Canada’s Coastal GasLink completes first HDD pull

Coastal GasLink (CGL), which is building the 670-km pipeline connecting the LNG Canada gas liquefaction and export terminal on BC’s west coast to gas fields in the northeast corner of the province, has completed its first major horizontal directional drill (HDD) crossing, it said in a June 17 construction update.

Measuring about 1.3 km in length, the section of 48-inch pipe (banner image) was successfully pulled beneath the Murray River in Section 1 of the CGL route, at about the 23-km mark. The HDD pull, started on June 10 and completed the next day, is believed to have been one of the longest and heaviest pipe pulls ever completed in North America, CGL said, and was made even more difficult by steep slopes on either side of the Murray River.

Elsewhere, CGL said it had contracted with Ledcor-Haisla Limited Partnership to assume construction responsibility for the technically-challenging west half of Section 8, which covers the last 54 km of the route through the Coastal Mountains to the LNG Canada site near Kitimat.

“This topography and geography of Section 8 is what sets this project apart from all others,” Ledcor-Haisla vice president Dan Tobin said. He noted just a few of the technical challenges Ledcor-Haisla will encounter: a number of steep slopes that will require unique installation procedures, an elevation change along the 54-km section of nearly 1,500 m, which brings varied seasonal weather impacts that require detailed planning, and the high volume of precipitation – including rainfall and snow – that will create unique environmental challenges.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime project in terms of pipeline construction in Canada,” he said. “The scale and technical challenges of this work will build a career foundation for all those who are fortunate enough to participate in it.”

As of the end of May, 1,627 workers were stationed across the CGL project route, with overall progress estimated at 43.9%, including 27.2% construction progress. Sections 1 and 4 have reached 100% completion of both clearing and grading, while 90% of the pipe has been installed in Section 4 and 72% of pipe has been installed in Section 1.

And by the end of June, CGL said, construction of the Kitimat meter station should be finished, following the completion on May 30 of the station’s fourth successful hydrotest – the first large-bore field hydrotesting at a CGL facility.