Math 1210 Project

The U.S. Interior Secretary recently approved drilling of natural gas wells near
Vernal, Utah. Your company has begun drilling and established a high-producing well
on BLM ground. They now need to build a pipeline to get the natural gas to their
refinery. While running the line directly to the refinery will be the least amount of pipe
and shortest distance, it would require running the line across private ground and
paying a right-of-way fee. There is a mountain directly east of the well that must be
drilled through in order to run the pipeline due east. Your company can build the
pipeline around the private ground by going 18 miles directly west and then 43 miles
south and finally 72 miles east to the refinery (see figure above). Cost for materials,
labor and fees to run the pipeline across BLM ground is $237,000 per mile. Cost of
drilling through the existing mountain would be a one-time cost of $2,896,000 on top of
the normal costs ($237,000 per mile) of the pipeline itself. Also the BLM will require an
environmental impact study before allowing you to drill through the mountain. Cost for
the study is estimated to be $575,000 and will delay the project by 8 months costing the
company another $12,000 per month. For any pipeline run across private ground, your
company incurs an additional $195,000 per mile cost for right-of-way fees in addition to
the normal costs ($237,000 per mile) of the pipeline itself.

-Cost to run the pipeline per mile=$237,000

-Cost of additional fee per mile through private grounds=$195,000
-Cost of drilling= $2,896,000
-Cost of study=$575,000
-Cost of delay per month= $12,000
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I have determined the cost of running the pipeline strictly on the BLM ground
running west, south, and then east to the refinery.

I have also determined the cost of running the pipeline strictly on the BLM ground
heading east through the mountain and then south to the refinery.

I have determined the shortest distance cost by going diagonal from the natural
gas well to the private ground to the refinery.
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Along with, I have also determined the cost of running straight south across the
private ground, then straight east to the refinery.

43 miles south + 54 miles east= 97 miles

I have determined the cost function for the pipeline for the configuration involving
running from the well across the private ground at an angle of 32.28 degrees and
intersecting the BLM ground to the south and then running east to the refinery.
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Cost function for diagonal:

Cost function for BLM Land:

Cost functions combined.

Derivative of cost function:

Optimization of cost:
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By using this number in the function C(x) we can conclude the cost will be
$28,328,978. Making the cheapest option running the pipeline strictly on the BLM
ground heading east through the mountain and then south to the refinery.
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Reflection:
Throughout the course of this semester I have learned numerous things in calculus. From
the use of limits at the beginning of the semester, to areas between curves at the end. As I
progress in my pre-health sciences, I have realized the relation of calculus being used in
medicine. Medicine is a field of life sciences that is dependent on calculus to analyze data in
many aspects. For instance, calculus can be used as a helpful tool to determine the cardiac
output, the amount of blood pumped through the heart per unit time. With that said, I will
continue to use the useful tools I learned from this course in my future.