There is a huge difference between operating a pipeline and operating a pipeline company, with the former being only a part of the latter. To operate a pipeline company, one must deal with not only the pipeline system, but also the business aspects of the company—including finance, accounting, marketing, human resources, legal, and public relations. It is beyond the scope of this book to deal with operating a pipeline company. This chapter will be confined to operating pipelines.
Operating a pipeline requires an understanding of the purpose of the pipeline, how the pipeline was designed and constructed, the codes and standards that govern the operation of the pipeline, the operational history of the pipeline, and the pipeline’s current status. It also requires a good knowledge of pipeline engineering and many other related fields, such as corrosion control, automatic control, fluid mechanics, structural engineering, machine maintenance, etc. Therefore, it takes engineers and technicians of different disciplines and training working together as a team in order to keep a modern pipeline system running and maintained in good condition. Unqualified operators and/or inadequate training often result in improper operation of the pipeline and damage to the system, or frequent unscheduled shutdown. The use of modern computers and automatic control systems has greatly decreased the number of technical personnel needed to run a pipeline system; however, the knowledge and training required by the technical personnel who run a pipeline have been increasing steadily.
