July 5, 2013 — Construction of a section of crude oil pipeline across 17 miles of Rowan County is on schedule, according to Brandon Daniels, communications manager for Marathon Petroleum Company (MPC).
The project is part of MPC's planned maintenance on the pipeline with crews replacing various sections of old piping.
Initial construction on the project began in April with crews clearing areas where pipeline is located.
Crews from Price Gregory International, Inc. of Houston, Texas, began laying new sections of pipe in early June. At this point about 1.5 miles of pipeline has been replaced.
The construction is visible when traveling south on KY 519 and along Dry Creek Road and McBrayer Road.
With permission from the Kentucky Division of Water, a water storage tank also was set up on McBrayer Road. Water from Triplett Creek is being pumped into the one million-gallon tank.
“It is a water retention tank and part of our integrity management process,” Daniels said. “It holds water to be used for the quality verification of the pipeline.”
The tank was assembled in less than a week and will be taken down once the pressure testing of the new pipeline is complete.
The work taking place on the pipeline in Rowan, Montgomery and Bath counties is a part of the second phase of the pipeline project, Daniels said.
Rowan County sheriff's deputies are escorting Price Gregory crews transporting pipeline from their base in Mt. Sterling to Morehead.
Daniels said there are road crossings that will take place in the coming months that have been approved by the county and state. However, no road closings currently are expected.
A representative from Price Gregory said the construction likely would be completed in November.
The pipeline was built by Ashland Oil, Inc. in the early 1970s to carry crude oil from Owensboro across Kentucky to a refinery at Catlettsburg. Marathon now owns the refinery and the pipeline.
MPC is the nation's fourth largest transportation fuels refiner.
