Successful Pipeline Isolation for Major Oil and Gas Company

Client request

A single IsoTool was deployed to North Dakota to assist in a 3 valve replacement project.

The best solution

Due to uninterruptible well production, draining up or purging the line would have created an outage that jeopardized shutting in the well at great cost to the producer.  The IsoTool’s procedure offered a quicker, better, faster, safer solution for the repair.

Plan and deliver

Flow restrictions and receive trap dimensions required that the IsoTool be configured with bi-directional capabilities to allow the pig to be ‘trapped’ in the launcher. Using a standard pig launcher, the IsoTool was pumped out using normal product and normal operating pressure.
 
The IsoTool was tracked and parked approximately 50’ downstream from the launch and work site.

IsoTool launch time:  9:45 CST
 
Wireless communication with the IsoTool was established and the tool set command was initiated. When the IsoTool was confirmed to be in the “set” position, a pressure reading was displayed to be 300 psi. 

The upstream product was evacuated into an awaiting tank truck. After confirmation that all remaining oil was pulled from the pipeline another reading from the IsoTool requested and showed the downstream pressure was 290 psi and had an upstream pressure of 0 psi. The construction crew was cleared to begin work.
 
 
The work was complete and the crude oil product was then reintegrated into the pipeline and the pressure was then equalized. Another call to the IsoTool showed 290 psi across both upstream and downstream of the tool. The tool command to “unset” was given. When it was confirmed the IsoTool had unset, 2 downstream valves were opened to increase head pressure to push the bi-directional IsoTool toward the original launcher setup.

IsoTool Trap time: 18:47 CST

Service completion

Traditional methods would have required lengthy drain down, purging several miles of pipe, or using an intrusive plugging device which would have left fittings on the line and possible future integrity issues. Using the IsoTool, the line was only down for 9 hours including launching, isolation, drain up, repairs, de‐isolating, and returning the pig to trap.
 
Well production was not interrupted and the project was completed before the battery required remote trucking.
 
The project was completed safely and exactly as per the outlined procedure. Both Integral and the client representative considered it a complete success.