Pipeline Designs

With the extreme topographic variation of the Canadian landscape, pipeline companies have combined innovative design and construction techniques to create highly effective systems for the transport of a variety of products. Examples of advanced design in Canadian pipelines include:

• TransCanada Pipelines is a leader in pioneering the use of high strength steel for pipelines, such as the X-100 grade, large diameter steel pipe. The 'thinner walled' high strength steel transports greater volumes of natural gas at increased pressures, while reducing transportation costs for shippers and cutting GHG emissions. They are the only company in North America to install and gain operating experience from using the technology.
• Crowsnest Lake pipeline (Atco Pipelines) replacement included several environmental considerations that were critical to reduce the impact to the lake. Installation of the pipeline was completed by fabricating pipeline "strings" approximately 400 meters in length, attaching floats and launching the strings onto the water. The strings were then floated into predetermined alignment. Tie-ins were completed on a welding barge and then sunk into the deepest channel of the lake.
• Enbridge has invested in alternative energy technologies such as the world's first commercial application of integrated energy recovery and fuel cell technology (2.2 MW) and four waste heat recovery facilities (20 MW).
• The Norman Wells (Enbridge) pipeline carries oil south from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories to Zama, Alberta. This northern landscape is mostly tundra and muskeg with areas of permafrost. The pipeline was designed to withstand thaw settlement, slope instability and frost heave. Design and construction involved critical assessments of the landscape. Potential scenarios were considered for all phases of construction and maintenance to assure problem free construction and operation.
• Hydro-transport in oil sands mining projects has substantially improved economies over the use of trucks or conveyors on longer hauls. Mixed oil sands are pumped through the pipeline as a slurry. As the slurry travels from the mine to the extraction plant, there is considerable separation of the bitumen from the sand. This reduces the amount of separation to be done at the extraction plant and contributes to overall project efficiency.
• Subsea pipelines have been built in challenging environments, including across the deep sub-water trench found between the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island. The system provides trouble free natural gas deliveries to the island.