Feature -- by Mark Sproxton

Out of sight doesn't necessarily mean out of mind, particularly when it comes to pipelines in Alberta. Thousands of kilometres of pipe as small as five centimetres in diameter to those with a diameter of 132 centimetres run beneath the province delivering oil and gas to a multitude of destinations. These pipelines serve as the vital link from the wellsite to the refining and sales sector.

Here's a basic, two-part, layman's look at post-discovery employment, keeping in mind each employer will have its own job titles and descriptions. Job duties may also vary considerably from one company to the next. Many of the jobs listed may also filled by contracted service company employees, and not necessarily the oil and gas companies themselves.

Post-discovery

Once the exploration folks have successfully completed their work, the planning and calculating on how best to bring the hydrocarbon to production begins. But first, wells must be completed. Well completions prepare wells for production, by having tubing installed down the drill hole to ensure the flow of raw product can begin. The tubing connects to a wellhead, which is essentially valves, pressure gauges and chokes that allow the wells to be monitored.

With the help of information from the exploration geologist, a production engineer will determine where to perforate (put holes) in the well and how to stimulate the well to ensure the most economic method of bringing the fluid to the surface. Stimulation comes in a number of forms including: acidizing, or injecting acid into the rock formation; fracturing or "fracing," which is pumping liquid under pressure down the hole to crack the rock formation; and via coiled tubing units that use long lengths of tube to inject a specified substance into a well. (This work is conducted by well service pump equipment operators who usually work in one type of service.)

Once a well has been perforated and stimulated (there are differences for oil and gas wells), the production engineer will conduct tests for a few days to look at flow rates and pressure in the well. Some companies will have engineering technicians perform some of the duties of professional engineers with similar discipline specific training. (Often, more than one well is drilled in the same area to justify pipeline and facility expenditures. And once in production, oil and gas fields may require additional wells to be drilled.)

"Production engineers, as a general rule, work on every company well and review the wells to make sure they're optimized," explained Leon Sorenson, a long-time production engineer with Petro-Canada. "If not, we'll go and resolve that."

Usually a member of a team, based on geographic areas defined by the company, production engineers will organize all work that is to be conducted down a well hole. And if surface work is needed, such as requiring more power to pull the liquid out of the ground, the production engineer will pass on that information to a facility engineer. With about 20 per cent of the work done outdoors, and 80 per cent in the office, Sorenson always liked the work. "It's a great job. You get a nice blend of work in the field, and the work you do, you see results very quickly."

Service rig workers will conduct much of the actual completion work. Service rigs work on a contract basis and move from well to well across the province, and work for a multitude of companies. Bill, an experienced service rig worker who asked his real name not be used, enjoys the work as it allows him to travel across Alberta, while working closely in a small group. The time away from home can also be the worst part of the job, however. "There are long hours, often with no breaks," he said. "The average work schedule would be about 120-140 hours every two weeks. It's the same in the winter."

While Bill says work on a service rig isn't for everyone, he said there's plenty of opportunity to make good money, and that most people don't know whether or not they can do the work unless they try it themselves.

After completion and testing, the information the production engineer generates may be shared with a development engineer (this may vary from company to company). That data, and more, will help the development engineer determine if it is economic to build a line from the well to another pipeline, or a nearby facility.

The development engineer has to consider all kinds of factors, including the route of the pipeline, the volume of the material flowing through the line, the size and type of the pipe required, and the required amount of power needed to pull the product through the lines. These calculations may be done in conjunction with a facility engineer.

All the while land agents will begin to obtain land along the route of the proposed pipeline. In turn, this activity requires environmental scientists and technicians to conduct tests to try and minimize the impact of construction on the surrounding land and water. Some large companies will employ their own environmental staff, while others will hire contractors to perform this work.

Pipelines -- an explanation

Pipelines are far from simple. The decision to build a pipeline will include the examination of a multitude of factors. Sometimes pipelines are constructed and owned by several companies because the reserves are individually too small to make pipeline construction economic. Other times, one company will purchase known reserves from another company and then build a line to its own nearby gathering or processing facility. Some or much of the required pipeline work may also be contracted out to private companies specializing in a specific type of service.

Essentially, there are two kinds of pipelines. Pipelines that take oil and gas from the wells to facilities are called flowlines or gathering systems. Transmission systems take the hydrocarbons from the facilities, such as refineries and gas plants, to distribution centres.

Construction

After all regulatory approvals are met, the construction phase requires a variety of different types of construction workers including heavy equipment operators, pipefitters, welders and laborers working under the direction of project supervisors and construction managers.

Pipeline construction goes on throughout the year, and is often most active in the winter because of the lack of mud, said Denim Pipeline Construction's Curt MacKay. "Winter is the busiest time because the ground's frozen and the weather's more consistent. Usually, on most jobs you work seven days a week because the weather shuts you down often enough. The guys work 10 or12 hour days."

Other than the size or type of material being used, there's little difference between building a gathering or transmission system, or a variety of facilities, he added. Few jobs in this sector of the industry are located in major centres because little drilling occurs near large concentrations of people. "Ninety per cent of our work is away from home," MacKay said from Rocky Mountain House. "Most of our people stay in camps, or motels, or in the summer take a trailer down and stay in them."

During the construction phase, inspectors regularly monitor the competency of the work, such as the quality of the welds, before the pipeline is filled with water and tested to detect for leaks or flaws. This process is more or less the same whether it's a gathering system being constructed, or a transmission pipeline.