Highest (largest elevation difference) Pipeline

[BigInch]

4,901m (16,079ft) above sea level, puts the Peru LNG Pipeline in the Guinness World Records for highest pipeline, but what's the record for largest elevation difference in a liquid hydrocarbon pipeline?

I've worked on three that were pretty high, but nowhere near that 16,079 ft mark.
BTC went to 2,830m (9,285ft) elevation two times.
Gizan to Abha Product Pipeline, Saudi Arabia. Also went to the same elevation 2,830m
Caño Limón Pipeline, Colombia approximately 3,000m (9,842ft).

I know of one that is higher. Oleoducto Crudo Pesado "OCP", in Ecuador where it hits 4,100m (13,451ft)

They all start, or terminate at sea level.

 

[EmmanuelTop]

This (Peru LNG) could easily be the pipeline with highest elevation difference, given the fact that the LNG plant is just a few hundred meters above sea level. I used to work there in 2012 but I forgot the details.

Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE

 

[BigInch]

Yes Emmanuel that one has the Guinness world record according to Wiki, so then I got to wondering about non-gas, ie. crude, or product pipelines.

 

[BigInch]

Did you need O₂.
I'll bet the diesels didn't work so well up there. Turbocharged?

 

[BigInch]

OCP's profile

 

[zdas04]

At that elevation you have to mess with the turbocharger (sometimes at 14,000 ft we put a low-ratio air compressor (blower) in front of the turbo to get that missing 5 psi back), but once you do that it has most of the sea level hp. There is quite a bit of gas stuff above 10,000 ft, but none of it goes to sea level without intervening equipment.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist

 

[EmmanuelTop]

Hi BigInch,

I used to work in the LNG plant itself so I did not have a chance to get familiar with the configuration of the upstream segments. The farthest point I had visited upstream was the pipeline metering station located in the sand dunes of Pampa Melchorita, few kilometers away from the plant. Photo of the area is attached to this post (without pipeline).

You are probably correct with regards to O₂ issues with turbomachinery. I was in a group of tourist visiting Cusco (elevation 11,200ft) and Lake Titicaca (elevation 12,550ft) during my off-rotation period, where some of us had problems with breathing. The traditional way to get your blood moving faster and transferring more O₂ is to chew Coca leaves, which are being sold legally in every shop or market store. I suspect, however, that a different recipe works with the machinery.

Dejan IVANOVIC
Process Engineer, MSChE

 

[BigInch]

Looks like I'll have to make a kmz of that pipeline, for world's record sake.

Passing through US Customs must be a very pleasant experience after a business trip like that.
Have to be careful about answering the question, "Did you get high at all while you were there?"

 

[Gator]

So zdas, that would be turbosupercharged? Or superturbocharged?

"I had to get high to go high".

Piping Design Central

 

[zdas04]

We actually called it "putting a blower in the Turbo Suction". I've never heard of a packaged 2-stage turbo, but they may exist (but they might not, that would be a really high backpressure on the engine). Overall efficiency goes down, but power output stays up.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist