Oil and Natural Gas Pipelines
One way to get oil and gas from its source to a refinery and then from a refinery to the people who use the gasoline and other products made there is with a pipeline. Made from steel or plastic tubes, a pipeline can be as short as the length from a production facility to a nearby storage tank or as long as several thousand kilometres.
Pipelines may also be used to get oil or gas from its source to a terminal, a special facility where ocean-going tankers fill up for their journeys across open waters.
Pipelines can be built above land, under land or under water. When a pipeline runs through an environmentally sensitive area or close to a city or town, burying it is one way to minimize the likelihood and impact of potential accidents.
A BP technician checks for pipeline corrosion
The Baku-Tibilisi-Ceyhan, or BTC, pipeline was one of our most ambitious pipeline projects in recent years.
It spans 1,760 kilometres of rugged
terrain, with 1,500 river crossings along the way. After more than six years of planning and construction, including consultations with governments, environmental groups and the communities along its route, it began transporting oil from Azerbaijan to Turkey in 2006.
Related links
Facts and figures about this lengthy pipeline, with pictures
