In order to see the works in progress The Australian Pipeliner team took a site visit to Euroa, a small country town approximately two hours north of Melbourne, where construction contractor Nacap was based during peak construction activity.
Running through paddocks, across creeks, under roads and through small towns, the Victorian Northern Interconnect Expansion (VNIE) project is centred on the looping of the existing 257 km Wollert to Wodonga Pipeline and is one of APA’s key projects in securing its east coast gas network.
The VNIE Project is comprised of three separable portions:
- Separable Portion 1: Construction of a 68.4 km pipeline loop from the Euroa Compressor Station Discharge to Glenrowan, including the installation of cross tie connections at Euroa and Glenrowan.
- Separable Portion 2: Construction of a 17.4 km pipeline loop from Wandong to Broadford, including a tie-in at Wandong and cross tie connection at Euroa and Glenrowan.
- Separable Portion 3: Construction of a 49.8 km pipeline loop from Mangalore to Euroa Compressor Station Suction, including the installation of cross tie connections at Mangalore and Euroa Compressor Station Suction, removal of cross tie connections at Euroa (discharge) and Glenrowan; and tie-in to Glenrowan pressure limiter and station valve class break facility at Euroa.
Construction
The expansion project involves the construction of looping sections of the 300 mm Wollert to Wodonga Pipeline, with a new 400 mm transmission pipeline within APA’s existing gas pipeline easement.
Engaged by APA for to provide construction services, Nacap Australia’s mainline crews have been constructing the works at an astonishing rate of 2.5 km per day.
Nacap Project Manager James Povey said construction on the VNIE has set new records for the state.
“This is the first time in many years that a pipeline has been built in Victoria at 2.5 km/day production rates.”
Mr Povey also outlined the terrain on which the construction is taking place threw up its fair share of difficulties.
“The terrain and level of interruptions (property boundaries, roads and crossings) were a significant impost on the project,” said Mr Povey.
“Nacap presented a flexible pipeline construction operation capable of accounting for these challenges and ensuring production targets were met.”
In some cases, there were a number of narrow right-of-way (ROW) sections, due to the work being within seven metres of the Wollert to Wodonga pipeline, which necessitated the formation of a special section crew capable of working on reverse and narrow ROW.
The many roads and waterways intersected by the ROW meant that three crossing crews were required to execute crossings in advance of the mainline activities, which allowed one of the three following tie-in crews to weld mainline lowered-in pipe.
As part of the scope of works, Nacap was also responsible for the mechanical installations at the start and end of each of the loops to connect into the Wollert to Wodonga pipeline.
There were also five locations that require end-of-line or mid-line facilities works installation.
The project was constructed in a combination of rural and domestic areas. Therefore, a key issue was housing the project workforce for the duration of the project.
Many local towns along the project alignment welcomed the diverse project workforce and proved to be a welcome change from the intensive camp environments that Nacap workers been working in for the past three years, including remote camps constructing parts of the Australia Pacific LNG Project in 2012-14.
HDD works
A number of major roadway, railway and waterway crossings presented problems that were addressed using major horizontal directional drilling (HDD), minor HDD and laser-guided pipe-jacking.
Nacap sub-contracted Pipeline Drillers Group to undertake the major HDD works, who worked effectively to deliver project milestones in an environmentally sensitive area, amongst well kept private properties.
Mobilising a Vermeer 330 in December 2014, Nacap and Pipeline Drillers installed four 406 mm gas pipelines of lengths between 210–560 m, before the end of April 2015.
New integrations between the companies’ safety and environment management systems, ensured an incident-free project completion.
After significant time onsite, Pipeline Drillers Health, Safety and Environmental Quality (HSEQ) Manager Torben Lehmann said “Working alongside the team at Nacap has been a pleasure, with our companies’ practises complementing each other onsite.”
Nacap also sub-contracted Victorian drilling contractor Pezzimenti Trenchless for laser-guided pipe-jacking, who, in January, commenced a month-long drilling operation on the project.
Working to a 28-day straight work cycle, Pezzimenti completed three bores, each with a diameter of 700 mm and crossing beneath rail lines.
Measuring 45 m, 60 m and 117 m in length, respectively, the bores crossed beneath the Benalla to Yarrawonga Railway, the North Eastern Railway and the Goulburn Valley Railway.
Following boring, 500 mm diameter Humes RC jacking pipe was inserted via the pipe jacking method in order to accommodate the 406 mm diameter steel gas pipe.
Once inserted, pull-back of the coated steel gas pipe was completed.
According to Pezzimenti Trenchless Director Joe Pezzimenti, the primary challenge of the project was to ensure the accuracy of the bore along its length within a tolerance of 10–15 mm.
This was due to having to pull back the gas pipe in one continuous string with just 18 mm clearance between the gas pipe, centralisers, and the internal diameter of the RC jacking pipe.
Transport services
A number of companies familiar to pipeliners provided pipe transport and vehicles for the VNIE Project.
Simon National Carriers provided transport for the numerous pipe shipments from Port Melbourne.
Delivering over 9000 18 m X 406 mm pipe lengths in excess of 560 shipments, Simon National Carriers recorded 62,321 km travelled over 3415 man-hours.
As part of the project, Chinese steel maker Baosteel was contracted to supply 162 km of API 5L X70 PSL2 400DN 18 m line pipe.
In turn, Bao Australia, Baosteel’s Australian arm, contracted Qube Energy for the customs clearance, stevedoring, storage and stockpile management and transport of the pipe to construction sites at Wallan, Tallarook and Benalla.
Qube was also contracted by APA for crane loading operations at the Tallarook and Benalla sites.
The cargo of pipe reached Australia in four shipments for Portion 1 and Portion 2, with two shipments for each portion.
Shipments for Portion 1 left from AAL Hong Kong and AAL Pusan, carrying 32 and 38.5 km of pipe respectively.
The shipments for Portion 2 were shipped from AAL Newcastle and AAL Brisbane, with 51.9 and 47.5 km of pipe.
For personnel transport, Australian Truck Hire Company (ATHC) successfully delivered over 130 light commercial vehicles and 30 trucks to the VNIE Project over four months.
ATHC’s services on the project also included an onsite workshop, containers, spare parts as well as housing a full-time mechanic on-site to minimise down-time.
Safety
With 290 people working on the project during peak production, safety was one of Nacap’s top priorities.
Key issues around trench safety, lifting safety and project driving were encountered and managed through close supervision and systems specifically designed around accountability of stakeholder.
“A key tool to ensure ownership of safety is in the field based teams identifying risks involved in performing their tasks and the development of Safe Work Method statement that provides treatment to these tasks via the hierarchy of hazard control and As Low As Reasonably Possible (ALARP) principles,” said Mr Povey.
Community engagement
Community engagement was crucial to the overall project’s success, with negotiations taking place in and around significant private properties.
APA Group undertook comprehensive stakeholder liaison prior to Nacap’s mobilisation.
As the pipeline is a duplication of an existing line, landowners were familiar with the requirement of the existing line, although many weren’t aware of the original pipeline construction activities undertaken 40 years earlier.
Both Nacap and Pipeline Drillers Group took time out from the hectic project schedule to meet with the local community and assist with local programs.
Wildlife and livestock management were integrated into daily operations due to their close proximity, ensuring any potential occurrence was managed safely and with limited impact on fauna, with the initiatives well received by stakeholders and the local community.
Cultural heritage and environmental protection
Nacap also ensured that cultural heritage was a top priority on the project, with a number sites being protected.
“A feature of the landscape north of Mangalore are the large old growth native trees (River Red Gum, Yellow Gum, Grey Box), which provided scenic relief and native habitat to indigenous wildlife,” said Mr Povey.
“These trees were preserved where not directly impacted by the pipe trench line and enabled the retention of old grow road corridor habitat links.”
Along the entire alignment of the project there was a requirement for cultural heritage clearance involving traditional owner representatives traversing the alignment to identify features or items of cultural significance and collecting them for further study and preservation.
Expanding capacity
As of mid-June 2015, the VNIE Project was on track with its commissioning in the middle of the June, following completion of loops 2–4.
Construction on the fifth and final loop is complete, with hydro-testing underway.
With the VNIE Project set to expand APA’s east coast capacity, the pipeline operator believes that the project will go some way to alleviating the predicted shortfall in gas supply for the east coast market, particularly in New South Wales, over the coming years.
This article was featured in the July 2015 edition of The Australian Pipeliner.
If you have news you would like featured in The Australian Pipeliner contact Managing Editor David Convery at dconvery@gs-press.com.au