Working at A.Hak

Collaborating on the gas hub

Gasunie is busy creating a ‘gas hub’ in our country. The most modern infrastructure must ensure that the Netherlands can supply gas seamlessly both domestically and internationally.

The central location in Europe gives the Netherlands the opportunity to play a pivotal role in the gas market. Gasunie is therefore busy creating a ‘gas hub’ in our country. The most modern infrastructure must ensure that the Netherlands can supply gas seamlessly. Gasunie defines the gas hub as the entirety of production, transport, storage, transit, trade, and knowledge development. The investments made in this should give the Netherlands significant competitive advantages in the gas market. With the ability to transport gas in various directions, supply security increases. The gas network in northern Germany also plays an important role in this.

North-South Route
An important part of the Dutch gas network is the North-South Route. A mega-project that is delivered section by section, eventually creating a ‘gas highway’ running from the north to the south of our country. Along the route, compressor stations are built to ensure that the pressure of the transported natural gas is maintained over long distances. In recent years, A.Hak Leidingbouw has made significant contributions to the extensive pipeline network. This includes the longest section of the route, the 88 kilometers from Meeden in Groningen to Ommen in Overijssel, which was constructed in 2009. In 2010 and 2011, work resumed in Ommen for the section to Esveld. A.Hak Leidingbouw was also involved in the most complex part of the route, from Angerlo to Beuningen. On this relatively short 37-kilometer section, no fewer than ten horizontal directional drillings were carried out in 2009 and 2010.

Drillings
Drillings are necessary when obstacles such as roads, railways, or rivers and canals need to be crossed in a route. Within the A.Hak group, A.Hak Drillcon is the specialist in designing and executing drillings. On the Angerlo-Beuningen route, Drillcon was the first in the Netherlands to use the Direct Pipe method. In this method, the entire pipe is drilled through the ground in one go by attaching a tunnel boring machine to the front. A so-called pipe thruster pushes the pipe from the entry side. Only on that side of the drilling is a work site needed, while the disturbance on the exit side is minimal. On the Ommen-Esveld route, two drillings of 550 meters were carried out in February 2011, and in March, a drilling of even 1,400 meters in length was executed in this manner. That last drilling is still a world record.

No Dig Award
The Direct Pipe method was also applied in the construction of a pipeline under the Hartelkanaal near Spijkenisse, also part of the North-South route. Horizontal directional drilling was not possible because there was no space to lay the entire pipe string behind the drill tunnel. By applying the Direct Pipe technique and continuously welding a 54-meter pipe section to the previous section, the 540-meter pipeline was laid under the 15-meter deep canal.

The Hartelkanaal project was highly appreciated in the sector. During the Infratech 2011 trade fair, Ronald van Krieken, director of Drillcon, together with Enno Freese of Gasunie, received the No Dig Award on stage.

Compressor Stations
A.Hak Leidingbouw also made its mark on the project by constructing several compressor stations on the North-South Route. As part of the Gasunie CS Scheemda Vof consortium, Leidingbouw installed the piping at CS Scheemda in 2009 and 2010. With the same partners, Cofely and Ballast Nedam, the new construction of CS Wijngaarden was undertaken in 2010-2011. Indispensable in the gas hub is CS Ommen, one of the largest natural gas compressor stations in Western Europe. At this operational compressor station, Gasunie replaced an existing 18” pipeline with a 36” pipeline in 2011. This was necessary because the gas storage in Epe, Germany, required greater transport capacity. A.Hak Leidingbouw was also responsible for this project.

Keep Running
Although pipeline installation is the core activity of A.Hak Leidingbouw, the work at CS Ommen was certainly not a routine job. This was due to the complex infrastructure at the compressor station, but mainly because the station had to keep running during the installation of the new pipeline. Therefore, an emergency pipeline was installed.

The risks at a compressor station are greater than in open fields. Therefore, various special safety measures were taken, including during excavation work. Additional permits had to be obtained, the work was supervised by Gasunie employees, and fire watches were deployed, among other things. For this reason, the installation of this pipeline, which is less than a kilometer long, still took about six months.

Progress
In the Netherlands, four important pipeline sections of the North-South Route have now been completed; Ommen-Esveld, Esveld-Angerlo, Beuningen-Odiliapeel, and Hommelhof-Schinnen. In the coming years, the final Limburg section, Odiliapeel-Melick, will be next, and the missing kilometers of pipelines in Western Netherlands, from Beverwijk to Wijngaarden and from the Westerschelde to nearby Cambron, will be laid. Once the gas hub is fully complete, gas traders and suppliers will no longer be able to bypass the Netherlands, and our country can further expand its already leading role in the transport and trade of the coveted natural gas in Europe.

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