The success of a risky hot maneuver

As a historical fact, in April 2020, at the beginning of the mandatory quarantine due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we had alerts of damage in seven different points of the same section of infrastructure in the municipalities of Santa Sofía (Boyacá), Jesús María and Albania (Santander), exactly in the Sutamarchán-La Belleza gas pipeline, which transports almost 90% of the gas moved by TGI.

“We carry out the inspections with smart tools, which are transported with the same gas flow that goes through the pipes. These work with electromagnetic methods and have high-tech sensors and electronics to detect defects and thus know the status of our main pipelines”, explains engineer Carlos León, Maintenance Director of the Central East Zone and in charge of the repair.

“Once we began to analyze the reports, we saw that there were seven critical points, in which there was a loss in the thickness of the pipe greater than 80%. There the tube loses its ability to withstand the pressure with which the gas is being transported and failures can occur. We had to act immediately and thus avoid the interruption in the service supply, but it was necessary to define the strategy by reviewing the different possible scenarios and looking for the least impact,” said engineer Juan Carlos Hurtado, Vice President of Operations.

This affectation implied a field repair to address a requirement, magnitude and simultaneity that we had never dealt with at TGI, much less at the peak of a pandemic.

This, in addition to the fact that in June and July, the El Niño phenomenon was threatening, which lowered the level of the reservoirs in which we normally produce electrical energy, for which the gas supply began to support the generation of demand from the thermoelectric plants of the country.

Hence, a good part of the country had electricity thanks to gas. An electricity shortage would have been disastrous both for TGI's financial profitability and for the well-being of millions of households, which were already sufficiently affected by the pandemic.

“When a situation of this nature arises, we must carry out an analysis and planning process to determine infrastructure risks that can last up to 12 months. In this case, we were able to do it in four months: on August 26 we started the hot maneuver to repair the gas pipeline, simultaneously working on the seven points where we detected damage and four more that we discovered during the intervention”, explained engineer León.

For the repair, the hot tapping and line stopping technique was used, which consists of changing sections of the pipeline by installing a by-pass or parallel pipe to maintain gas flow. The operation took three days for a team of 60 workers who worked 24 hours a day, distributed in shifts and located in different parts of the mountain where the damage was reported.

Prior to this maneuver, they had to work hard for several months: entering machinery and pipes through thick jungle to a very steep area and at a time of heavy rain. They even built a road that did not exist to reach the mountain.

“We act with precision and at the right time. Hence, we prevented one of the most important oil pipelines in the country, the 36-inch Ocensa pipeline, from being affected, which is only three meters from our gas pipeline. It transports a large part of the crude from the Eastern Plains to Coveñas. And with the Guayabal river nearby, an impact on the pipeline would have been irreparable environmental damage,” affirmed León.

This maneuver changed TGI's perspective of performing cold repairs, because even with all the negative risks and elements observed, they were able to carry out such a hot maneuver, without suspending the service and without unfortunate setbacks.

"This is something that must be standardized, so that we are prepared with the logistics and with the supply of materials, tools and machinery required, in case the need for immediate repair in critical points of the operation arises", concludes engineer Hurtado.