As a solutions provider with over 35 years’ experience in the pigging industry, we work closely with our clients to deliver bespoke designs tailored to their project needs.

iNPIPE PRODUCTS™ was approached by a leading global supplier of storage solutions for a crude oil blending and storage project in South Africa.

Client Project Requirements

The client required to install pig diverters on the 42”and 20” pipelines, which connect to the adjacent tank-farms pipeline to the VLCC offloading terminal on the jetty.

It was required that the pipelines be pigged on a regular basis and this requires being able to pig from the jetty to either of the tank farms.  The first alternative considered by the client was to tie into the pipelines with a straight through connection to the existing tank-farm and to construct pig traps and bypass connections on the pipelines to the second tank-farm.  However, this option had the following disadvantages:

• It is only possible to pig the 42”and 20” pipelines from the jetty to one of the tank farms
• The transfer station would require a stand-alone pigging station to facilitate the pigging of the pipelines to the second tank-farm
• This operation would require careful stock control depending on whose crude oil is in the pipeline from the jetty to the transfer station
• This operation is time consuming
• The operation has a potential pollution risk, which was considered unacceptable in the environmentally sensitive area where the transfer station had to be constructed

Solution and Benefits to the Client

Following a technical review of the client project requirements, iNPIPE PRODUCTS™ proposed a bespoke solution, which consisted of the design, engineering and supply of a 20” and 42” pig diverters. Site supervision was subsequently provided during commissioning stage.

The use of the pig diverters allows the client to pig directly from the jetty to either of the tank-farms and there is a minimal risk of pollution at the transfer station.

iNPIPE PRODUCTS™ is an internationally recognised leader in the design and manufacture of pipeline pigging products, including foam pigs, cup pigs, bi-directional cleaning / gauging pigs, pig handling equipment, pig signalers, engineered solutions for pipeline isolation and joint testing, launching & receiving systems as well as bespoke pigging solutions based on specific client project requirements.