Dr. Fatma Ashour

After the preliminary oil-field refining, the crude oil is transported to the refinery. The most common methods of transportation are “pipelines” and “tankers”. In very limited cases however, “trucks” or “rail-road wagons” may be used.

 These are placed at one of the following locations:  In case of transport by tankers, they are located next to the shore.  In case of transport by pipelines, the oil is transported from the storage tanks by a system of pumps to the refinery tanks.

 These are usually constructed of several storage tanks in their lower part  Pumps and pipe connections are placed in between those individual tanks.  The chimney is always installed at the rear end of the tanker above the engine room, to avoid causing fire to the oil which might seep from the pipes (eg: due to a spark in the chimney).

 The use of several tanks enables the tankers to carry different crude oils or a combination of petroleum products and crude oil. Furthermore, such construction (of several storage tanks) increases the stability of the tanker structure and allows more stability and easy balancing in case of partial unloading

Initial steps in the planning process include:  1. Determining the market need  2. Pipeline design  3. Specification of pipe and components  4. Route selection  5. Environmental assessments  6. Public consultation  7. Land acquisition and permitting

 The SUMED pipeline ( Suez-Mediterranean pipeline) is an oil pipeline in Egypt, which runs from Ain Sukhna terminal on the Gulf of Suez to Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean. It provides an alternative to the Suez Canal for transporting oil from the Persian Gulf region to the Mediterranean.

The project of the oil pipeline from the Red Sea to Mediterranean Sea was started after the extended closure of the Suez Canal in June Establishment of the pipeline company was agreed in 1973 between five Arab countries. The SUMED pipeline was opened in 1977.

 The SUMED pipeline is 320 kilometres (200 mi) long. It consists of two parallel lines with the 42 inches (1,070 mm) diameter. The capacity of SUMED is around of 2.5 million barrels per day (400×10^ 3 m 3 /d).

 The pipeline is owned by the Arab Petroleum Pipeline Company/SUMED Company, a joint venture of  EGPC 50%, Egypt  Saudi Aramco 15%, Saudi Arabia  IPIC 15%, the United Arab Emirates,  Three Kuwaiti companies, each of 5%  QGPC 5%, Qatar

 The extension of the SUMED is being considered.  The proposed extension would traverse the Red Sea from Ain Sukhna to the Saudi coast near Sharm al Sheikh, and from there to the terminal of Saudi Arabia's main east-west pipeline in Yanbu.