Enbridge Pig Barrels and Class Upgrade Program

Pigging and Valve Upgrades for Urban Lines

In Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Hope, Kamloops, Chetwynd, and Prince George, British Columbia, Lauren partnered with Enbridge to advance the Pig Barrels and Class Upgrade Program, fortifying NPS 30 and NPS 36 transmission pipelines across the Westcoast system to meet evolving class location standards in densely populated areas. Guiding multidisciplinary efforts from detailed scoping through design, procurement, and field execution since 2019, our team integrated pig barrels, automated valves, and heavy-wall pipe segments while navigating extensive stakeholder consultations, geotechnical hurdles, and trenchless innovations, delivering resilient infrastructure that ensures regulatory compliance, minimizes community impacts, and supports long-term pipeline integrity.

Elevating class locations with integrated pigging and valve solutions

This ongoing brownfield initiative upgrades transmission segments from Kamloops to Abbotsford, focusing on urban corridors where population growth necessitates enhanced safety and inspectability. Lauren conducted in-depth reviews of landowner concerns, municipal restrictions, third-party utilities, trenchless crossing designs, station constraints, buried infrastructure, and noise/dispersion studies to inform precise layouts. Key implementations include new pig barrels with tie-ins and automated crossover valves to enable piggability for advanced ILI tools, installed at challenging sites like Chetwynd near the Pine River and Chilliwack Sumas amid weak soils. Complementary upgrades feature automated valve sites and 0.5-3.0 km heavy-wall pipe segments with opencut and trenchless crossings of roads, highways, and waterbodies, all engineered for high groundwater, iron content, and water management needs in areas like Abbotsford and Chilliwack.

Mastering stakeholder dynamics and site-specific innovations in congested ROWs

The Pig Barrels and Class Upgrade Program confronted a web of urban brownfield complexities, from limited workspaces and existing utilities to vibration mitigation for high-velocity venting and civil designs on weak geotechnical soils, which Lauren resolved through collaborative, adaptive strategies. Extensive engagements with regulators, landowners, utilities, environmental experts, archaeologists, municipalities, and Indigenous groups shaped designs to mitigate impacts, while constructability reviews optimized trenchless executions with constrained bore footprints. By integrating project scope management and field engineering, our team addressed high-iron filtration, groundwater controls, and footprint limitations along the right-of-way, ensuring seamless installations that uphold operational continuity, community proximity standards, and environmental safeguards without extending timelines.

What we delivered

Ongoing since 2019 across multiple British Columbia locations, this program highlights Lauren’s prowess in brownfield pipeline enhancements for urban resilience and compliance.

Infrastructure: New pig barrels, tie-ins, and automated crossover valves for ILI tool compatibility; heavy-wall pipe upgrades (0.5-3.0 km segments) with opencut/trenchless crossings; automated valve sites in high-density areas, including water management systems for challenging soils.

End-to-End Management: Multidisciplinary engineering from detailed reviews and scope development through procurement, constructability assessments, and on-site construction support.

Compliance and Innovation Focus: Proactive stakeholder consultations and geotechnical adaptations ensuring regulatory alignment, minimal disruptions, and enhanced piggability in population-dense corridors.

• Multidisciplinary engineering
• Project scope management
• Detailed design
• Procurement support
• Constructability reviews
• Field engineering/construction support