Dr C P Ellinas Advanced Mechanics & Engineering Ltd Major advances have been achieved in recent years in subsea pipeline design and installation. Inspection, maintenance and repair have also received much attention. The development of marginal fields has brought with it special problems, which have necessitated novel methods and solutions. In the meanwhile interest in the development of deepwater fields continues with the development of new technology. This Conference has placed emphasis in addressing developments in pipeline technology under four main headings: pipeline/seabed interaction; flexible pipelines; pipeline design, fabrication and installation; deepwater applications. Advances in North Sea technology over the last few years have been concerned mostly with marginal fields, small diameter pipelines and new materials, which are well covered in the first three topics. Economic development of marginal fields requires processing of oil and gas to take place not at the wellhead but at existing facilities, usually some distance away. Hydrocarbons are thus often transported at high pressure and temperature in small diameter pipelines, which need to be protected through trenching. However, such operational practice has brought to the fore a problem that in the past was of little concern namely, upheaval buckling.

I - Pipeline / Seabed Interaction.- Upheaval Buckling Mitigation by Hot Water Flushing.- Pipeline Deburial.- The Effect of Imperfection Shape on Upheaval Buckling Behaviour.- Behaviour of Anchor Reinforcement in Offshore Pipelines.- II - Flexible Pipelines.- Increased Reliability Through a Unified Analysis Tool for Bonded and Non-Bonded Pipes.- Advances in Flexible Pipe Design and Construction.- Design and Materials Considerations for High Pressure Flexible Flowlines.- The Problems Associated with NDT of High Pressure Flexible Pipes.- III - Pipeline Design, Fabrication and Installation.- Piggable Pipeline WYE Connection - Development and Design.- Mechanical Testing of Flash Butt Welded 36" OD API - X65 Grade Pipes.- The Central Brae Project Retrofit Riser Installation.- Hazard Assessment and Pipeline Design.- IV - Deepwater Applications.- Developments in Hyperbaric Welding Technology for Pipeline Repairs Beyond 600 msw.- Laying Deepwater Pipelines in Internal Waters (Lake of Como) - Technology, Techniques and Environmental Factors.- Hazard and Protection Concepts for Deepwater Pipelines - The Environmental Factors.- Deepwater Tie-in.