The Feeder 9, River Humber, replacement pipeline project, United Kingdom
The Feeder 9, River Humber Pipeline project is required to replace the existing Feeder 9 gas pipeline with a new 1,050 mm high pressure gas pipeline under the estuary of the River Humber. To avoid any impact on the local environment, the pipeline will be installed inside a precast concrete lined tunnel. The tunnel is being excavated utilizing a 4.4 m diameter Slurry Pressure Balance Machine to provide a tunnel of 4.9 km in length with an internal diameter of 3.65 m.
Following completion of the tunnelling works the pipeline is inserted as a continuous 4,992 m string into the water filled tunnel before connecting at each end to the existing Feeder 9 pipeline. Despite the huge technical challenges involved in this project, the project team in collaboration with National Grid, have developed a solid technical solution to the installation of a circa 5 km pipeline into a flooded tunnel, an achievement that has not been equaled anywhere in the world, which gave a registration in the Guinness Book of records!
This EPC-project was commenced in May 2016 and will be fully completed by August 2021.