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Oil & Gas Pipeline

Not often seen, oil and natural gas pipelines crisscross the continent from Panama to Prudoe Bay delivering natural gas to our homes and crude oil to the refineries. The natural gas pipeline system in the US competes with the Federal Interstate highway system in miles of pipe versus miles of concrete. About every 50 miles along the gas pipelines are compressor stations that maintain the pressure within the pipeline. The pressure (flow of gas) within the pipe will vary with demand. There are peak hours during the day. Early in the morning a lot of hot water is used for showers, the heating system is turned up to take the chill off the house, and for a few hours every morning the demand for gas is very high. Then we turn everything down and go to work or school. The demand drops off and not as much gas is consumed. Then that evening when we get home -- up goes the thermostat, the range and oven get busy cooking supper, and up goes the demand for gas all over again. The demand for gas also fluctuates as the weather changes from day to day. For this reason each of these compressor stations have several diesel driven compressors that are turned on or off to maintain a constant pressure in the pipeline. Sometimes only one or two engines are needed and maybe two to ten more are on standby for when the demand picks up.

The Kim Hotstart systems maintain a run-ready temperature in these large engines so they can be switched on and go to full power whenever they are needed. By keeping these engines prelubed and run-ready, they can be started from a remote site. Many compressor stations today are controlled from a control room hundreds to thousands of miles away and are monitored by a computer that starts and stops engines all along the system as demand for gas changes. Kim Hotstart heating systems make this possible in the cold regions of the country.

.....And don't forget these pipelines cross mountains that can be extremely cold even in the southern parts of the country. We have Kim Hotstart heating systems in just about every state in the union that are helping to keep natural gas flowing to the users.

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