requires:
 maintenance
 replacement

11. Pipeline Components
CONTROL STATIONS
 Monitor and control gas in pipeline
 Collect, assimilate, and manage data received
from compressor and metering stations
 Data received is provided by SCADA systems
(Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition)

12. Pipeline Design
Pipeline Flow Equations
 Weymouth

13. Pipeline Design
Design Objective
 Move 21 MMscf/h of gas from
Farmington, NM to Seattle, WA
Constraints
 500 psia suction pressure
 500 psia delivery pressure
 Varying elevations

14. Pipeline Design
Methodology
 Cities distances and elevations noted
 Average temperatures estimated for each city
 Initial pipe size selected
 Max yield strength, allowable working pressure for selected pipe noted
 Initial guess made for the C.R. required for the first compression station.
 Expected output pressure computed

15. Pipeline Design
Methodology
 Pipe length calculated and compared to the distance between the first two cities
 Iteration carried out to determine number of compressor stations required
between Farmington and Seattle
 Simulation run for economical solution
 Installation costs determined
 Total cost, including cost of pipes noted

16. Pipeline Design
Methodology
 Initial pipe size changed, and the entire procedure above repeated
 Results evaluated to determine the optimum solution for the design

17. Pipeline Design
Results vs. Cost
Cost analysis
Nominal # of CAPEX of
Diameter NPV @ Compressor Cost of Pipeline Compressors Yearly OPEX
(in) 10% Stations ($ Billion) ($ Billion) ($ Billion)
16 4.575 17 1.068 2.167 0.168
20 2.225 6 1.326 0.530 0.046
24 2.436 4 1.624 0.370 0.028
26 2.256 3 1.787 0.307 0.020
30 2.291 2 2.142 0.009 0.018

18. Pipeline Design
Conclusion / Recommendation
A transportation network, with pipelines of 20 inches OD and 6 compression
stations will effectively deliver 21,000,000 scf/h of gas, from Farmington, NM
to Seattle, WA