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| Hawk Rope Access, Inc. 124 Parker Avenue, Rodeo, California, USA 94572 |
| Phone 510-245-8728 Fax 510-245-1728 |
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| Home > Hawk At Work > Wharf Piping Over Water |
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| Hawk Rope Access, Inc. |
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| Tackling wharf pipelines |
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| Hawk Rope Access, Inc. has developed innovative techniques for safely inspecting and mitigating corrosion on wharf pipelines. |
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| Location: San Francisco Bay, Refinery Marine Oil Terminals; A Compilation of projects. |
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| Project Clients: ConocoPhillips Rodeo, Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery, and Shell Martinez Refinery. |
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| Overview: Northern California’s refineries send and receive petroleum products through Marine Oil Terminals. |
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| Marine Oil Terminals are the lifeline to San Francisco Bay Area refineries. Tankers loaded with crude oil enter marine terminals in the San Francisco Bay, where the crude oil is then sent to refineries for processing via pipelines running under or adjacent to a wharf. In addition, products like gasoline and diesel are often loaded and shipped out through the same terminals. Refinery operational viability cannot be maintained if the wharf is shutdown. |
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| Typical San Francisco Bay Refinery Marine Oil Terminal Statistics:> |
- 10 to 20 active hydrocarbon lines with 24-hour operations schedules.
- Total length of piping (single wharf): about 5 to 10 miles
- Pipelines typically contain: Crude Oil, Fuel Oil. Diesel, Jet-A, Gasoline, recoverable oil and petroleum vapors.
- Marine oil terminal and support facilities in the S.F. Bay Area were constructed between 1915 and the present. Typical age of wharf piping seems to be 30 to 50 years old
- Failure mode in marine terminal piping is almost always a pin-hole leak from external corrosion.
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The San Francisco Bay and surrounding wetlands are environmentally sensitive areas, often with a host of agencies having jurisdiction over them. Consequently, very complex environmental, safety and permitting issues are associated with any marine oil terminal projects. |
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| Short list of Government Agencies with jurisdiction over project activities: |
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California State Lands Commission
San Francisco Regional Water Quality Board
San Francisco Bay conservation and Development commission
California Department of Fish and Game
US Coast Guard
NOAA Fisheries
U.S. Fish and wildlife service
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
Department of Transportation (DOT)
Contra Costa County, Solano County
City of Martinez, City of Rodeo, City of Benicia |
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| Scope of Services: Inspect, Re-coat and Repair, as needed, all wharf piping over water |
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| ConocoPhillips' Rodeo, refinery was the first of several facilities to approach Hawk about facilitating work on its wharf piping over water. |
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| "These wharf pipelines are where we bring in our crude oil" said Brian Jack, inspection superintendent for the facility. "They are one of the lifelines of the refinery." |
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| The refinery wanted a thorough inspection done quickly, efficiently and safely, and then based on the inspection, make needed repairs — also in a quick, safe and efficient manner. |
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| "Those were our key goals," Jack said. "We wanted a good assessment of the lines' condition and to make sure they were safe to operate — being in a particularly environmentally sensitive area, even the very smallest of leaks is a big deal to us." |
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| The refinery had always found it difficult to perform inspections on the wharf by conventional means. Part of the problem was that the lines were very close to the water, and wave action made it hard to keep the scaffolding intact and in place. All of the areas of concern had difficult access below decks, over water and were subject to tides. |
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| Industrial rope access provided an alternative. Using Rope Access, the refinery could avoid a lot of the scaffolding, plus gain access to a greater area than it could have conventionally. They already had had a long history of doing inspection work within the refinery. They had the needed inspection professionals on staff, and had a great safety record at the ConocoPhillips’ Rodeo refinery and in the petroleum industry in general. |
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| The successful completion of the ConocoPhillips project led to other similar projects in the Bay Area. |
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On all of these projects, a variety of inspection techniques were deployed, including Close Visual inspection, Ultrasonics, Radiography, and Pit Gauging. Close-up visual inspection and pit gauging were the most reliable methods to assess localized corrosion and minimize the risk of pinhole leaks. Long Range Ultrasonics and Hydro Testing were not always reliable tools for finding and assessing localized external corrosion and did not reveal isolated deep pitting. |
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| The projects also had several maintenance components were that critical to performing a thorough inspection. Hand scrapers and pneumatic needle guns were required to remove all loose mill scale, loose rust and other detrimental foreign matter prior to pit gauging. Abrasive blasting was impractical and all paint chips and debris had to be contained to prevent contaminating the bay and exposing workers to lead and other hazards. |
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| The Pipes had to be lifted to inspect the contact points between the pipes and the support bents, the coatings repaired and new support material installed under the pipes. When traditional lifting techniques such as jacks or cranes were impractical do to clearance and weight limits, a specially designed platform had to be fabricated and a system of air-lifting bags deployed to safely raise the pipes clear of the wharf support bents. |
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| Rope Access Technicians also performed or facilitated many repairs including pipe replacement, welded sleeves, engineered fiberglass wraps, and application of new coatings. |
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| The use of Industrial Rope Access Teams had succeeded in meeting critical inspection and maintenance needs at marine oil facilities by safely inspecting and mitigating corrosion on wharf pipelines. |
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"Overall, we found Rope Access to be an excellent value for this work! Much faster than staging!"
Brian Jack
Inspection Superintendent, ConocoPhillips Rodeo Refinery. |
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Hawk Rope Access, Inc.
Phone 510-245-8728 Fax 510-245-1728
124 Parker Avenue, Rodeo, California, USA 94572 |
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