Dr C P Ellinas Advanced Mechanics & Engineering Ltd Major advances have
been achieved in recent years in subsea pipeline design and
installation. Inspection, maintenance and repair have also received much
attention. The development of marginal fields has brought with it
special problems, which have necessitated novel methods and solutions.
In the meanwhile interest in the development of deepwater fields
continues with the development of new technology. This Conference has
placed emphasis in addressing developments in pipeline technology under
four main headings: pipeline/seabed interaction; flexible pipelines;
pipeline design, fabrication and installation; deepwater applications.
Advances in North Sea technology over the last few years have been
concerned mostly with marginal fields, small diameter pipelines and new
materials, which are well covered in the first three topics. Economic
development of marginal fields requires processing of oil and gas to
take place not at the wellhead but at existing facilities, usually some
distance away. Hydrocarbons are thus often transported at high pressure
and temperature in small diameter pipelines, which need to be protected
through trenching. However, such operational practice has brought to the
fore a problem that in the past was of little concern namely, upheaval
buckling.