Pipeline Construction

Oil pipelines are made from steel or plastic tubes with inner diameter from 30 to 120 cm (about 12 to 47 inches). Where possible, they are built above the surface. However, in more developed, urban, environmentally sensitive or potentially dangerous areas they are buried underground at a typical depth of about 1.3 - 1.6 meters (about 3 feet). The oil is kept in motion by a system of pump stations built along the pipeline and usually flows at speed of about 1 to 6 m/s. Multi-product pipelines are used to transport two or more different products in sequence in the same pipeline.

Here are the following steps in pipeline construction:

1) Survey, setting out - marking the centerline of the pipeline ditch and edges of the right-of-way.

2) Right-of-way (ROW), clearing, grading - ROW width is determined by the diameter of the pipeline to be installed and includes room for the pipeline and working space for the construction equipment used to install the pipeline. A low silt fence protects it against corrosion.

3) Ditching - excavated soil {spoil) is deposited on the ditch bank. In certain areas, particularly farmland, the ditch will be excavated in two passes with a first pass removing topsoil and the second pass excavating the remaining soil to the required pipeline burial depth.

4) Stringing - laying sections of pipe along the ROW (stringing) uses pipe in varying lengths (joints). Stringing trucks transport pipe from a stockpile to the ROW where a pipe layer or crane lays them along the ROW.

5) Bending- joints of pipes can be bent to accommodate elevation changes, horizontal direction changes or both along the ROW. If a change cannot be designed within the field-bending constraints special pipe bends (factory bends, hot bends) must be manufactured for the special location.

6) Road crossing - boring beneath a road does not damage the road surface, and traffic flow is not interrupted by the boring activity. Line pipe used for the road crossing has a thicker external coating to provide extra protection during installation. The road crossing pipe is joined to the welded strings of line pipe by a tie-in crew using manual welding.

7) Skidding the pipe before being welded, line pipe is lifted onto skids made of timber and stockpiles along the ROW so that the entire circumference is accessible.

8) Welding - the work here assumes use of automatic welding to join the sections of line pipe, which provides consistency, uniform welds and fewer repairs. To prepare the line pipe for automatic welding, a beveling and facing machine trims, cuts and grinds the pipe ends with the special edge preparation required by the process. Line pipe comes from the pipe mill with a standard edge preparation or with a plain end if the pipe is specially ordered for automatic welding.

9) Line-up, internal welding - a series of pneumatically operated pistons radially spaced around the internal clamp centers the joints and correctly aligns the pipe ends for welding. The first welding pass is made with the internal welding torches and is called the "root"; this is the primary strength weld that fuses the two pipes.

10) External welding (firing line back end) - the external torches make the next welding pass {hot pass). Together the root and hot passes provide the required fusion and strength to join the pipes permanently. The remainder of the weld passes (fill passes) is made from the outside. The final welding pass (cap) completes the weld and forms a cap over the bevel. The number of welding stations for the automatic welding crew varies depending upon the wall thickness of the line pipe.

11) Horizontal directional drilling (HDD) - is often the preferred method for constructing the pipeline across such obstacles as streams or wetlands.

12) Non-destructive testing (NDT) after welding the joints are inspected by non-destructive methods to verify weld integrity. How many welds are inspected varies depending on the code to which the pipeline is designed, the service of the pipeline (gas or oil products), its location (environmentally sensitive areas, highly populated areas or other risk factors) and the requirements of the pipeline owner. Inspection of 100% of the welds is not uncommon. Customary inspection is by internal X-ray, external gamma ray or ultrasonics.

13) Field-joint-coating - the factory-applied external coating does not cover a few inches of each pipe to allow for welding. After NDT inspection, field – joint coating is applied to the bare sections at the pipe welds covering the exposed pipe and the weld.

14) Padding, lowering and backfilling- welded strings of pipe vary in length depending on the terrain conditions but are typically hundreds of feet long. Before the pipe strings are lowered into the ditch, selected padding, usually sand, is placed on the ditch bottom to cushion the pipe. In rocky soil, the fill may be placed around and on top of the pipe (shading). A fleet of sidebooms lifts the string off the timber skids and lowers it into the ditch. The sidebooms use special slings that cradle the pipe on rollers allowing the sideboom to travel down the ROW as the pipe slides into the ditch. The ditch spoil is pushed back into the ditch to cover the pipe except for certain sections that must be left uncovered to make tie-in welds and allow for hydrostatic testing.

15) Tie-in welding - individual pipe string ends are cut and trimmed to join the pipe strings with external clamps accurately aligning the pipe. NDT inspection is performed after the pipe has been welded and the field-joint coating applied. Tie-in welding is also required at road crossings, river crossings and other intersections along the ROW where the main production welding crew cannot access the pipe.

16) Hydrostatic testing, final tie-in - the pipeline is filled with water until the internal pressure in the pipeline exceeds the internal pressure to which the line will be subjected during operation. The elevation profile of the pipeline determines the lengths of the hydrostatic test sections because elevation changes affect the internal pressure. Water for hydrostatic testing is typically taken from rivers and lakes along ROW. Dry areas may require a well to be drilled or water to be delivered by truck along the ROW. After sections have been hydro statically tested, they are joined with a manual tie-in weld. These final welds are NDT inspected. After hydrostatic testing and final tie-in, open sections of the ditch are filled in.

17) Final clean-up, ROW restoration - grading the ROW smooth and clear, placing marker signs to identify the pipeline location, repairing any fences or other structures temporarily removed for construction and seeding the soil to reintroduce vegetation are the final activities. Special attention is paid to drainage and erosion control so that ROW, with time, is restored as closely as possible to its pre-construction while allowing access for regular visual inspections.

The words to be memorized:

backfilling – засыпка траншей трубопровода

bending – сгибание труб

beveling – подготовка кромки welding – сварка

cleaning– расчищение

crane– подъёмный кран

ditching – прокладывание траншеи

external welding – наружная сварка

field-joint coating– изоляция сварного шва

final tie-in – последнее соединение секции

final clean-up – восстановление

grading – планировка, выравнивание

horizontal directional drilling (HDD) – горизонтально-направленное бурение

hydrostatic testing– опрессовка, гидравлические испытания

internal welding – внутренняя сварка

lowering – спуск трубопровода в траншею

line-up– центровка

non-destructive testing (NDT) – неразрушающий контроль

padding – наружная присыпка

pass– проход

Right-of-way (ROW) – отвод земли

road crossing– пересечение дорог

ROW restoration – восстановление

sideboom– трубоукладчик с боковой стрелой

survey – разведка

setting out – установка, трассирование

slings – трубный строп

stringing – укладка плетей трубопровода

skidding the pipe– опорная рама для сварки трубопровода

tie-in welding – соединение секции

welding – сварка