When to Consider Winterization
Posted on March 8th, 2021
Posted in Newsletter Volume 1, Uncategorized Tags: PHA, winterization
Although recently a news cycle focal point, not all infrastructure requires winterization. Notwithstanding, the damage and publicity witnessed has many owners and operators asking an important question – when to winterize?
The extent of winterization needed for a facility is a balance of safety, economic, and likelihood of severe cold weather conditions. Typical protections include the elimination or minimization of dead legs in piping, heat trace & insulation, and shelters being included in design. Operational protections such as draining & maintenance procedures, circulation, and chemical injection are also solutions. Ultimately, the level of winterization right for a facility comes down to the minimum ambient design temperature based on climate and location considered with the safety and economic impacts during cold weather resulting from shutting down, infrastructure damage, and even off spec product.
Halker has compiled weather data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for the Bakken and DJ basin as well as Corpus Christi from the last 15 years. The chart below shows the annual minimum temperature for each location based on daily minimum temperature readings from local weather stations in the area. 40°F is a typical minimum process temperature target. When ambient temperature falls below this line, the process fluid can be at risk of falling below the minimum design temperature.
Non-winterized facilities are at risk when ambient temperatures drop below freezing for an extended period. Facilities in locations that do not usually experience freezing temperatures are often most affected since risks in design and operation compound overtime without presenting serious problems. In such cases, adding insulation alone is very practical in moderate climates to mitigate freezing in standing lines. The addition of electric trace can offset 3-6 W/ft of heat loss from piping systems.
When considering winterization, the full scope and level required needs to be determined based on individual characteristics of the facility and equipment being winterized. Owners and operators should ensure winterization is considered early in a facilities design process for new infrastructure and is a focus for the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA). For existing unprotected facilities, minimal expense to winterize key systems will produce large returns in safety and profitability.
Notes:
- Winterization refers to operational and design features of a facility intended to prevent freezing in process equipment and piping due to low ambient temperatures
Andrew Depperschmidt is a graduate from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering. He has experience in a variety of construction and facilities projects including both upstream and midstream natural gas and crude oil processing. He joined Halker in January of 2015 as the Mechanical Department Manager and has since taken on several different responsibilities with the firm, including General Manager and Vice President. Over the course of his time with Halker, he has overseen the company’s growth, helped develop the management team, and helped structure operational processes around project execution for maximum quality. He’s inspired by Halker’s outstanding team daily and takes pride in being people-focused while driving the company’s progressive and forward-looking culture. 
Kathryn Goodman graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 2011. She is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas and brings over a decade of mechanical and pipeline engineering experience to her role. Throughout her career, Kathryn has worked on both small and large-scale oil and gas projects in the upstream, midstream, and downstream sectors.
Jeff Wellen graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in business and economics in 2002. Jeff is a licensed professional engineer with over 22 years of project management, project engineering, and mechanical engineering experience. Most of his professional career has been in the Oil & Gas industry with a wide range of experience across various types of projects including gas treating, LNG, well pad sites, cryogenic processing, biofuels, and more. He has also worked as a field engineer to support construction, as well as in a fabrication shop to oversee module/pipe-rack assembly. As a member of the Halker team since January 2018, his breadth of involvement in various projects provides Jeff a strong basis to provide operation execution support for successful project execution teams through the trials and tribulations when executing any type of project ranging from technical studies to full EPC projects in the rapidly evolving midstream and upstream industry sectors. Jeff was named an Engineering News Record (ENR) Top Young Professional in 2018 for the Mountain States Region.
Jeremy Montoya graduated from the Colorado School of Mines with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering with an Electrical specialty focus in 2010. Jeremy is a licensed professional engineering in multiple states and has over 14 years of experience in consulting engineering and has working in nearly every sector or the business, from oil and gas to food and beverage, mining, pharmaceuticals, commercial and residential applications. Jeremy joined Halker in 2021 and has brought a passion to build up and support staff as they provide quality engineering and design services to every client we have the opportunity to work with. With an eye for detail, value and confident support- our EI&C group will continue to grow and be recognized for their expertise, attentiveness, and quality deliverables in every project. Jeremy has also volunteered engineering services abroad, helping with the design of water/wastewater treatment facilities and medical facilites in Kenya, as well as master plans for facilities in Mexico.
Austin Dean graduated from Colorado School of Mines in Chemical and Biochemical Engineering. He has experience in engineering design projects for well pad facilities, gathering systems, and midstream natural gas facilities. Starting his career at Halker in 2014, his roles and responsibilities have spanned Process Engineering, Project Engineering, Project Management, and Facilities Engineering. He specializes in jet pump artificial lift surface facilities and dynamic hydraulic modeling. Austin brings an E&P perspective to the Halker team, with a focus on project economics and larger implications of design decisions.
Paul Brennan is an industrial automation specialist, PLC programmer, business manager and product development professional. He graduated from Colorado Mesa University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. Paul now has over 25 years of experience providing industrial automation solutions and large-scale automation integration projects for oil & gas, water/wastewater, irrigation, and greenhouse industries in the US and Eastern Europe. Paul’s career has been spent developing leading edge, revolutionary automation products, and in the process, he has obtained several US Patents. Paul has notably designed products such as PADPro, PADManager, PROView and QLogiX for upstream oil & gas facilities, utilizing state of the art technologies with PLC’s and high-powered single board computers to provide advanced data collection and data processing at the well head.