Dealing With Challenges In Crude Oil Transportation

By Eugenia Dickerson


With the current industrial growth, many economies of the world have come to rely on petroleum products as the main power source in their industries. Because mankind has always been trying to understand nature, modern technologies have made it possible for oil to be mined in far flung mines and supplied to global markets. Most of the available crude oil transportation methods have been devised because markets and supply centres are not located at one point.

Pipelines are a popular means of collecting the crude from oilfields and moving it to access points from where trucks and tankers are loaded. These vessels then deliver it to secondary collection points that will supply the retail markets. This end has the refinery as one of its main features because of the sensitive nature associated with consumer products such as gasoline.

Most crude transporters view pipelines as the safest means of ferrying the product because they are concealed from prospective vandals. From the drilling rigs, the oil is moved to a measuring and storage point ready fro collection by secondary movers. If pipelines are to be employed, booster pumps must be installed at strategic points to pressurize the fluid to its destination. It must be noted that a single pipe can ferry more than one product depending on the operation schedule.

Unfortunately, the majority of the world supply comes from oil rich regions such as the Latin Americas, middle east and north Africa nations. Large volumes of crude are usually shipped to global markets by large oil tankers. Because these vessels hold hundreds of thousands of liters, they are governed by transportation rules applicable to ships that pose spillage risks on the seas.

It is commonplace for major shipping companies to install monitoring mechanisms on their carriers to monitor their location and to avoid catastrophic collisions on the open seas. There also exist specialized ships such as replenishment oilers that can supply moving vessels on the oceans. Nevertheless regulations governing marine transportation must be observed to minimize the risks of pollution through spillage.

most oil exploiters charter renowned shipping companies to move their commodity to demand centers. The agreement may either be voyage, bareboat, time or affreightment drafted. In the former, the hiring firm leases the equipment for usage between the source and destination for his product. He may also opt to hire the vessels for a stipulated period of time during which he purports to have transferred all his cargo.

The cargo manifold is a point through which the taker is loaded with fresh crude for shipping to faraway destinations. If the reservoirs are not properly vented to the atmosphere during loading, changes in fluid volume as the ambient temperature varies may cause accidental spillage. At the destination, evacuation pumps will transfer the fluid to offshore tanks. If a different fluid is to be introduced in the cargo holders, the tanks must fist be cleaned.

Sometimes, hot water may be enough to clean residues of a soluble fluid. Most crude oil transportation tankers have installed washing systems to prepare their holds for the ext cargo. To thoroughly clear remnant hydrocarbons, an inert gas is pumped in at a high pressure.




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