Online 400 ft. NGL Pipeline Section Replacement
Enterprise owns interests in 16,648 miles of Natural Gas Liquid pipelines, 156 million barrels of working capacity of NGL and related product storage and import and export facilities. These NGL pipelines transport mixed NGLs and other hydrocarbons from natural gas processing facilities, refineries and import terminals to fractionation plants, petrochemical plants, export facilities and refineries; and deliver propane to customers along the Dixie pipeline and certain sections of the Mid-America and TE Products Pipeline systems. Enterprise Products needed a 400' section of 36" pipe in Parachute, Colorado replaced to upgrade the line. Team Industrial Services was contracted based upon past experience with the company and its expertise in being able to perform a line isolation and bypass, keeping the high-pressure system online.
The main chal-lenge of the project was the line needed to remain in operation. Not only was the section to be replaced fairly long, but also the operating pressure of the line while performing the taps, stops and bypass was close to 1,200 psig. This application is one of the largest pipe diameter and highest-pressure lines to be replaced while online.
Team performed two 36" hot taps through TEAM's SealTite® II Line Stop Fittings and installed Team's line stop equipment. The double 36" line stop with 400' of 24" bypass line allowed the flow of natural gas to continue while the line replacement was completed. The bypass was accomplished by connecting the bypass line to Team's line stop housing. This eliminated the need for additional hot tap fittings on the line. Line stops were installed to stop the flow in the 36" main line and diverted it to the 24" x 400' bypass line. Once Team verified that there was no flow between the stops on the 36" line, work began to replace the 400' section of pipeline. The old line was cut, removed and the new 36" pipe was installed. After all inspections were completed, the new line was purged and then equalized. The line stops were then retracted and the new 36" main line returned to service.
Throughout the project, Enterprise was able to maintain operation/flow of the line. Above all else, the project was completed with zero incidents and no recordable injuries.
