From expanding its team to working on major pipeline projects, Pro Pipe Services is continuing to thrive.
Since opening its doors in 2017, Pro Pipe Services has become one of the leading hot tapping and line isolation services in the nation’s pipeline industry.
Director Joe Buttigieg told The Australian Pipeliner how the growth has affected the business and the projects it has undertaken.
“The company was initially just Dean [Muscat, owner and director] and I,” Buttigieg said.
“We invested heavily in the start-up of the company, with acquisition of equipment and vehicles to provide services in the gas pipeline industry.”
As workloads grew so did the number of team members, with the business currently having nine full-time employees on the books.
The company has executed some significant pipeline projects across Australia.
“In the past 18 months, we have executed two double 22-inch isolation jobs with 12-inch bypass for a major highway alteration to a major Australian airport,” Buttigieg said.
“We’ve also been involved with the removal of two 34-inch LOCK-O-RING plugs installed over 46 years ago, as well as many pipeline alterations for the Victorian Railway removal program.”
With this kind of extensive experience under the company’s belt, Pro Pipe Services is now undertaking work on the Western Outer Ring Main (WORM) pipeline project in Victoria.
The scope of works includes the hot tapping and line isolation of the 20-inch ANSI 600# transmission pipeline to enable the final tie-in of the WORM pipeline.
The WORM project is a high-pressure gas transmission pipeline that is approximately 51km long between Plumpton in Melbourne’s west and Wollert further north. The WORM pipeline will improve network reliability by increasing the amount of gas that can be stored for times of peak demand and ensuring sufficient volumes of gas can be moved where it is needed most.
While the work has been straightforward as far as execution is concerned, it has not been without its challenges.
“Due to the work taking place in the middle of winter, the higher-than-normal operating pressure meant that we had to use fully-rated ANSI 600# STOPPLE equipment to execute the safe isolation,” Buttigieg said.
“The equipment was based out of the TDW service centres in Belgium and Singapore, so logistically we had to coordinate some of the equipment coming in from Europe and Asia.”
The Pro Pipe Services is conducting the work successfully in the face of these issues, demonstrating its ability as an Australian-owned hot tapping and line isolation pipeline services company.
“Pro Pipe Services continues to grow,” Buttigieg said. “We have been approached by a number of different asset and pipeline owners to provide other pipeline services.”
Apart from hot tapping and line isolation, the company provides pipe cutting, bolt tensioning, training, commissioning of new pipelines, and decommissioning of redundant and old pipelines, as well as equipment maintenance for pipeline equipment.
“Pro Pipe Services is Australia’s only fully Australian-owned hot tapping and line isolation pipeline services company, servicing the gas distribution, transmission and pipeline industries,” Buttigieg said.
“We continue to support all of our customers by providing safe and reliable services and advice.”
This article featured in the September edition of The Australian Pipeliner.
Subscribe to The Australian Pipeliner for the latest project and industry news.