A Survey of the Sarir Field-Tobruk Terminal Crude Oil Pipeline and Leak Detection Considerations

This article presents the simulation and hydraulic assessment of the Sarir field - Tobruk terminal pipeline. The pipeline transports crude oil from Sarir field in the South East of the Libyan Sahara desert to the Tobruk terminal in the East of the Libyan coast. The study exploits the VariSimTM pipeline simulation software. The pipeline, and its pumping facilities, were constructed in 1969 with 34inch diameter, 514 Km long pipework from the source to the demand. Currently, the pipeline ships approximately 200,000 barrels per day with the aid of one pump station placed in Sarir field. The considered transportation line is owned by the Libyan National Oil Corporation. In this work, a hydraulic analysis study based on simulation is conducted for the pipeline at different operating condition scenarios. It has been carried out in order to define the system efficiency and its performance under several different operating conditions. A leak detection methodology that depends on variance in flow and pressure deviations between simulated and measured values is also considered. This technique requires the implementation of two separate models, one driven by the upstream measured flow and the downstream measured pressure and another driven by the upstream measured pressure and the downstream measured flow.