Pipeline Construction in Extremely Sensitive Environmental Areas

As a result of increased energy demand in recent years, PETROBRAS has experienced a continuous growth in the number of pipeline construction projects. To rise to this challenge, it was necessary to construct pipelines in extremely sensitive environmental areas, as well as areas with severe constraints for construction. As a result, alternative construction methods had to be evaluated and implemented. The purpose of this paper is to present PETROBRAS’ design and construction methods in three different regions of Brazil: Pantanal, the Amazon rain forest, and the Aparados mountains. Construction practices are described along with the environmental and engineering criteria that were considered. Each of the three regions have special characteristics that required different construction methods: Pantanal — Located in the western part of Brazil, this region of 140,000 km² is primarily swampland. The Brazil-Bolivia Gas Pipeline crossed nearly 70 km of this region using the push method. Amazon Rain Forest — This region covers an area of approximately 3.3 million km² and has unique environmental importance to the world. PETROBRAS owns the Urucu Oil and Gas Field in this region. Over the past years almost 600 km of pipelines have been built in this area. Construction logistics, which had to take into account the hydrologic phases of rivers, was the key to successful projects. Aparados Mountains — Located in the south part of Brazil, this region is characterized by the presence of canyons. Horizontal and vertical tunneling were used to cross an escarpment while avoiding disturbance to unstable slopes. Special methods were implemented in these regions to allow successful installation of the pipeline while maintaining the highest possible level of environmental protection.