Managing oil properties in order to optimise power consumption in trunk pipelines

ORGANISATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS TO maximise energy efficiency are traditionally afforded a great deal of attention in pipeline oil transportation. Nonetheless, as has been shown by benchmark studies conducted by the International Association of Oil Transporters, there are still significant areas of improvement for lowering energy use. One promising area involves managing the flow properties of the fluids being pumped. There are some widely known technological solutions for pumping oil with diluting agents or by heating, or using anti-turbulent or depressor additives. However, significantly less consideration is given to possibilities for optimising the compositional blend of crude oils. These blends can be formed from a range of products from different suppliers, either at main pumping stations, or during line boosting at “tie-ins” in trunk pipelines.Forming commercial batches from a blend of crude oils shows promise as a logistical and technical measure. It would require its own methodological basis in order to produce solutions using effective algorithms to manage the technological process of pumping.This article presents methodological approaches to achieving the aim of optimising the composition of crude oil batches, according to the criterion of the minimum unit energy costs for pumping. It also evaluates how sensitive power consumption is to changes in viscosity, given various oil flow parameters in the pipelines, and provides a rationale for the conditions necessary to achieve a positive operational effect. In this research, an algorithm was developed for finding optimum concentration values for batches being prepared for transport, based on analysis of a viscosity isotherm for a binary mixture of oils.This study uses the example of calculating various options for forming binary mixtures from crude stock at delivery and acceptance points of the first process section of the Usa - Ukhta trunk pipeline, in order to demonstrate the option to reduce energy consumption by 4.5%, provided planned targets are met unconditionally.