Experience of Using a Fibre Optic Pipeline Monitoring System in a Remote Desert Environment

Abstract

Abstract BP Oman has recently come to the end of a three-year extended well test (EWT) project to provide field data for the $17+bn Khazzan major project, involving the development of a tight gas field with approximately 300 wells and due to commence production in 2017/8. The EWT facilities included a gathering pipeline network and gas & liquid export pipelines. The major pipelines were equipped with a fibre optic pipeline monitoring system that was developed, and field trialled through a BP-led technology project. The monitoring system has the capability of continuously monitoring the full length of the buried pipeline on which it is installed, as well as provide real-time indication of leaks, third party activity around the pipeline, ground movement and the passage of maintenance or inspection pigs through the pipeline. The implementation of the monitoring technology for the Oman EWT project was the first full-scale implementation of the system. The paper describes the capabilities of the fibre optic monitoring system and the experience gained throughout the three years of operations experience in Oman. In particular, operating experience has proven the system's capability of accurately tracking pipeline pigs, and this is illustrated using data from a cleaning & inspection pigging campaign.