Project Name | Pipeline Safety Enhancement Plan (PSEP) |
Client | So Cal Gas |
Sector | Energy — Gas |
Overview | |
In 2011, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ordered all natural gas transmission operators in the State of California to develop an implementation plan to achieve the goal of orderly and cost-effectively testing or replacing all natural gas transmission pipelines in their system that have not been pressure-tested. To comply with the CPUC’s directive, Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas) implemented a $3 billion Pipeline Safety Enhancement Plan (PSEP) through which it has identified various pipeline sections throughout its system without a record of a pressure test and has slated them to be pressure-tested or replaced. | |
Cordoba’s Role | |
Cordoba Corporation has been providing project management, engineering, construction management, field engineering, and pipeline design services for the PSEP program. Additional services include environmental project management, project controls, municipal permit coordination, regulatory support, and construction inspection support services. SoCalGas contracted directly with Cordoba Corporation using a Master Service Agreement. Many of Cordoba Corporation’s PSEP projects have involved a myriad of stakeholders, permitting agencies, and coordination with other utilities. An example is the Supply Line (SL) 32-21 Section 3 Hydrotest Project, a 2.4-mile hydrotest project in the San Marino/South Pasadena/Alhambra area of the San Gabriel Valley. This project involved complex issues and coordination with many stakeholders, including traffic control requirements with the three cities as well as the County of Los Angeles; coordination with Pasadena Water & Power with respect to providing liquefied natural gas to its power plant while the natural gas line was being hydrotested, and the relocation of a valve out of a busy intersection. Another project, the SL 31-09 Hydrotest Project, which involved hydrotesting a 300-foot section of 24” pipe, faced unique issues such as the requirement to modify several underground lateral taps. The SL 31-09 Hydrotest Project also required special design accommodations and permitting for a creek channel, 21” and 36” water lines, a 21” sewer line, a Union Pacific Railroad Line, a major highway interchange, high voltage power lines and a 16” Kinder Morgan petroleum pipeline. While initially working as a subcontractor to other firms, Cordoba’s prime contact was the Wheeler Ridge Bundle starting in May of 2015. The Wheeler Ridge Bundle comprised 3 projects that required the replacement and/or testing of 13 segments of a 17.6 mile, circa 1910 pipeline located in Kern County. Project challenges included multiple taps, limited ROW, roadway crossings, substructure identification and coordination, adjacent power lines, re-routing alternatives and various permitting agencies. Cordoba successfully balanced client objectives with several stakeholder issues in its execution of these unique and complex hydrotest projects within a very aggressive project schedule. | |
Services | |
Engineering and design Municipal permit coordination Environmental project management Project management Construction management including inspection and field engineering Project controls Stakeholder coordination | |
