Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada — Construction begins 300 miles to the south of Fort McMurray for many of the structures needed at the oil sands facilities here. In Edmonton, there are large-scale construction yards, where segments of oil sands plants are built in modular form. Each module can weigh nearly 200 tons, and may include all of the structural steel, pressure piping, instrumentation and control bus wiring needed to put it into service. The ability to fabricate modules indoors, like at the 92,000 sq. ft. facility opened by Willbros MSI Canada Inc. in 2005, has helped reduce downtime while improving scheduling and quality. Workers also have the comfort of better lighting in a work environment removed from the cold of Alberta's winters and the heat and insects of its summers. And, welding processes such as MIG, TIG, and fluxcore are easier to employ at the indoor facilities than at a remote outdoor operation.

Once completed, the modules are loaded onto trucks and hauled to the facility site, where they are lifted, bolted and welded to adjoining structure and pipe. As an inflation-reducing alternative, many modules for China's Northern Lights facility, one of the many oil production projects underway in Alberta, are being built in China, at sizes up to ten times the size of the modules built in Alberta. The massive units will be shipped by sea around Alaska to the Mackenzie Delta, and then transferred to barges and moved down the Mackenzie River to the assembly site.

Teams working on several neighboring joints at the same time assemble much of the pipeline. Each team typically has two people stick welding a joint from opposite sides, while another crewmember inserts and removes shims in the joint. A fourth crewman passes tools, grinds, moves ladders, and does any other task that is called for. There is also a quality control person always on site to inspect the welds, and to check certifications and ensure proper procedures.

Not all the pipe being welded is ordinary steel. Alberta's oil is contained in abrasive sands that inevitably must move through piping at the separation plants. Pipe material is particularly critical for companies that are operating their separation plants closer to Edmonton — farther from the sites at which the oil sands are excavated — in which case the oil sand is mixed with chemicals to create the slurry that can flow through miles of pipe. Chromium steels, such as weldable martensitic Grade 550 (X-80) stainless steel, have been used, and that increases need for welders to use 1 percent nickel metal core, and 1 percent and 2 percent nickel flux core welding processes.

MIG welding, which exhibits reliability problems in cold temperatures, now is making inroads because of the development of pulsed MIG. However, according to Barry Pruden of Plumbers & Pipe Fitters Local 488, more development needs to be done with feed systems and designated power supplies to ensure consistent results through all of the region's weather extremes.

TIG and flux core processes are also found more frequently at plant sites, where there is better control over power supplies and other variables.

Some companies, such as Midwest Management Ltd., have started to introduce automated welding systems that provide consistent quality work. Midwest first used a Veraweld High Deposition system, manufactured by Vermaat Technics (www.vermaat-technics.nl), on pipeline work in 1996.

With automated welding systems, a temporary shelter erected at the pipe joint that is being worked creates a barrier against winds and drafts that would disturb the GMAW/GTAW shielding gases. The set-up and operation of two computer-controlled weld heads per joint on a 30 in. diameter pipe can take as little as 24 minutes, compared to the 33 minutes that is typically required by an experienced welding team.

Naturally, the extreme cold that can occur in the region is a major factor in pipeline work. Most pipe work is performed in winter because, in warmer weather, the heavy vehicles needed to support the welding teams tend to sink into the peat moss-soil locally known as "muskeg." However, inspectors can shut down an outside operation if they determine that the ambient temperature is too cold for the crews or the welding process. Pipe can't bend at temperatures below –30 degrees C (-22 degrees F) without risk of cracking. In the cold weather, once the pipe joint edges are dressed, crewmembers preheat the joint with propane burners. The pipe has a 13.1 mm thickness (about 1/2 in.) — if it's not preheated, it can crack easily during welding from thermal shock. A single propane wand is used to heat the outside of the pipe, while another wand that holds six to eight burners pointing outwards in a ring pattern is inserted inside the pipe.

For the most part, welding is done if there is welding to be had. Workers quickly learn to wear clothing in layers that can be removed or added to if one gets too warm or cold. Welders are always near a source of heat, and one can occasionally see welders put their hands on the pipe near a just-welded joint to warm their fingertips.

Most of welder's trucks in Fort McMurray carry generators in familiar blue or red paint. Representatives from Miller, Lincoln, Air Liquide and other companies visit the region, occasionally bringing new equipment and welding rod for workers to put to the test against the extremes of their job.