Texoma 72” Pipeline Improvement
Texoma 72” Pipeline Improvement
The Texoma 72” Pipeline Improvement project was something new for American Pipeline Services. To retrofit this concrete-mortar lined pipe with cathodic protection, the steel needed to be exposed at each joint so that copper wires could be welded from one pipe to the next. An absolute minimum of 900 joints needed to be fully completed in two weeks.
About the Project
Tremendous amounts of research were devoted over the months leading up to the project to find practices and procedures that could be used inside the long stretches of pipe. Cordless tools were purchased and tested, new pipeline carts were designed and fabricated, and new trailers and generators were added to the fleet. The long stretches from one manhole to the next and the short battery life of the new tools caused need for adjustments-on-the fly. But crews kept at it, and began to gain efficiency with each day in the pipeline.
APS crews battled long hours, failed tools and materials, wet sections of pipe, drenching rains and bogging mud, yet managed to reach the critical 900 joint mark four days ahead of schedule.