Insider Info

Think about this: without pipelines, we would not have gasoline to put in our vehicles. Airplanes would not have fuel. Homes would not have petroleum-based fuels for heating in the winter months.

"The pipeline industry is vital to our economy," says Grace McDougald. She is the manager of community relations at a pipeline company.

McDougald works in the corporate head office now, but it wasn't always that way. In 1978, she was the first woman her company hired to do fieldwork. She worked as a coordinator and was involved in the construction of a pipeline.

McDougald believes that pipeline workers are the best people on the planet. "I absolutely loved working in the field," she says. "I'm still here with the company, but I have moved upwards and worked in various jobs over the years."

Lawanda Craft works for the same company as McDougald. She also loves her work.

Craft always enjoyed helping her carpenter father with his projects. After leaving school, she worked in retail for 15 years. "I was complaining about my job when a friend told me they needed people to work on the pipeline in Alabama," she says.

She applied, was interviewed and took a test. Eventually, in 1994, she was offered a pipeline job. It meant leaving her home. Yet Craft believes that the relocation was worth it.

Craft started at the bottom, which is called Utility B in her workplace. Utility B workers go through six months of training and are on probation. At the end of six months, if they have done well, they are considered fully qualified and are moved up to Utility A positions.

"It was a high point for me when I was promoted to Utility A and was able to work on my own. Knock on wood, I was successful. I never blew anything up!"

Craft's station operated four lines a day. The two main lines coming in carried gasoline in one and diesel fuel, kerosene and jet fuel in the other.

The operators would take the fuel off the lines and put it in big tanks.

Then they would pump the fuel into sub-lines that took the product to the different shippers. In turn, the shippers put the product in tanks, loaded it on trucks and dispersed it throughout the country.

The main lines moved between 5,000 and 13,000 barrels an hour. They contained several different products -- separated by gravity.

It was very important that Craft and the other operators avoid mixing the products together. Mixing would downgrade the product, or worse, certain mixes could cause a lot of harm to vehicles and other motors. If gas got in the diesel fuel, it would tear up a motor, for example.

The main line values were controlled electronically. "I would sit in a control room looking at all these buttons, all these lights," says Craft. She used equipment and charts to monitor temperatures and gravity.

"You can tell when you are moving from a premium grade of gasoline to a standard grade because the gravity changes," she says. "When I saw the gravity changing, I knew I had to let a certain number of barrels go by, then change the cut from one shipper to another."

The operators had to concentrate on what they were doing. "If you 'push' from the wrong tank, you get the wrong product. You always have to know how many barrels of product you have put in, and you could have three different products online at one time."

Monitoring pressure in the lines was also important. If a valve was closed in error, the buildup could create tremendous pressure, resulting in an explosion. "It is a heavy responsibility," says Craft.

Craft found the work enjoyable and challenging. As the first woman to work on the pipelines in her state, she found she had to prove herself. "I showed I was willing to do the physical work," she says. "I went out there in all types of weather and got dirty and greasy."

She also showed that she was willing to work alone at night. "A lot of women don't like to do these things," she says.

"When I left the operator's job...about 90 percent of them hated to see me go," she adds. Craft is now working as an associate technician for the same company, and has been able to move back to her home community in Mississippi.

She points out relocation might be necessary when you first go to work for a pipeline company. But eventually, most people can transfer back home again if they wish.

Brad Ashcroft completed two years of an economics degree, but was influenced by friends who were engineers or working in power plants.

He thought he would enjoy that type of work, so he took a two-year program in power engineering technology at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).

The coursework covered computers, properties and fluid dynamics. "It was more for working in power plants," says Ashcroft. "But after graduation, I saw an ad in the paper to work on the pipeline, and I applied."

After getting hired, Ashcroft's employer provided training specific to the job. After a time, he was capable of working on his own.

"I like the work. I enjoy it. It is a dynamic job. Every day, you never know what is going to happen."

There are two key components to Ashcroft's job. Maintaining the oil in the pipeline is one. Power consumption is another.

Arriving at work, Ashcroft is given a "pump order." This schedule outlines the day's activities. It tells where oil is going to be delivered and how fast it is to be pumped.

The operators contact the people in the different stations. They decide when these stations are to receive the oil that will be pumped to their area.

"We use computerized equipment to control things remotely. We control the flow and we control power consumption. Basically, we control everything," he says.

Public safety is very important. Ashcroft's employer has a safety system called a line pressure monitor. It allows the workers to increase pressure limits on the pipeline.

That allows more throughput, meaning that more oil can be moved through at a quicker rate. The system also provides automatic leak detection and material balance. It measures the volume in and out of the system.

If any problems occur, Ashcroft and his team shut down the pipeline and notify the right people. This must be done quickly, using procedures that have been developed over the years. "We are leak detectors in the interest of public and environmental safety," he says.

The other part of the job is watching power consumption. Different sized pumps use different horsepower. And power is the number one cost for Ashcroft's employer.

"When we run efficiently, it makes the customers happy and saves money for the company," he says.