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Cold Regions Science and Technology: Huijun Jin
Cold Regions Science and Technology: Huijun Jin
Guest Editorial
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Keywords:
Crude oil pipeline
Modied conventional burial
Warm permafrost
Northeastern China
Forests and wetlands
Frost hazards and mitigative measures
a b s t r a c t
The design and building of a pipeline in permafrost regions challenge engineers and scientists in many
regards, and the geohazards resulting from the (differential) frost heaving and thaw settlement of the
pipeline foundation soils present one of the most daunting tasks. The ChinaRussia Crude Oil Pipeline, a spur
line from the SiberiaPacic Pipeline System, presented unique scientic and engineering problems because
of: 1) extensive presence of the more ice-rich permafrost in boreal forests and swamps; 2) an insistence on a
buried construction mode because of concerns about the potential for frequent forest res and other safety
issues; 3) great uncertainties in the temperatures of oil being transported although the given estimated oil
temperature of 6.4 to + 3.6 C entering the Mo'he Pump Station, and the estimated oil temperatures could
vary from about 6 to + 10 C along the southward pipeline route; 4) the limited lead time for detailed
surveys on engineering geology along the pipeline routes and for engineering design; 5) very much limited
investment and a limited number of engineers experienced in designing and building a major pipeline in an
area where about one-half of its length would be impacted by generally warm ( 3 to 0 C) permafrost.
Nevertheless, the pipeline engineers and permafrost scientists strived to economically build and
satisfactorily operate the rst major crude oil pipeline in the boreal ecosystem in China. The major results
on the formation mechanisms and mitigative measures for the (differential) frost heave and thaw settlement
were presented in the eight papers in this special issue on permafrost pipeline, and one additional paper on
the GolmudLhasa Oil Products Pipeline on the QinghaiTibet Plateau was also included. They may provide
insights to the understanding of pipelinepermafrost interactions and benet the future design and
construction of pipelines in similar northern environments.
2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The ChinaRussia Crude Oil Pipeline (CRCOP) was rst proposed as
early as 1994 as a spur line of the SiberiaPacic Oil Pipeline System to
supply crude oil for China from Siberia, Russia. However, the pipeline
was subjected to many changes of plans and designs, particularly the
stakeholders, pipeline routes, and transportation modes. Among
which, the most signicant change involved in the rerouting of the
pipeline more downstream of the Lena River in order to better protect
the sensitive ecological environments in the Baikal Lake regions. As a
result, the CRCOP was also rerouted from its original Hailar to Daqing
route to the nal route starting from Skovorodino, Russia, via Mo'he,
China, to Daqing, China (Fig. 1).
Three alternative routes were originally proposed for the CRCOP.
The middle line (Ta'he route) was nally selected. The routing
adopted for the CRCOP correctly traversed the permafrost zones as
expeditiously as possible in a generally north to south direction in
order to minimize the freezing/thawing problems. This was possible
210
Fig. 1. Alternatives and the nalized route for the CRCOP and the SiberiaPacic Crude Oil Pipeline System.
211
212
References
He, R.X., Jin, H.J., 2010. Permafrost and cold-region environmental problems of the oil
product pipeline from Golmud to Lhasa on the QinghaiTibet Plateau and
their mitigation. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 64 (3), 279288.
Jin, H.J., Yu, Q.H., L, L.Z., Guo, D.X., Li, Y.W., 2007. Degradation of permafrost in the
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Jin, H.J., Hao, J.Q., Chang, X.L., Zhang, J.M., Yu, Q.H., Qi, J.L., L, L.Z., Wang, S.L., 2010.
Zonation and assessment of frozen-ground conditions for engineering geology
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Li, G.Y., Sheng, Y., Jin, H.J., Ma, W., Qi, J.L., Wen, Z., Zhang, B., Mu, Y.H., Bi, G.Q., 2010a.
Development of freezingthawing processes of foundation soils surrounding the
ChinaRussia Crude Oil Pipeline under climate change. Cold Reg. Sci. Technol. 60
(3), 226234.
Li, G.Y., Sheng, Y., Jin, H.J., Ma, W., Qi, J.L., Wen, Z., 2010b. Forecasting the oil
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