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The oil and gas industry is moving towards the use of non-metallic pipeline material, such as reinforced thermoplastic and flexible piping, for applications in offshore fields. However, these materials have certain pressure and diameter constraints that require careful analysis prior to deciding on the appropriate piping material to be installed. The objective of this paper is to suggest an integrated approach that considers the reservoir properties, well path and the field pipeline network to determine the operating pressure and diameter that is ultimately used to select the appropriate pipeline material for offshore field developments. The proposed integrated model uses a series of three optimization techniques to determine the optimum field development architecture, which includes the allocation of wells, pipeline network configuration and well path optimization. The model starts by applying a continuous optimization technique to find the optimum subsurface and surface network. It then uses a graph-theorical approach to find the optimum pipeline route based on an appropriate minimum radius of curvature while considering the presence of obstacles in the seabed. From the results of this optimization, a dynamic nodal analysis is applied to determine the optimum operating conditions of the field (e.g. pressure and well rate). Finally, mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) is used to optimize the pipeline diameter subject to constraints based on the maximum pressure and pipeline size of different non-metallic pipeline materials. Analysis of the model results demonstrates that ignoring any of the reservoir, wellbore and surface facility components results in an underestimation or overestimation of the operating conditions of the field, which subsequently leads to incorrect selection of pipeline materials. Therefore, an integrated approach is necessary to evaluate the non-metallic piping applications in the oil and gas industry.

The task of managing petroleum projects is often cumbersome and complex, as these projects involve a vast number of activities that are often conducted in remote and potentially dispersed locations. In addition, petroleum projects must reconcile the many transactions that occur between multiple stakeholders, including the developer and their contractors. Due to this nature of business, projects are subject to fraudulent activity, cyber-attacks and lost time. To alleviate these issues, this paper presents a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consortium blockchain that executes and tracks oil and gas project tasks, while providing secured and transparent documentation and time stamping for all the project activities. Historically, many companies have worked on technologies to improve scheduling and project management by implementing intelligent and digitized information system solutions. Yet, these solutions require a centralized entity to monitor the activities - leading to errors and fraud. The approach adopted here overcomes these limitations by suggesting a smart contract decentralized blockchain that can solve many of the problems preventing management efficiency. The process utilizes a web-based framework that scans record tamper-evident transactions based on peer-to-peer network involving the developer and the contractor machines. The approach also creates a web interface to allow stakeholders to interact with the blockchain and store schedule updates and completion certificates. As there is no paperwork to process, and no time wasted on reconciling errors associated with filing these documents, the proposed application demonstrates a promising tool to improve speed, efficiency, and accuracy. It can enforce the contract conditions and manage the tracking of complex oil and gas activities. Employees within the developer and contractor companies can record a transaction in the network and ensure that the data within the block is not tampered with and contain a secured timestamp. The record is stored in the multiple machines available in the network and serves as a digital signature for each activity completed in the project. However, because the network is open to all stakeholders, the process requires regulation to prevent adverse events, such as members posting without restrictions. To overcome this limitation, each member is required to have a public and private key to post in the application. The paper also discusses other potential limitations to this approach to project management, and strategies that can be employed to make this use of blockchain technology viable in commercial settings. Because the data stored in the proposed blockchain is immutable, secured, and transparent, the blockchain application has the potential to transform the traditional process by tracking and digitally time-stamping all the project deliverables required by the stakeholders involved. Nevertheless, the paper argues that there are several technical, security and legal limitations needed to be addressed before having the application as mainstream.