The Ways and Measures to Improve the Economic Benefit for Northeast China Oil Pipeline Networks

Based on the operation status quo of Northeast China oil pipelines, the rheology, condensation point of Daqing crude oil, and the feasibility to lower the incoming temperature have been analyzed. It is pointed out that the minimum allowable incoming temperature can be determined according to the rheology of crude oil, the required shutdown time of pipeline, the thermal distribution along the in-line pipeline, as well as the load-bearing capacity of pipeline, and the equipment's allocation in puming station. The computations on shutdown and restart of the pipeline show that it is feasible in technology to cut down the minimum incoming temperature from 33 ℃ to 32 ℃. The authors suggest that the technical and economic evaluation on crude oil's rheology, thermal/hydraulic distribution along the whole pipeline networks, pipelines and equipments, and natural conditions be made. And on the base of this, the necessary revision on current operational regulations should be done in order to raise economic benefit for Northeast China oil pipeline networks.