The Impossible Made Possible

On The East-West Gas Pipeline

By V.N. Prasad, Vice President Pipelines, Punj Lloyd

he East-West pipeline being built The project was managed succcessfully, The towers at inaccessible areas on the slope
by Reliance Industries Limited is safely and to the satisfaction of our clients. section were erected by joining each tower ele-
designed to transport natural gas from ment in-situ. This involved shifting each tower
the Krishna Godavari Basin in Andhra Cable-Crane System element to the site manually. Being a tough and
Pradesh, traversing the southern Indian states On The Bhivpuri Ghat risky job, joining each element on steep inclines
of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, The Western Ghats are hill ranges run- required careful planning of safety measures to
before terminating at the world’s largest refin- ning parallel to the south-west coast of India. ensure that the installation work was carried out
ery, Reliance’s Jamnagar Refinery in Gujarat. Bhivpuri Ghat in Maharashtra receives heavy successfully with utmost safety.
The total length of this 48-inch pipeline is 1,440 rainfall, has lush tropical vegetation and dense As a risk-control measure, all employees
km, making it India’s longest gas pipeline. hardwood forests. Though just a 2.3-km sec- were required to use the full body harness
Punj Lloyd, a global EPC services provider tion, the challenge was not in terms of distance with the lifeline. This ensured elimination of
in the energy, petrochemical and infrastructure but in its very steep hilly terrain, with slopes accidents. Nets were provided on the slope at
sectors, has been associated with success on up to 70°. The transportation of pipe, equip- strategic locations to arrest possible rolling
tough terrain projects of LOT C of the Baku — ment, and numerous other construction tools of stones or small landslides. Workers on the
Tbilisi — Ceyhan pipeline in Turkey and the and tackle were a logistical challenge. To towers were provided retractable fall arres-
island hopping pipeline in Indonesia through overcome this, the Skyline system, a special tors, enabling them to work freely in relative
the rocky seabed and shallow waters of the technique of pipelaying by an eco-efficient terms, eliminating the hazard of falling during
Panaran and Pemping Islands. cable-crane system, was adopted, dividing ascending or descending the towers.
With experience working in all sorts of ter- the construction activities into two sections - The steep gradients of the Bhivpuri Ghat
rain, it was not surprising when the toughest namely upper and lower slopes. varied from 30° to 70° broken by a plateau of
sections of the East-West pipeline were awarded 410 meters.
to Punj Lloyd for laying 303 km of the 48-inch Right of Use Excavation on the steep slope was carried
pipeline and associated facilities, with eight The route survey was a very critical activity out by special Menzi Muck excavators. These
MLV stations, five compressor stations, two as it involved traversing dense forest land. One excavators have an adjustable chassis to suit
tap-off stations and seven river crossings. The of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, the Right
work was divided into spreads across the states of Use was hence restricted
ence restricte ted
te sen-
e to protect this sen
of Gujarat (spreads 7A and 8A of 78 km) and sitive ecosystem.
tem.
Maharashtra (spread 7B of 107 km, spread 6A Five crane tow-
of 102 km, spread 6B of 15 km). ers were erected
ted on
Punj Lloyd accepted the challenges of the location with th the
project which are highlighted below. help of excava-
cava-
 Laying of 2.3 km pipeline in Bhivpuri tors after being
ng
Ghat with slopes of 70°. pre-assembledd
 Narmada River Crossing of 1.5 km by in small
HDD — the second-longest river crossing sections
of 48-inch diameter ever done in India. at a work-
 Laying of 222 km of pipeline in the shop. Towerss
highly sensitive and volatile atmosphere were sup-
in the state of Maharashtra. ported by y
 Tapi River Crossing by Float and Sink cable, ropess East-West Pipeline map
technique. and anchored d
 Laying of pipeline in the protected area by a deadman anchor,
n aanc
nchhor
nc hor,
ho r,
of the Great Indian Bird Sanctuary in which is a five-meter
f ive-
ive-me
iv e-me
e- mete
mete
t r
Maharashtra. Permission was received pipe of 46-inchnncch diam-
d am
di m-
almost at the end of the contract tenure eter buried att a depthpthh of
ddep
ep of
after the approval by a high-powered six meters.
committee constituted by the Supreme
Court of India due to the sensitivity of
this restricted area.

34 Pipeline & Gas Journal / August 2008 / www.pgjonline.com

Transportation of heavy equipment through eco-efficient cable crane system.
the terrain on which they are to work; a pow-
erful all-wheel drive and a walking function
that makes the equipment resemble a giant
tarantula. Gradients in excess of 100% pose no
problems. As a result, four of these excavators
were put to work on the uphill and downhill
gradients. They also feature a bucket attach-
ment and a drilling attachment for drilling and
blasting holes wherever rock was present.
The sheath rock was so hard that it required
three to four rounds of controlled blasting to
remove it. It was important to perform con-
trolled blasting to prevent damaging towers
and cables and to minimize impact on micro-
climatic conditions.
Excavation in the flat section was done by
two 20-ton excavators transported to the loca-
tion using the cable-crane system. To facilitate
their transportation, the excavators were first
dismantled, shipped part by part and then re-as-
sembled, as the maximum load-bearing capac-
ity of the cable-crane system was 12 tons.
For the welding process, the Skyline system
proved to be a boon for fit up on the steep
slopes. In addition to the Skyline support
system, platforms were fabricated and fitted
onto the pipe to facilitate welding. Owing to
the varying trench profile, a surveyor accom-
panied the welding crew so that the required
bends were calculated in advance, four to five
pipes ahead, to ensure continuous welding.
For trench protection, slope breakers were
transported from a central location to desig-
nated intervals along the pipeline route and
manually stacked at these locations.
For pre-padding, post-padding and backfill-
ing, large capacity carriages were specially
fabricated and fitted into the Skyline system
to ensure speedy completion.
Cleaning, gauging and hydrotesting was
completed successfully in a single attempt.
It was a significant accomplishment to carry
out the hydrotesting at a height difference
of 580 meters. Precautionary measures and
round-the-clock surveillance ensured a stable
pressure head was maintained throughout the
pressurization and depressurization activities.
Slope Protection
And Restoration
Due to the exceptional biological diversity
and richness of the Ghat region, a new concept
for slope protection was introduced in India,
using a combination of Gabions and Reno mat-
tresses. These are boxes made of flexible twist-
ed hexagonal wire mesh coated with zinc/PVC
into which stones of various sizes are filled.
In keeping with the performance standards
of International Financial Corporation, endem-
ic conditions were created by spreading soil
and organic material with native seeds over
these boxes. Coir mattresses were laid over the
Gabions to keep them in place. This system
controls soil erosion during the monsoon season
and ensures the growth of locally prevalent spe-
cies for restoration of the endemic vegetation
along the pipeline route to its original form.
Benefits Of
Cable-Crane System
 Eco-efficient system doesn’t affect the
flora and fauna of the area.
 Enables welding fit up at steep slopes
with complete safety.
 Fast and feasible system for transporta-
tion in hills and extreme gradients.
 Can be used in all weather conditions for
uninterrupted working.
Tapi River Crossing
 Name of River : Tapi
 Chainage : 1322 KM (spread 8)
 Crossing Length : 750 meters
 Bed Width : 531.8 meters
 Bank Width : 584.63 meters
The Tapi River was one of the critical
crossings for the East-West Pipeline project.
Initially this crossing was planned to be exe-
cuted by a horizontal directional drill (HDD)
as part of the mainline contract.
However, due to resistance from local vil-
Pipeline & Gas Journal / August 2008 / www.pgjonline.com
lagers concerned about a temple along the
original pipeline route, the alignment of Tapi
River crossing was shifted. As a result, the
crossing location was shifted 100 meters.
Fresh soil investigation for the crossing was
carried out and it was discovered that despite
the short distance, the soil strata had changed
completely. At the new location, the river bed
had huge boulders, rock and high density grav-
el. The scour was calculated to be 8.5 meters
from the river bed and the pipeline had to be
laid at 10.5 meters from the river bed, until the
limit of the crossing. However, in view of the
soil characteristics, HDD of the river crossing
was not possible.
Punj Lloyd offered a plan to execute the
crossing by a float and sink method where the
concrete-coated pipe could be laid across the
Tapi River.
The total span of the crossing was of 750
meters. After the client had approved the meth-
odology, the contract for the river crossing was
awarded to Punj Lloyd. It involved design,
engineering with anti-buoyancy calculations,
design float spacing from setup to removal
of the floats once the pipe is pulled into the
water.
This was a challenging river crossing. The
48-inch diameter pipe string, with more than
6 inches of concrete coating, was 500 meters
long and weighed 1,200 tons. Nearby, a road
Menzi Muck excavator
Photos courtesy of Punj Lloyd.
35

Slope Protection
with Gabions and
Renzo mattresses
crossing 260 meters away from the north bank
had to be negotiated by thrust boring, as it was
a busy city road. A 66-inch RCC casing across
the road was installed and the 60-inch diam-
eter concrete-coated pipe string was fabricated
in a continuous string and bored through.
Meanwhile, on the river front, the design
calculations were carried out for anti-buoyancy
and to determine the size and number of floats
required to pull the pipe into the river. Also, an
‘A’ frame was fabricated on a pontoon to sup-
port the cold field sag and bends were welded
to the string, so that no tie-in was required
once the pipe was pulled into the water and the
end of the bend was on the river bank after the
pullback was completed.
Our 400-ton HDD rig was mobilized and
Eco-efficient cable crane system rigged up on the south bank of the river to pull
the string from the north bank. Six 100-ton
36 Pipeline & Gas Journal / August 2008 / www.pgjonline.com
Photos courtesy of Punj Lloyd.
Tapi River Crossings by
Float and Sink technique
sidebooms were deployed to keep the string in
place on the rollers during the pullback. Once
on the rollers, the floats were clamped onto the
concrete-coated pipe.
As the trench was being readied, the string
was being prepared for pullback. The drill
pipe string was shifted to the other bank by a
pontoon and hooked up to the ‘A’ frame while
the bend was supported by the ‘A’ frame on the
pontoon. The pullback started in the morning
and took two consecutive days. The operation
was so smooth and well-designed that the pull
force was very minimal.
Once the string was pulled across, the ‘A’
frame was disconnected and the cold field sag
and over bend were welded to the tail end of
the pipe and pulled further into the river. Once
the string was across the river, the floats were
removed and the pipe was allowed to sink into
the trench. The pipeline was later backfilled
with the help of the excavators on pontoons.
The project was meticulously planned and
accomplished in the contractual time frame
with no lost-time injuries or accidents. P&GJ