05.07.2009

Pipelines will be an integral part of our energy distribution systems for the foreseeable future with tens of billions of dollars being invested in pipeline infrastructure, due in part to the increase use worldwide of combined cycle power generation plant using natural gas a fuel. The need to construct large diameter pipelines over long distances has led to an increased demand to improve the productivity of pipeline girth welding. In a number of cases, the cost of exporting the energy will have a dominating influence on the viability of the upstream production facilities. These facilities will progress only if the industry can substantially reduce capital expenditure and improve design for pipeline integrity. Whether the application is an onshore gas transmission line or a deepwater pipeline, there is a need to constantly improve the productivity, quality, integrity, and reliability of pipeline girth welds to reduce construction costs. There is also a need for improved technologies suitable for the higher strength steels currently being developed. Different types of welding procedures exist such as one-shot welding and power beam processes. Currently, innovative hybrid laser/arc welding techniques, such as GMAW are the dominant pipe girth welding technique. They best assure weld soundness, material properties, geometric profile, and offer the best chance of developing high integrity welding processes

The Israeli Petroleum Law enacted in 1952 and its amendments. The Israeli Petroleum Law was passed in 1952 and underwent substantial amendments in 1965. The law governs the exploration and production of petroleum in Israel. Petroleum is defined as any petroleum fluid whether liquid or gaseous and includes oil, natural gas, natural gasoline, condensates and related fluid hydrocarbons and also asphalt and other solid petroleum hydrocarbons when dissolved in and producible with fluid petroleum. The Law provides for three types of rights, two relevant to the exploration stage, and the third for the production phase. The lowest level right is the preliminary permit, which may be granted for a period not exceeding 18 months. The permit allows the prospector to conduct preliminary investigations, except for test drilling, to ascertain the prospects for discovering petroleum in the area covered by the permit. The recipient of a preliminary permit is entitled to request a priority right on the permit area, which, if granted, prevents the awarding of any other petroleum right on the area. There are no statutory restrictions as to maximum size of the permit area or to the number of permits which may be held by one prospector, however the policy is to award no larger an area than that for which the applicant has a reasonable plan of operation and has shown possession of the necessary financial resources to execute the plan. The second type of right is the license, bestowing an exclusive right for further exploration work, and requiring the drilling of test wells. The initial term of a license is up to three years and may be extended for up to an additional four years. A license area may not exceed 400,000 dunams (approximately 100,000 acres). Upon discovery of petroleum, the licensee has a statutory right to receive the third type of right, which is a production lease. The initial lease term is 30 years, extendible to a maximum period of 50 years. A lease confers upon the leasee the exclusive right to explore for and produce petroleum in the lease area and requires that the leasee produce petroleum in commercial quantities (or pursue test or development drilling). The leasee is entitled to transport and market the petroleum produced, subject to the right of the Government to call upon him to supply local needs first, at market price. A leasee is liable for a royalty of one-eighth (12 .5 %) of the quantity of petroleum produced and saved from the lease area, excluding the quantity of the petroleum used in operating the leased area, and subject to a minimum royalty set forth in the Law.

The Petroleum Law also gives the state of Israel first right to buy gas from a field as well as the right to take its royalty (12.5%) in kind (namely in gas rather than in money)

In theory, jetting consists of fluidizing the seabed soil so that the heavier pipeline sinks in.

The jetting plough is placed over the pipeline and high pressure water jets from nozzles blast the surrounding soil away from the pipeline.

Jetting disperses the local soil away from the pipeline and creates a wide trench. In most
cases, the soil is not returned immediately and the pipeline gets covered in time depending on the bottom sediment load.

Jetting is done in sands and soft clays, but in hard clays ploughing may be required.

A project associated with a prospective trend of potential prospects, but which requires more data acquisition and/or evaluation in order to define specific leads or prospects.

Project activities are focused on acquiring additional data and/or under undertaking further evaluation designed to define specific leads or prospects for more detailed analysis of their chance of discovery and, assuming discovery, the range of potential recovery under hypothetical development scenarios.

A play is a “type” location where one might find oil and gas (such as a 4 way dip closure or a bump is a play type, a fault block is a play type, a reef high is a play type, nose is a play type). One can find more than one play type near to each other such as in certain permits where there are reef and nose play types.

Usually the government

Small irregularities inside an oil or gas pipeline can cause turbulence in the product flow, which increases friction loss leading to potentially high loss of liquids. The best practice in pipeline maintenance includes regular cleaning pig runs which clears the pipeline before debris has time to accumulate.

A vessel used to entrench pipelines beneath the seafloorThe Deep Blue is the world’s largest purpose-built ultra deepwater pipelay and subsea construction vessel. It can lay flowlines and umbilicals, and support developments in water depths ranging from 75m to 2,500m. It can carry out rigid pipelay (reeling) of up to 5,500t of 4in to 18in pipe or 4,000t of 4in to 26in rigid pipelay (J-Lay). Alternatively, it can lay up to 5,764t of 2in to 16in flexible pipe. Its maximum payload of 11,023t can consist of either two rigid reels (5,511t), flexible lines in two carousels (2,000t and 1,500t), eight portable 300t reels, 4,000t rigid pipe strings or 3,000t of subsea structures..