This week’s Pipeliners Podcast episode features first-time guest Denys Stavnychyi of Burns & McDonnell discussing the key steps that go into pipeline construction.
In this episode, you will learn about the five categories of pre-construction planning, the pipeline construction process, the importance of planning vs. correction, and how to navigate the difficulties associated with constructing pipelines in different geographic regions.
Pipeline Construction Planning: Show Notes, Links, and Insider Terms
- Denys Stavnychyi is a senior pipeline design and construction manager at Burns & McDonnell. Connect with Denys on LinkedIn.
- Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies bringing together an unmatched team of 7,600 engineers, construction professionals, architects, planners, technologists and scientists to help those who work in critical infrastructure sectors deliver on their imperative responsibilities.
- Read a case study from Burns & McDonnell: Extensive Planning to Perform Work in Eight States Helps Meet Deadlines
- Read a white paper from Burns & McDonnell: Exploring EPC Partnered Planning Benefits for Pipeline Projects
- Read a case study from Burns & McDonnell: Making Connections to Improve Reliability
- Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies bringing together an unmatched team of 7,600 engineers, construction professionals, architects, planners, technologists and scientists to help those who work in critical infrastructure sectors deliver on their imperative responsibilities.
- Pipeline Construction plans can be visualized through graphics and animation for projects such as the Keystone XL (KXL) project. This presentation covers each step including clearing and grading, trenching, stringing/bending, welding/coating, lowering/tie-ins, backfilling, pressure testing, and cleanup/reclamation.
- Pipeline Permitting is the process of applying for permission to install a pipeline over a certain area of land.
- FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is the United States federal agency that regulates the transmission and wholesale sale of electricity and natural gas in interstate commerce and regulates the transportation of oil by pipeline in interstate commerce.
- Access FERC processes for pipeline permitting that apply to both natural gas and LNG.
- FERC 7(c) is a blanket certificate that allows for a natural gas company to undertake a restricted number of routine activities — provided they comply with constraints on costs and environmental impacts — without needing to obtain a case-specific certificate for each individual project.
- DoT (Department of Transportation) is a cabinet-level agency of the federal government responsible for helping maintain and develop the nation’s transportation systems and infrastructure.
- A Field Joint is the point where two pipe sections are welded together.
- Backfill is refilling an excavated hole with the material dug out of it.
- Five Categories of Pre-construction Planning include:
- Engineering
- Permitting
- Procurement
- Land Acquisition
- Construction Services Procurement
- Mobilization consists of preparatory work and operations necessary for the movement of personnel, equipment, supplies, and incidentals to the project site.
- UT (Ultrasonic Testing) is a type of non-destructive testing (NDT) technique based on the propagation of ultrasonic waves in a tested object or material.
- FBE (Fusion Bond Epoxy) Coating is an epoxy-based powder coating that is widely used to protect steel pipe used in pipeline construction from the effects of corrosion.
- Hydrostatic Test is where a pipeline is filled with water and pressurized to a pressure above its normal operating pressure to test its condition.
- Appalachia is a cultural region in the Eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York State to northern Alabama and Georgia.
- Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) is a minimal impact trenchless method of installing underground pipelines in a shallow arc or radius along a prescribed underground path using a surface-launched drilling rig.
Pipeline Construction Planning: Full Episode Transcript
Russel Treat: Welcome to the Pipeliners Podcast, episode 150, sponsored by Burns & McDonnell, delivering pipeline projects with an integrated construction and design mindset, connecting all the project elements, design, procurement, sequencing at the site. Burns & McDonnell uses its vast knowledge and the latest technology with an ownership commitment to safely deliver innovative, quality projects. Learn how Burns & McDonnell is on-site through it all at burnsmcd.com.
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Announcer: The Pipeliners Podcast, where professionals, Bubba geeks, and industry insiders share their knowledge and experience about technology, projects, and pipeline operations. Now, your host, Russel Treat.
Russel: Thanks for listening to the Pipeliners Podcast. I very much appreciate you taking the time. To show the appreciation, we give away a customized YETI tumbler to one listener each episode. This week our winner is Janet Price with Eastman. Congratulations, Janet, your YETI is on its way. To learn how you can win this signature prize pack, stick around till the end of the episode.
This week Denys Stavnychyi, pipeline construction engineer with Burns McDonnell, is going to join us to talk about all things pipeline construction. Denys, welcome to the Pipeliners Podcast.
Denys Stavnychyi: Thank you, Russel. Thank you for having me.
Russel: I’ve asked you on to talk a little bit about pipeline construction. While I did construction very early in my career, it was not pipeline construction. It was runways and such when I was in the military.
I know enough about construction to be dangerous. I’m glad to have you on.
Maybe before we get started, if you would, give us a little bit about your background and how you got into pipelining.
Denys: Absolutely. Thank you.
To say about construction, there are a lot of similar construction activities that are included in various industries. Pipeline is not that different.
To start, I started my career…I actually went to college for pipeline engineering. I’m not sure how exactly it happened, but I graduated as a mechanical engineer with specialization in pipeline. Pretty much all my professional career was somehow related to pipeline.
Started in operations. Moved into engineering and design. I’ve led various size design projects. I also participated in construction and construction management projects.
I often say that the only thing I really know in engineering is pipeline.
Russel: That’s interesting because most of the people that I know that are pipeline engineers did not start in pipelining. They did something else and then moved into pipelining. That’s interesting.
Where did you go to get a degree in pipeline engineering?
Denys: I’m originally from Ukraine. I went to a college that specialized in oil and gas industry. Various professionals coming out of that university. They all went into oil and gas industry. I just happened to go to the pipeline department.
Russel: Interesting. On a previous episode, I had a conversation because in the U.S. you don’t really find pipeline engineering as part of a curriculum. You’ve got mechanical and civil and all the general disciplines, but not pipeline per se. I find that kind of fascinating.
Denys: It served me well. Certainly, like I said, it’s the only thing I really know or hope to claim that I know. There are some master programs in the U.S. that you can attend that have pipeline flavor. I know Colorado School of Mines have some and there are some other colleges and universities that offer it but typically they’re higher than bachelor level.
Russel: Yeah, exactly. Let’s talk about construction. Maybe a good way to start this is I’ll ask you to tell us, from an overview perspective, what are the various phases of a pipeline construction project?
Denys: Absolutely. First, before I even start, I would say that construction — for me, pipeline construction — is arguably the most fun and rewarding part of the entire project. It also is the most expensive part of it. Different issues and errors in construction are the most costly.
There are several activities that are common for any type of pipeline projects. They’re all related to installing the pipe in the trench. They’re, again, related to excavating or ditching and trenching, welding pipeline, coating the field joints, backfilling, and testing the pipeline.
There are additional tasks that I’ll go a little bit more in detail, but those would be part of pretty much any pipeline project.
Russel: I always think about pipelining from a logistics standpoint. The sheer activity of locating the pipe, sourcing the pipe, getting it to the construction site. All those kind of things that have to happen before you get shovel to dirt.
How important is that from a construction standpoint?
Denys: Extremely important. Like I said, construction is arguably the most fun part, but in order for that to be fun, a lot of proper project planning needs to be completed. If it’s not, then that construction part goes not so well.
Russel: Yeah, exactly. What are some examples of things that you have to pay particular attention to that somebody who doesn’t work in the construction side of the business might not think about.
Denys: I think they could be grouped into five categories. They’re all pretty common for most projects, but for pipeline projects I will start with engineering and design. Usually it’s formalized in the form of an “issued for construction” design package that will be delivered to the pipeline contractor. Some projects start before engineering is complete, but those often don’t go that well.
Another component of those pre-construction activities is permitting. Pipeline projects specifically are permitted on various levels. We often say that our industry’s regulated almost as a nuclear industry.
We have to obtain two groups of permits. Some environmental permits and non-environmental permits.
For environmental permits, the most common are FERC 7(c) certificates, state public utility commission permits and certificates, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permits, and various state, county or parish, and local permits.
On a non-environmental side, probably the most common are road crossing permits obtained from county road departments or state DOT. There are also typically railroad crossing permits and various local building permits.
Also, besides engineering and permitting, like you mentioned, Russel, procurement is an extremely important part of project planning and preconstruction activities. Ideally, all materials and equipment must be delivered to the site before construction starts.
Pipeline projects are linear in nature. They require a lot of land acquisition. Permit easement needs to be acquired in order to give the owner of the pipeline a right to install and operate the pipeline. Also, temporary work space needs to be acquired to provide additional land to safely conduct construction activities.
Another item that goes into pipeline project planning or pre-construction activities, actually procuring construction services. Primarily, that’s the services of construction contractor or contractors, but also there is support services such as survey, non-destructive examination, various quality inspection services, possibly logistics.
Again, to reiterate, there are five categories that I would always say are part of preconstruction planning: engineering, permitting, procurement, land acquisition, and construction services procurement.
Russel: You could probably do one or two podcasts on each of those specific topics. That covers a lot of ground.
Kind of the same question, but now asking…I’ve done my pre-construction. What is the sequence of construction itself?
Denys: Construction will always start with mobilization. Mobilization is the process of contractor bringing their personnel and equipment to the site. They will set up the temporary office, temporary yard to accommodate their equipment and personnel.
Also, during mobilization, surveying company will stake and mark the right-of-way and proposed facilities. Also, pipe yards and materials storage yards, as well as warehouses, will be installed and prepared for use.
Then, when mobilization is achieved, actual construction of the pipeline can happen. For me, when I say pipeline, it means always pipeline itself as a linear portion of the project, but also pipeline facilities. Valves, pig launcher, receivers, meter stations, compressor stations.
I’ll talk about pipeline first. Pipeline is typically installed in what’s referred to as a conventional pipe lay. It’s a pretty sequential set of tasks, starting with clearing and grading pipeline corridor, where a contractor will come in and clear vegetation within the limits of disturbance of the project and also grade the pipeline corridor to somewhat level to allow safe pipeline instillation.
The next task is typically trenching or ditching. Pipeline, in 95 percent of cases, is installed below ground, so a trench will be dug to install pipeline in it. Typically, with minimal three feet of cover.
Once the trench is dug, a set of pipe joints will be strung along the trench in a process that’s called stringing, where a contractor will bring individual pipe joints and set them along the trench. They usually come with standard length, 40, 60, 80 feet long. Also, as a part of that, some of the joints have to be bent to accommodate for various vertical terrain changes and also horizontal direction changes.
Once that is complete, the contractor will start welding the joints together. In this time and age, all of those welds will be inspected by X-ray or UT to verify their compliance with the code.
Once that happens, those joints or welds will be coated with corrosion protective coating, usually FBE. At that point, the contractor has a section of pipeline, anywhere between a few hundred feet. It could be a thousand feet, ready to be installed into the trench. That process we call lowering in.
Pipeline string is lifted by side booms or excavators and lowered into the trench. Once that is done, the backfill process starts, where the same excavated trench soil will be placed back into the trench. Sometimes we will bring some select backfill to accommodate specific requirements.
When a longer section of pipeline or the entire project is installed and has been backfilled, the strength testing will proceed, which typically is accomplished by hydrostatic test where pipeline is filled with water and pressurized to a pressure above its normal operating pressure.
Russel: I’m sitting here and listening to this. I’m visualizing all of it. I wished there was a nice animation so you could take a look and see how this happens and the sequence. I don’t know of anything like that exists, but that would be really useful.
Denys: It does. There are actually nice illustrations that…I’m sure there are even videos that can be provided, but certainly there are illustrations that we often include at various permitting applications to describe this process. I could have it in front of me and speaking, just step after step, what happens along the pipeline corridor.
It’s also worth mentioning that these activities can be happening simultaneously at various locations along the pipeline.
Russel: Right. That gets into the…If you think about a single segment of several hundred feet to a thousand feet, it’s pretty straightforward how that project executes, but when you start talking about 20 miles, or 200 miles, or 500 miles, now that starts getting to be a lot more complex, just because of the number of moving parts to lower that many segments.
Denys: Absolutely. Again, planning is crucial. I just described a conventional pipe lay, which is pretty much more or less a single section of pipeline with no complications. That never happens. Many site specific activities that happen along the way.
Russel: It’s the complications that make it interesting, right? If I’m in Appalachia, I’m going up and down fairly steep little 1,000 and 3,000 foot grades.
Denys: Absolutely, and again, I hate to keep repeating the same thing but planning is crucial. Very early in the pipeline design when the route is established, especially in Appalachia or any other mountainous terrain, select a constructable route that also will serve a long time and preserve the integrity of the pipeline is extremely important.
There are certain rules, and methods, and typical approaches that make that construction go easily if the route is picked properly.
Russel: There’s a lot of conflicting and competing objectives in that kind of situation. What’s the easiest to permit? What’s the easiest to build?
Denys: Quite often they are completely controversial or a completely different direction between…
Russel: Yeah, they’re in opposition to one another, exactly.
You’ve got other factors like, what’s going to give me the most effective use of my capital dollars to build? What’s going to give me the longest life of the pipeline? On and on and on.
The planning, the planning, the planning, the planning.
Denys: I know this might be encroaching on another podcast, but I often compare routing as finding a compromise between four different stakeholders. Those are engineering, construction, permitting, and land.
Russel: Yeah, except that it’s not just four.
Denys: Wow.
Russel: On a long pipeline, you’ve got all those influencers in every different segment of the line.
Denys: I agree.
Russel: Let’s talk a little bit about extremes. You laid out a very orthogonal case of how you go about executing a project. What are the extremes in terms of the environments or the situations in which you would do that?
I think, as you were laying that out, I’m visualizing a long, flat piece of ground where you’re doing this with nobody else around and no real problems with the site in terms of water, or elevation, or any of that.
I’m sure there’s a scale of that being the simplest and then what’s on the other end? Where does it get extremely hard?
Denys: What you just describe, you can visualize West Texas. Flat, dry, not significant rock present. You can install probably a mile of pipe in a day. Another extreme to that would be what we call congested area or urban construction where pipeline is installed in a city street.
That is a completely different installation, even though it’s still going to be the same pipe installed, welded, coated, tested. It’s characterized by some specifics that are not present on other pipeline projects.
Often, there are reduced work hours required. For example, in many cities you have to work only during non rush hours. You ultimately get time between 9:00 and 4:00 that you can have crew on the right-of-way. Technically, it’s not even the right-of-way, but the city street.
There will be multiple utility crossings. Some days you can have 10 of them within 50 feet of pipeline. Just imagine that, when you go along the city street. Each house will have three to five various utilities come into that house that you will have to cross.
Those projects will have significantly less crew sizes or smaller crew sizes because you cannot just simply accommodate a large crew for the progress you’re making. In terms of progress, it’s not unheard of to have 100 to 200 feet installed in one day.
Some people refer to the installation method as stovepiping because you literally…There is no string. There is no lowering in. You install short sections of pipe between various crossings.
Russel: The basic “how do you do it?” is the same, but the logistics around how you sequence that and what’s the scope of a particular segment is significantly different. The complexity and the stakeholders is significantly different.
Denys: Exactly, and also visibility of the project. You’re usually doing it in the view of the public, residents, traffic. There are some specifics that apply to those projects. For example, often you will have to do trench stabilization because you cannot afford to have a nicely sloped trench on both sides. You need to keep it as narrow as possible.
Again, if it’s in a city street, most likely you will be utilizing select backfill to comply with road department requirements for compaction. There might be some additional requirements that are based on the local jurisdiction permit.
Literally, you have to plan that work completely different than you would plan a job, again, in West Texas or somewhere else.
Russel: Exactly. I might ask this question, Denys. You’ve been doing pipeline construction for quite some time. What would you say are one or two of the more interesting challenges that you’ve had to address in your career?
Denys: I would say that every project is unique. There’s literally not a single project that is the same as the last one.
Just to entertain the listeners of your podcast, I think the more interesting ones were those that are on the smaller size, smaller being smaller in pipeline size or maybe length. Often those are on a much shorter schedule, a more aggressive schedule, and it’s amazing how many different issues come up with those projects.
We had a project where it was a simple two mile project, but it included three horizontal directional drills. I’ve had projects that have had over 20. On that simple, small project, it was a two mile project with three horizontal directional drills, the amount of lessons learned we experience can exceed the large projects with 20 plus drills.
Again, something that you cannot plan for. You just have to be prepared to deal when construction starts.
Russel: What was it about that two-mile project that caused it to be such a learning opportunity?
Denys: It was a combination of terrain and underground conditions. Just to stay general about it but to give you some idea, we were crossing under a very steep, deep, ravine with HDD. That was a primary reason to have an HDD because otherwise we would have to have an aerial crossing. There was no way we could open-cut across that ravine.
Russel: Just the nature of the terrain and the fact you’re going under a ravine caused it to be quite challenging.
Denys: In addition to that, to complicate the issue, in one place there was an underground abandoned coal mine that we had to go over. Between that ravine and the coal mine that we had to avoid, we were threading a needle between layers of soil and rock, trying to stay in the elevation that is more conducive to HDD installation.
Russel: I could certainly see how that would be interesting. If you’ve got a ravine and a coal mine, I suspect you had a lot of variability in the soil condition, too.
Denys: Yes, we did. That part of the country is characterized by extremely varied soil conditions and geological conditions. We employed the help of various geophysicists and geotechnical engineers to properly investigate and plan the job.
Russel: Interesting. Did you run over schedule and run over budget on that one?
Denys: The schedule was fairly relaxed, so we were able to plan activities without running over budget.
Russel: That’s driving at the question I’m asking. You talked about the West Texas project where it’s flat, and it’s dry, and it’s pretty straightforward. You can plan that without a lot of flexibility in the schedule because there’s not a lot of unknowns likely to occur.
Denys: That is true.
Russel: When you’re doing the kind of project you’re talking about with three horizontal drills, and a ravine, and a coal mine, and changing soil, you’ve got to plan a lot of time for flexibility because you don’t know what you’re going to come up against.
Denys: Absolutely. Again, proper planning, incorporating contingencies and flexibility into your schedule and into your overall execution plan can make a problem just a simple engineering challenge. It could be a dealbreaker for the project.
Russel: The other thing, too, I think about construction is once you put shovel to dirt, you’re pretty much committed to complete.
Denys: Absolutely.
Russel: You’re not committed to complete until you put the shovel to dirt, but once you put shovel to dirt you’re pretty much committed to complete.
Denys: Absolutely. If I may, we often try to work with construction contractor to plan ahead, to at least have some kind of one week, two week look ahead of the activities that we’ll be performing. If there are some issues, they’re discovered not when — as we call it — backhoe is idling next to the obstacle we’re crossing.
Russel: Exactly. Anybody who does project work will tell you it’s a whole lot easier and cheaper to do planning than to do correcting.
If you had one thing that you wanted all pipeliners to know about pipeline construction, what would that be?
Denys: I would still say that it’s the most rewarding part of a pipeline project. You can see your facility being installed and built. In order for it to be rewarding, I would leave everyone with this, that proper project planning combined with qualified construction management and employing qualified construction resources will lead to your successful construction execution.
Russel: One of the things I like to do at the end of an episode, Denys, is I like to summarize…I think you already did that. You’ve talked about planning.
I’m going to frame this a little bit different. I’m going to ask you a couple of last questions. Can you give me a definition of experience?
Denys: I’ll have to ask, pipeline experience?
Russel: Just experience in general. It’s a little bit more general than that. What would be your definition of experience?
Denys: My definition of experience, and you did not prepare me for this. I would say something I personally lived through and something that is stuck in my memory.
Russel: My definition of experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted. I’ll ask the follow up. Do you know what wisdom is?
Denys: Not to have the same experience twice?
Russel: Yes, wisdom is when you learn the correct lesson from the experience.
Denys: That’s a good one.
Russel: What my takeaway for this episode is you want your project planners to have wisdom and loads of it.
Denys: Or at least insist on having proper planning before you start ditching.
Russel: Exactly. Denys, look. I appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on the podcast. I really appreciate the way you laid this all out and laid out the steps for the project. It was really good. I appreciate it.
Denys: Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
Russel: I hope you enjoyed this week’s episode of the Pipeliners Podcast and our conversation with Denys. Just a reminder before you go, you should register to win our customized Pipeliners Podcast YETI tumbler. Simply visit pipelinepodcastnetwork.com/win to enter yourself in the drawing.
If you’d like to support the podcast, the best way to do that’s to leave us a review on whatever app you happen to use to listen. You can find instructions at pipelinepodcastnetwork.com.
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Russel: If you have ideas, questions or topics you’d be interested in, please let me know either on the Contact Us page at pipelinepodcastnetwork.com or reach out to me on LinkedIn.
Thanks for listening. I’ll talk to you next week.
Transcription by CastingWords