Engineering pipelines, facilities, and new business opportunities

Project Overview

Engineering and design of a complete energy transportation system, which included:

• Booster pump station with 2 x 600 HP vertical can centrifugal pumps
• Two meter stations with flow and pressure control and meter proving
• Pipeline interconnect station with connections to main and loop lines
• 1.3 miles of 16” pipeline with one mile above grade

Project Impact

• Continuous new revenue stream
• Trouble-free operation for 10+ years
• Successfully met shipping volume commitment

When big opportunity comes knocking in the liquid petroleum transportation business, moving quickly to take advantage of it requires access to the right resources, capabilities, and expertise. A key pipeline operations company in the Midwest was presented with a customer’s need to transport a significant volume of a new product from a refinery to an existing pipeline several miles away. The company’s leadership turned to their trusted partners at HT Engineering to help assess the feasibility of the project, plan a solution, and then turn that solution into reality.

HT Engineering worked closely with the pipeline operator’s business development and executive teams from the outset. Our engineers helped define the design parameters for the project, then we performed due diligence engineering and economic analysis, coming up with a recommended design basis and business model that worked for both parties. Once the project was greenlighted, our team moved forward with design for the full energy transportation system—a booster pump station, two meter stations, a pipeline interconnect station, and 1.3 miles of pipeline—all engineered to safely and efficiently see the new product on its journey from the refinery to the existing pipeline that would take it to its end destination.

Of course, what works on paper does not always go exactly as planned in the field. By asking HT Engineering to serve as project manager as well as the principal engineer on the project, the pipeline operator’s leadership team was able to foresee and circumvent many issues throughout the lifecycle of the project. HT Engineering assisted with environmental and construction permitting, bidding the project, vetting contractors, and selecting the right construction team.

HT Engineering stayed hands-on throughout the entire two-and-half year project, providing construction management assistance and working alongside the pipeline operator’s team, their customer, and the field crews to engineer through challenges as they arose, including crossing an area of contaminated soil and addressing an abandoned pipeline found in the project’s path.

Ultimately, the project stayed on schedule. All parties—the operator’s leadership, the customer’s refinery team, and the pipeline operations team—were satisfied with the end product. By rising to the challenge and finding a smart solution that worked from both an engineering and business perspective, the pipeline company fulfilled its commitment to its shipper and has since capitalized on several other new business opportunities to ship different types of products for its customers.