PIPELINE TECHNOLOGY

PIPELINE CROSSROADS OF THE WORLD

If you’ve grown up around here, you are well aware you live in the heart of the Pipeline Crossroads of the World. And if you know people in the industry, then you know there’s money to be made.

Our Pipeline Technology class teaches pipeline construction and prepares you for the workforce with opportunities to grow. Our graduates wanting to stay local find jobs in and around the area, and for those ready to travel, they choose jobs that follow the pipe. If you appreciate hard work, don’t mind getting dirty, and enjoy working outside, this is the class for you.

Through great industry partnerships, you will tour storage facilities and hear from industry leaders in construction/maintenance, inspection, and major oil and gas companies.

So, what is pipeline construction? Let us run you through the whole gamut of putting a pipeline in the ground from start to finish.

“We appreciate that students learn how to solve real world problems using hands-on training.”

Tim FurrENDURO PIPELINE SERVICES

“As a student in the Pipeline class we are being prepared to go to work in the industry.”

Brett AndrewsStudent

Pipeline Construction

Before constructing the pipeline, you must have access to the land and make one-calls to determine location of other lines underground.

After locating the lines, you will clear the right-of-way (easement) area of trees, fences, and anything above ground to make room for the pipeline.

Now that you have room, you will lay the pipe end-to-end along the easement. Using heavy equipment, a trench is excavated. Following strict OSHA guidelines, a bell hole is dug to prevent a cave-in.

The pipe is then welded together, and welds are coated. Before the pipeline can be lowered into the trench, a high voltage loop is placed around and passed down the pipe. This process is called jeeping and will alert you to any pinholes in the pipe or welds. Jeeping is done over the entire pipe before it is lowered in the trench and again as the pipe is lowered in.

Once in place, the trench must be properly backfilled and is ready for covering.

Pipeline students taking an output voltage reading on a rectifier at Central Tech

Maintaining a Pipeline

Leak Survey

You will learn how to check for leaks by manually walking a pipeline with a gas detector and/or visually looking for oil on the ground. This will get you within feet of the leak. Next, you will learn how to pinpoint a leak in the pipe within inches. Once the leak is found, the system is shut down, the pipe is cut out and replaced.

As you learn the process, our instructor can create leaks in the system, so you can troubleshoot solutions.

Basic Cathodic Protection (CP)

You will study CP, a technique used to control the corrosion of metal. The protection works by allowing a more sacrificial metal to corrode instead of the protected metal. By taking readings of the metal, you will learn what is protected and be able to troubleshoot readings.

Polyfusion

You will learn how to use heat and pressure to join two pieces of thermoplastic pipe together using a pipe fusion process.

Coating / Painting

You will learn how to coat the pipe with the proper amount of thickness according to specs. This provides a constant protective lining that adheres to the metal to protect it from rust and corrosion therefore maintaining pipeline integrity.

Pigging

Pigging is the practice of using a pipeline inspection gauge (pig) to clean and inspect the pipeline without stopping product flow. The pig is inserted into the pig launcher. Once the launcher is closed, the pressure of the product flowing through the pipe will push it along the pipe until it reaches the receiving trap. You will learn how to launch a pig on a two-inch pipeline in the classroom before moving to the outdoor site.

Facilities

This year, as a student, you will construct a pipeline in an established area behind the school. Since we train employees for many oil and gas companies, our students will utilize our company training facilities, a 2-acre line locating field and a fully-simulated oil and gas storage facility with control center monitoring.