Challenges to Repair a Damaged NGL Pipeline by Third Parties in the Andean Mountains Without Stopping Pumping

Abstract

One of the challenges of transporting Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) is to ensure that the flow should be delivered with standards of safety, reliability, and efficiency while conducting repairs on the pipeline. This paper discusses the difficulties that had to be overcome to repair a damaged NGL pipeline by third parties performed in the Andean Mountains in Ayacucho, Perú, on NGL pipeline operated by Compañía Operadora de Gas del Amazonas (COGA). This pipeline and a parallel one also operated by (COGA) are the main source of supply of NGL and Natural Gas (NG) to the city of Lima, capital of Perú. To repair the Third-Party damage, an emergency committee COLE by its acronym in Spanish (Local Emergency Operative Committee) was formed with the purpose to coordinate the actions for the execution of the repair and meet the Quality, Safety, Social and Environment standards. The committee had an important tool, the Operational Contingency Plan, which provided guidelines for dealing with an emergency. The job required isolating a section of 14-inch NGL transportation pipeline and a bypass to keep the pipeline operational. The work had a tight schedule that needed to be followed to reduce the environmental, safety and service risks. The situation presented several challenges including the use of double barriers to safeguard personnel and facility equipment during the pipeline repair. This double block methodology had to be applied to meet environmental and safety concerns. The damage was located at 4,495 meters above sea level (masl). The strike caused an NGL leak resulting in the installation of an NGL containment and storage system. This location lacked the logistical facilities for the attention of a pipe repair operation, adverse conditions of cold climate, desolate land and other conditions that had to be overcome. This paper discusses how social, safety, environment and logistical challenges were overcome to repair a damaged caused by third parties in an NGL pipeline, which resulted in timely repair completion and uninterrupted flow of NGL.