Hot Tap and Stopple Bypass at Smoky Lake - Part 1

[Music] you always hand dig right up close to a pipeline machines could dent or puncture the pipe even a small Nick in the coating could allow corrosion that could cause problems later so when the machine works even not so close in you still want to keep a sharp eye out this is the first time this five year old line has even been excavated it is a model excavation three city blocks long stairs sculpted every 15 meters the dirt piled way back and the sides are sloped to eliminate the chance of any sort of kayvyun they are going to move this pipeline over and they will do it while the pipeline is still in service pressurized dil Yuen coursing through it there has been lots of preparation although moving operating pipelines is actually routine we completed the API calculations and based on a 5.7 millimeter wall thickness API calculations the industry has detailed procedures for moving pipelines while they're still in service we will be able to safely relocate or remove the pipeline 1.2 meters there is also a hefty sheaf of plans for the project for which the move is being undertaken well I've taken a look at the most recent inspection data for the section that we're gonna be opening up and from ongoing pipe inspection they know what shape the line is in I have no concerns and the pipe looks good okay slings around the pipe will be used to lift and move it slings that are rated for several times the weight they are required to lift today four machines will operate together once the slings are ready everybody out of the excavation our supervising expert in the foreground has been around pipelines longer than he'd probably care to tell you and he has done this a lot just yet tension on this closest sling the pipe is to be moved to the stakes but not all at once and real gentle everything moves as one unit off with the slings up with the booms they will move along the pipeline moving sections until the entire three block length is moon every dance team needs a choreographer and the Miss gentle ballet the advance is slow and methodical it takes a while to move in sections and it increments but wait this section doesn't want to move in order for us to get the fight back here to move in this direction we've got to lose some more up here we're going to make up move the pipe further inwards not gonna break away you know I'm gonna break it no no no don't worry about that no the stresses are very low they will figure it out by giving a little more at the other end the job gets done the whole pipe is now over against the sticks for the average person it may have seemed to have taken a long time but it was actually a fairly quick process you can see after about an hour and 45 minutes we have the line relocated and everybody did a fabulous job I'm very happy there it is over where it needs to be in this one spot you can see there are actually two parallel pipe lines the larger 24-inch line brings bitumen blend down from the oil sands to market in Edmonton the smaller 16-inch line returns dill you add back up to dilute a new batch of Minh they have moved the 16 inch away from the 24 inch so they can work on the 24 inch line the next step is to fill in the excavation so we can get ready for our real story the hot tap and stopple bypass required by access pipeline for its new smoky lake pump station a lot changes in a week the pipeline has been covered but then sections have been dug up again but this time it's the larger pipeline that's been exposed and in just four places next door they're building a new pump station to increase the volume of diluted bitumen flowing to Edmonton all this work on the pipeline is to connect the line to the new pump station here are the fittings to connect the new pump station and the size is kind of overwhelming 24 inch high-pressure pipeline your car tires are maybe 30 pounds per square inch of pressure the line is now at 300 pounds and it's rated for over 1,400 pounds you need sturdy fittings you can see down there how they're fitting up the connections to the new pump station but let's change angle for what's happening to the pipeline our view is from the north toward the south we zoom in a wee bit and we'll focus in on the pipeline our two pipelines are buried again except for four spots that have been excavated to do the required work the first thing will be the installation of TD Williamson stopple fittings patented devices that will allow the big pipeline to keep moving diluted bitumen as connections are made to the pump house a bypass line will be attached to the star poles and bitumen blend will be diverted through it so it can keep flowing the section between the stop will then be out of service its remaining diluted bitumen will be evacuated connections will be hooked up to the new pump station and blend will be routed back to the main line again then the bypass will be removed the stopple fittings will be taken down and the abandoned section of pipe will be removed back at the blend pipeline they brought in a sandblaster to remove the pipeline coating and exposed the steel where the stopple fittings will be installed if you've ever had ultrasound this may look familiar it's one of the tests to ensure pipe integrity where the pipes exposed another test now magnetic black iron filings against the white paint will show any cracks when magnetized y-you might think are they applying flame to a pipe carrying flammable hydrocarbons well it's another test they measure how long it takes for the pipe to cool down because if the product in the pipe draws away too much heat too fast that could cause weld cracking a fitting for the installation of one of the two stopple trains accesses higher TD Williamson a world leader in hot tapping and pipe isolation to do this work this one piece is about the weight of a small car it will hold the critical devices the stopple cutter and then the stop will train and will become a permanent part of the blend pipeline the top clamshell has a corresponding bottom of course TD williamson's procedures call for a backing strip here so the fitting is not actually welded to the pipe at this point they also tension the chain clamp so the fit is tight but not so tight as to squeeze the pipeline a first pass is well that the route well visit cost then it's tested and then a whole bunch more the objective is to make the two halves one hole one fitting that surrounds the pipeline even with two welders this will take a while then they'll wait the circumference weld directly to the pipeline is especially critical this one last test checks especially for hydrogen induced cracking cracks sometimes take up to 24 hours to appear as per industry practice they have waited 48 hours to do this test off to one side they're building the bypass pipeline this will undergo testing just like a regular pipeline although this one's only very temporary sandblasting is actually glass plastic glass beads take off the paint but our gentler on the metal which prepares the surface for epoxy you mix it up you have about ten minutes to apply it before it gets too hard this guards against corrosion they will do two coats at both stopple fittings fill creat a softer concrete with no aggregate it will support the pipe as it fares several tons of weight yet it can easily be broken up and removed if access ever needs to get at the pipe in the future it's after hours everybody's gone home best time to x-ray the welds in that waiting bypass pipe the band he's placing on the underside contains the x-ray film this device under the bungee cord will hold the source the emitter the emitter looks like this this one doesn't actually admit that's why we can show it to you like this the real one is in the triangular container there until our crew gets to a safe distance and can use air pressure to dispatch the emitter along a hose to where it needs to be in that holder we saw under the bungee cord they calculate each exposure individually this one will expose through the pipe for six minutes to get a good x-ray image time enough for one of the guys to step into the truck and process previously shot films they know immediately if any welds a problem they'll need 56 x-rays to test the welds in this bypass line plus this line will be pressure tested to verify the pipe they've used is okay the advance work is just about done It's Showtime the fitting is securely in place protected in its bed of Filtrete the TD Williams and technicians check the retaining ring that will secure the completion plug which we'll see later first up the sandwich valve this one sits on top of the stopple fitting and allows them to shut off the flow of blend we'll show you this in a minute this weighs as much as two big pickup trucks you need a crew that knows this stuff and a steady crane operator like Cool Hand Bob to guide it into place and as they say it's in the hole gently now let's get in here this is our best opportunity to see the functioning of the sandwich valve which will open to allow blend to flow through the bypass line next estoppel cutter to cut into the pipeline this is the weight of two big pickup trucks it has the cutter at the bottom a drive shaft running up that column and hydraulics at the top to turn the cutter pressurized nitrogen in a truck nearby has been connected to the cutter they will now connect the hydraulic lines to bring the power required to turn the cutter and make the cut last the gauge that shows them the progress of the stop will cut this rod with a little wheel on top goes down into the cutter Tower they measure and mark this white tape will let them know how deep the cutter is going we can't see what happens but we can show you the nitrogen blanket is established at pressures matching the pressure of bitumen in the pipeline now the sandwich valve can be pulled open and the cutter can be lowered into place to start cutting outside they can monitor the progress by watching the measured tape they have a depth gauge and the little wheel confirms the cutters rotating one rotation takes between two and four seconds the cutter is turning very slowly this will take a few hours because the cutter shaves just a few thousandths of an inch of pipe with each rotation it cuts out a curved disc of pipe a coupon bitumen keeps flowing held down by the nitrogen blanket the coupon comes out when the cutter is raised and we will need the coupon later the last thing will be to close the sandwich valve the vacuum truck is always kept ready in case any bitumen spilled it can be sucked up but as the stopper cutter fitting is removed there isn't much to worry about the nitrogen blanket has kept things clean cutter itself is messy immersed as it was in bitumen in the pipeline they get about after several minutes work and we'll see it later should note here that they have put two other valves into the mainline cut like a miniature of the big cut we just saw the petrol line guys have put a temporary cover or blinds on here while they go do the same cut of the other stop location remember all those bolts tightening all these is going to be a little more complicated than putting on your spare tire there is a specific sequence described in several pages of access bolt tightening procedure these fellows are specialists of this work cannot be rushed there is a specific torque for each bolt pressure is not applied all at once they will tighten each knot in sequence one by one as many as six times and with all these bolts we're talking days to do this meanwhile the riser segments to connect the pipe line with the new pump house will take some fitting and because the underground line ungulates as it parallels the ground surface getting a precise alignment of old and new will be exactly mornings it's okay to miss your morning coffee but not your morning safety meeting the project today is to actually get the bypass in operation and get the Stoffel plug set access has developed a multi-page procedure for how to do this job the detail is exhaustive but also essential especially at critical busy moments it's gonna be pretty tricky little move so you know we don't know any interruptions we don't have to worry about people that shouldn't be there to start with when you're parking your vehicles trying to keep out of the way so yeah it's gonna be pretty pretty busy out there fire resistant work wear is mandatory here and so is hydrogen sulfide poisonous gas training and everybody carries a gas monitor these monitors monitor for things poisonous hydrogen sulfide gas carbon monoxide levels oxygen levels and the threat of explosion a passing pickup truck will sometimes set these things off here sitting in its steel transport cradle is the actual patented stopple train they call it they're assembling the big pieces these are the actual stoppers one critical component is the black rubber seal that seals against oil under pipeline pressure seeping past estamos you place the seals only at the last moment in the stopple tower thus topples must fit tightly back and forth carefully to avoid damage to the seals they work thus topples into the stopple tower now they can lift it over to be set onto the stop of fitting on the pipeline despite all the machine power it is humans who do the final placement work this will have to be bolted up as usual first they'll bring over the bypass line and attach it to the stoppers they do this at both hands they connect a small two inch hose from the main pipeline up to the upper part of estoppel train tower this will allow blend from the pipeline to flood in and fill the bypass line when the bypass is full and the pressure is equal they will open the sandwich valve they slowly drop the stop will train to double block the line they're doing this at both ends so that oil will then be diverted through the bypass the main pipeline section between the two Stoffel trains now is double blocked at each end isolating well it's just about time to position the bypass line again this is a temporary line to keep blending while the main line is being diverted to the new pump station it does seem slow if I don't have far to go and it takes just minutes the sender part up there can just drag along the ground the trickier part will be the connections this is at the South stop the first bolts are easier but they have to rotate the heavy pipeline ever so slightly to allow all the bolt holes to line up properly it's a little different story down at the North stop still have to line up the bolt holes but this time it's a shorter pipe they left this last segment of the line separate to allow easier movement of machines during the most intense construction this end will have to be welded to the rest of the bypass line and the well tested as soon as the connection is completely bolted first cut the big piece to length the first pass just burns off the pipe line coating then they'll go around again to actually cut the metal now they'll be able to clamp it together and weld it up pumps have arrived for the new pump station it's the 1st of September and today

Channel: Bill Bruce

Views: 51,856

Rating: 4.8446603 out of 5

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Id: SAqCMiwi52c

Length: 18min 46sec (1126 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 30 2019