May 2014, Vol. 69 No. 5
Features
Trenchers, HDD Key Components Of Pumpco’s Pipeline Work
Texas-based Pumpco Inc. provides a wide variety of pipeline construction services, including new pipelines, maintaining and rehabilitating pipelines already in service, and retiring and removing infrastructure of pipelines being removed from service.
Cross-country pipeline projects include installation of pipes for midstream oil and gas pipelines, gathering lines and pipes for compressor and meter stations. Clients include many pipeline and energy companies. Pipe installed ranges from diameters two to 36-inches poly and steel pipe in various lengths. The company also performs right-of-way maintenance, corrosion control and hydrostatic testing. Maximum depths typically are 10 feet, with widths depending on size of pipe being installed.
“Most of the time, we work directly with the project owner providing turnkey services,” said Adam Nietsche, Pumpco operations manager. “Our personnel are experienced in all phases of pipeline construction enabling us to do the complete job without the need to employ subcontractors, giving us complete control of all aspects of the work throughout construction.”
Pumpco employs 1,300 experienced industry specialists and has a fleet of more than 1,460 pieces of equipment, including trenchers, excavators, support equipment and trucks and trailers. Additional equipment is rented as needed.
Pumpco has completed hundreds of miles of 12-, 16-, 20-, and 24-inch pipelines, much of them in Texas and neighboring Louisiana with crews also working in North Dakota and Wyoming, and recent jobs finished in New Mexico and Oklahoma. Nietsche said at any given time, there usually are 10 Pumpco crews in the field.
Equipment
The company owns 18 trenchers, including track-mounted chain machines, bucket wheel trenchers, and rock saws. Included are nine Vermeer machines, ranging from 250 horsepower to 600 horsepower models. Excavators are used for ties and street and line crossings.
“We also do horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for road and highway and water crossings and in areas where environmental issues do not permit excavation,” said Nietsche. Included in the company’s drill rig fleet are 11 Vermeer rigs with pullback forces ranging from 36,000 pounds to 1 million pounds.
Other equipment includes excavators from compact units to larger models, backhoe/loaders, trench padding machines and buckets, dozers, sidebooms, bending machines, HDD fluid mixing systems, vacuum lift pipe handling equipment, pipe and specialty trailers, haul and specialty trucks, off-road personnel carriers, grinders, mulchers and specialty support equipment.
Two recent projects provide examples of Pumpco work. The Sand Hills project involved laying 460 miles of 20-inch steel pipe to transport liquefied natural gas from Bay City to Sonora, TX. Soil conditions ranged from mud to hard rock.
“At one point,” said Nietsche, “we had 17 trenchers working on the job, including Vermeer 250-horsepower T665III and 600-horsepower T1255 machines. We also directionally-drilled segments to make routine road and water crossings. Multiple bores were required and during the course of the project every Vermeer HDD machine was employed on the project. In areas where right-of-way had to be cleared, we used tree removal equipment and grinders.”
The job was completed in 13 months.
A project beginning near El Campo, TX, to link a natural gas pipeline included a 6,840-foot-long bore with the big Vermeer D1000x900 machine with 1 million pounds of pullback. The project was completed in three months.
“The long bore was made to cross wetlands with a 20-inch diameter pipe,” said Nietsche. “Most of the project was trenched to install 24-inch diameter steel pipe. In addition to the wetlands, work was complicated by extremely wet weather.”
Pumpco is headquartered in Giddings, TX, about one hour east of downtown Austin. Founded in 1981 as a family-owned business to serve the pipeline industry, the company grew steadily. In 2008, Pumpco was acquired by MasTec Inc., Coral Gables, FL.
MasTec, Inc. is a leading construction company primarily engaged in engineering, building, maintenance and upgrading of energy and utility infrastructure including natural gas and petroleum pipelines, electric transmission and distribution lines, telecommunications networks and other industrial infrastructure.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Pumpco, (979) 542-9054, www.pumpco.cc
MasTec, (305) 599-1800, www.mastec.com
Vermeer Corp., (888) 837-6337, www.vermeer.com
Vermeer Equipment of TX, (800) 777-5128, www.vermeertexas.com
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