Pipeline transportation is a long-distance transportation method for liquid and gaseous substances using pipelines as a means of transportation. It is a special mode of transportation for transporting oil, coal and chemical products from the place of production to the market, and is a special component of trunk transportation in the unified transportation network.
Sometimes, pneumatic pipelines can also do similar work, and compressed gas is used to transport solid tanks filled with goods. Pipeline transportation of petroleum products is more expensive than water transportation, but still cheaper than rail transportation. Most pipelines are used by their owners to transport their own products.
Pipeline transportation is not only large-scale, safe, reliable, stable, continuous, fast, economical, low investment, small footprint, and low cost, but also can be automatically controlled. Pipeline transportation can save the transit trouble of water or land transportation, shorten the transportation cycle, reduce transportation costs, and improve transportation efficiency.
The current development trend of pipeline transportation is: the diameter of the pipeline continues to increase, the transportation capacity is greatly improved; the pipeline transportation distance is rapidly increasing; the transportation of materials has gradually expanded from fluids such as oil, natural gas, and chemical products to non-fluids such as coal and ore.
From the perspective of advantages, pipeline transportation has its unique advantages in oil and gas transportation. First of all, it lies in its smooth and uninterrupted traffic. In modern large-scale production, oil fields are continuously producing, pipelines are continuously transporting, and refineries and chemicals are continuously producing finished products to meet the needs of the national economy; second, safe transportation is achieved. For oil and natural gas, transportation by car and train is very dangerous, while pipelines are sealed underground, so they are extremely safe; third, quality is guaranteed, pipelines are sealed for transportation, oil products do not volatilize, and quality is not affected; fourth, it is economical, pipeline transportation has low losses, low freight, small land occupation, and little pollution.
