Keystone Pipeline

The Keystone Pipeline is one of the longest crude oil pipelines in the world. Originating in Hardisty, Alberta, it will transport oil nearly 3,500 kilometers to refineries in Oklahoma and Illinois.  

A second project, dubbed Keystone XL, will extend service to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast in Texas. Bechtel is handling engineering management, procurement, and construction management of the two projects for customer TransCanada.

Bechtel has an 80-year history of building pipelines in places as far-flung as Thailand and the Arctic Circle. It completed its first pipeline, the Tres Piños–Milpitas in California, in 1929. Bechtel worked on the Trans-Arabian pipeline in 1947 and completed the Trans-Alaska pipeline in 1977. Over the years, the company has laid enough pipeline to circle the globe twice.

Every pipeline offers fresh challenges, and the initial Keystone project had plenty. Bechtel managed the acquisition and shipment of more than $1.7 billion of materials among myriad contractors and destinations. No pipe mill in the world is big enough to supply the entire length, so pipe comes from locations including Alberta, Florida, and the West Coast of India.