US Gulf of Mexico deepwater pipeline construction - A review of lessons learned

The purpose of every offshore oil and gas pipeline is to transport fluid through a conduit from one point to another, but differences in field location, water depth, development strategy, time of sanction, seafloor topography, ownership and other factors means that installed mileage is expected to have complex site, time and location dependencies. The purpose of this review is to describe and illustrate the main factors that impact pipeline construction in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Understanding the nature of these dependencies and the manner in which factors interact and impact pipeline construction is the principal goal of this review. System attributes and their impact on activity drivers are described using a series of mini case studies. Lessons learned are synthesized and summarized.