Detail Design

Laying Onshore-Offshore Pipelines for Oil or Gas

Large engineering and construction projects pose myriad challenges involving logistics, equipment, legal and regulatory issues, personnel, and safety. It's even more complex for onshore-offshore pipeline engineers, who must be masters of two worlds – one on land, and the other below the sea.

Onshore pipelines often must be laid along a serpentine route that is predetermined by the lay of the land, existing rights-of-way, and human habitation. Where long stretches of gently sloping open land do not exist, pipelines must be bridged over, snaked around, or tunneled through the earth’s surface.

Laying pipe offshore presents the opposite problem: difficult topography and deep water add huge amounts of cost and complexity to a project. Moreover, the very nature of ocean waves and currents creates a constantly shifting landscape under the surface and incredible forces on the pipeline, so extensive planning must be done to discover the straightest, shortest, and structurally firmest route between shore and the platform or wellhead.

To view a graphic glimpse of the pipe-laying process, click here to download a PDF version (393 KB) of the illustration.


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