90% Faster than Cold Cutter
Cold cutting would have taken roughly 360 hours with water re-routing and restoration. And that’s not even including the planning and permitting hours.
Approx. $1 Million in Savings
Client estimates they saved anywhere from $650,000 to $1.5 million working with NuWave on this project
Environmental Integrity
Waterjet cutting eliminates the introduction of harmful chemicals, by-products and overall footprint.
Estimated Value Savings
Project Description
Type of Cutting
CASE STUDY REPORT
Project
Name
Client Name
22 September 2023
The Cut
For this specialty cut we utilized the Universal Tool with specialized centralizers. Each cut took approximately 30 minutes, one being 8” and the other being 4”.
The Universal Tool was used as the cut was more than 200 feet out and needed to be done from the inside of the pipe. This job was not scoped, meaning we went to the site with the information provided by the client. We planned to take extra tooling to complete the job if anything out of the ordinary was found.
In total we had 5 team members present to complete the cuts.
90% Faster than Cold Cutter
Cold cutting would have taken roughly 360 hours with water re-routing and restoration. And that’s not even including the planning and permitting hours.
Approx. $1 Million in Savings
Client estimates they saved anywhere from $650,000 to $1.5 million working with NuWave on this project
Environmental Integrity
Waterjet cutting eliminates the introduction of harmful chemicals, by-products and overall footprint.
Estimated Value Savings
Videos
The Issue
Exposed pipelines can pose environmental and public safety concerns, especially when the pipeline is located within a riparian area.
This was the case near Brooks, Alberta, along the Red Deer River. The river bank had moved 50’ one year and exposed the 8” line for about 40’ into the river. This caused issues for boaters that used the river. Signs had to be put up to warn them of the pipe below.
Our client reached out to NuWave to create a removal solution that was non-invasive and caused no harm to the local ecosystem. A job of this nature, when completed with traditional cutting methods, can take months from start to finish. One of the major challenges mitigated by opting for waterjet cutting is the time constraints imposed from permitting and logistics.
The traditional cutting method would have required activities such as redirecting the river, coordinating with Oceans and Fisheries to make sure everything was compliant with regulations. The cut would then be completed and again, due to the harmful chemicals and pollutants, there would be a need for ensuring that the site was left without any issues.
This is a lot of labour, a lot of time, and a lot of money for such a small piece of abandoned pipe to be removed.
The Solution
NuWave was able to complete the pipeline removal in a total of 2 days.
Day 1:
Our team headed south from Marwayne, Alberta. We arrived on site and ran the sizing plug to check for any dents or blockage in each line. We then ran the 8” plug and set it at 220’ out. We then ran out the 4” plug and set it in place.
Day 2:
We set up our universal tool in the 4” and 8” line, respectively. This took roughly 2 hours and we then performed the 30 minute cut and pulled out the tool. The NuWave team then wrapped up all of the equipment and travelled back to Marwayne.