A practical analytical model for predicting temperature development of incompressible flow inside an aboveground pipeline has been constructed and presented in this research work The outer surface of the pipeline is exposed to solar radiation and wind stream The radiation heat exchange with ambient is also taken into account The effects of exterior surface paint color represented by emissivity and absorptivity, have been studied The model has been developed to study crude oil flow temperature development through a specific pipeline The results obtained by the model show that the bulk temperature inclined to a limiting value in some distance which affected mainly by Reynolds numbers It is found that emissivity and absorptivity of surface are predominant parameters in temperature development in an aboveground pipeline flow which can increase or decrease pipe surface and fluid temperature especially for low Reynolds number flow Based on the results which indicated significantly of exterior surface paint color, one should choose the paint color by considering its effects on temperature development (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved