IBP1138_09 PIPE’S DISTRIBUTION BY HELICOPTER IN THE AMAZONIAN FOREST 1, 2 3 Gilberto R. Barbosa Otto L. M. Machado , Antonio E. Gomes Copyright 2009, Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute - IBP This Technical Paper was prepared for presentation at the Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009, held between September, 22-24, 2009, in Rio de Janeiro. This Technical Paper was selected for presentation by the Technical Committee of the event according to the information contained in the abstract submitted by the author(s). The contents of the Technical Paper, as presented, were not reviewed by IBP. The organizers are not supposed to translate or correct the submitted papers. The material as it is presented, does not necessarily represent Brazilian Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels Institute’ opinion, or that of its Members or Representatives. Authors consent to the publication of this Technical Paper in the Rio Pipeline Conference Proceedings. Abstract The innumerous logistical problems encountered during the implementation of the gas pipeline Urucu – Coari – Manaus, located in the Amazon forest, connecting the Base Operations Geologist Pedro de Moura in Urucu to the refinery Isaac Sabbá - Reman, in the city of Manaus, contributed considerably for PETROBRAS to seek non conventional solutions in the construction and assembly of pipelines in our country. Among these solutions, there is the technique of distributing pipes through cargo helicopters. The need for the usage of this technique, innovative in Brazil, comes from the lack and/or insufficiency of land access from Solimões River to the gas pipeline main route, and the large quantities of flooded areas and/or floodplain, and also the type of soil, that together with the high index of rainfall in the region, makes the soil fully inappropriate to the traffic of heavy equipment. 1. Introduction Due to the logistic difficulties imposed by the Amazon region for ducts construction and assembly, cargo helicopters were used, for the first time in the country, for the distribution of pipes throughout the main route of the Urucu - Coari - Manaus pipeline, basically in the stretch located between the cities of Coari and Anamã, in the State of Amazon. The Sikorsky S64E and the Kamov 32A came to the country especially to carry the pipes from the Coari- Manaus gas pipeline, enterprise that will take natural gas from the Base de Operações Geólogo Pedro de Moura, in Urucu, city of Coari, to the city of Manaus, also benefiting the cities of Coari, Codajás, Anamã, Anori, Caapiranga, Manacapuru and Iranduba. Certified to operate with long handles (“long-line”) of 60 to 80 meters, the aircrafts started to be used to surpass the natural challenges that the region imposes to this type of operation. The works on the construction and assembly of this gas pipeline initiated in July 2006 and were concluded in May 2009, and it will probably be operating in September 2009. The stretch where the helicopters were operating was considered one of the most difficult of the whole project, due to the great extension of flooded areas, besides the natural forest obstacles, such as lack of terrestrial accesses, heat and extreme humidity, draining difficulties and the high rainfall index. Together with these difficulties we also had problems with the type of soil, completely full of organic substances, having, thus, low resistance to heavy equipment traffic, becoming non viable for the usage of conventional equipments, such as, pipe-carriers and the dolly type of vehicles. See Figure 1 and Figure 2. ________________________________________________________ 1 Comercial Assistant - PETROBRAS 2 Mechanic Engineer, Setorial Manager – PETROBRAS 3 Mechanic Engineer, Setorial Manager – PETROBRAS Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 Figure 1. Pipe Carrier at Coari-Anama stretch Figure 2. Dolly vehicle at Coari-Anama stretch 2. Aircrafts The Sikorky 64E helicopter belongs to the Evergreen Helicopters company, which is located in the city Macminville, Oregon, United States and the Kamov aircraft belongs to VIH Vancouver Island Helicopter company, located in British Columbia, Canada. The S64E and the Kamov got to Brazil in May 2008. The S64E arrived on board of a freight-carrying airplane, Russian Antonov AN 124, whereas the Kamov flew from Canada, landing in Brazilian territory in the city of Boa Vista, Roraima's state capital, and later flew to the city of Manaus. Both aircrafts remained in Manaus for customs disembarrassment and other legal steps, and thus, begin their services at the gas pipeline, using as an operational base the city of Anori's airport structure, which is able to support landing and take-off operations. The two aircraft together carried a number of pipes capable of being applied in an extension of approximately 49.000 meters. The S64E has the capacity to carry up to nine tons and was used in the transportation of pipes with 12 meters of length, concrete coated, as well as in the transportation of metallic baskets with suppliment materials to the enterprise and equipments. The linear extension of concrete pipes that were carried by the S-64E helicopter was 11.951 meters long, what is equivalent, approximately, to 1000 carried pipes or, 4600 tons. It is important to clarify that the load capacity of that aircraft did not allow the transport of more than a concrete pipe at a time. See Figures 3, 4, 5 and 6, respectively. The Kamov has the capacity of carrying up to 4,5 tons and was used in the transportation of pipes without concrete covering, as well as of baskets with materials and equipments, fit to its technical limitations of transport capacity. This aircraft carried alone an extension of 36.578 meters long, equivalent, approximately to 3050 pipes without concrete covering or 4600 tons. This aircraft was largely used, with great efficiency, in the transport of “double- joint”, that had approximately 24 (twenty four) meters of extension and weighed around 3 (three) tons, respectively. See Figures 7 and 8. The pipe transportation and load form was planed with target of safety and do not deform the main dimensions like circunference and straight line off pipe. This job had been successful. Figure 3. S-64 – Arrival in Manaus Figure 4. S-64 – Arrival in Manaus Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 Figure 5. S-64 – Landing in Anori Figure 6. S-64 Concrete coated pipes transportation Figure 7. Kamov – Landing in Anori Figure 8. Kamov – “double-joint” transport 3. Fuel supplement to KAMOV e S-64 aircrafts During those activities, the helicopters were kept at the airport of the city of Anori, state of Amazon. For the aircraft fuel supplying a very complex logistic operation took place. That operation happened, in land, through two fuel trucks, with capacity to store up to 35.000 liters of fuel, each. These trucks also were kept at Anori's airport. The fluvial fuel supplying happened through two equipments formed by three ferries (APODO ferry - area of landing and occasional take-off, a ferry with a QAV1 fuel storage tank and a ferry for fuel decantation), located in Miuá lake, between forest glades CL-21 and CL-22, with the capacity to store up to 1.050.000 liters and in Anamã lake (in the flood period) between forest glades CL-23 and CL-24, with the capacity to store up to 450.000 liters. In the ebb tide period, the Miuá Lake ferry was transported to Paraná Badajós River and the Anamã Lake ferry was transported to the Solimões River. See Figures 9, 10, 11 and 12, respectively. In despite of the well elaborated logistic operation for fuel supplement, it was necessary to invest in the implementation of new procedures, in order to get the aircrafts usage optimization, considering the fuel supplying time reduction. That way, the procedure of the helicopters fuel supplying without engines disconnection was made possible, and was named “Hot Refueling”. Until that moment, this procedure had never happened in Brazil, and also needed to be certified by governmental agencies. After a series of meetings with specialists, the related procedure was approved. That way, with the implantation of this procedure, there was a considerable productivity profit of 17% for the helicopter Kamov and 22% for helicopter S-64E. Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 Figure 9. Kamov – fuel supplement on a ferry in Badajós Figure 10. Fuel trucks – Anori Storage capacity of 1.050.000 liters of QAV. Figure 11. fuel supplement ferry – Miuá Lake Figure 12. fuel supplement ferry – Anamã Lake 4. Pipes transportation Pipes’ transport in the forest involved a precise operation which was planned in minimum details. Load masters were trained by PETROBRAS and acted under the supervision of the North American and Canadian pilots. Two types of pipes were used in the construction of the gas pipeline, one was concrete coated, to impede the floating of ducts used in flooded areas, weighing 4,6 tons, and another one without concrete coating, which is used in firm land regions, weighing approximately 1,5 tons. The pipes have, approximately, 12 (twelve) meters of length and 20 (twenty) inches of diameter and had to be carried with long handle “Long-Line” of 60 (sixty) and 80 (eighty) meters, which demanded specialized crew and equipment. In Brazil the most common practice relays on the use of short handles Rio Pipeline Conference and Exposition 2009 (“Shorts”), smaller than 30 (thirty) meters, in the transport of external load. This operation was very complex, because beyond the adverse conditions that the pilot faced, such as winds, natural obstacles, and many times, temperatures exceeding 40ºC, it also required much ability to control the load and its oscillation. The difference of operating with short and long line is that the flight of short line is always in the horizontal, whereas for the flight of long line there are profile and characteristics changes, since its reference starts to be vertical.