At 56 inches (142 centimeters) in diameter, the pipeline that will carry natural gas across the southern portion of Trinidad will be the largest diameter of its type in the Western Hemisphere. Bechtel is building the extra-large size to accommodate 68 million cubic meters of natural gas daily (initial flow will be 23 million cubic meters per day).
 Each section of pipe measures 12 meters long and weighs between seven and nine tonnes. To cover the 77-kilometer run, Bechtel crews will lay 6,500 sections. Crews installed pipe under two rivers and a recreational beach using a special process known as horizontal directional drilling.
Because of the specialized equipment required, Arizona contractor Southeast Directional Drilling designed and built a special reamer to create a custom, 183-centimeter drill hole. Starting well back from the water’s edge, crews bore into the earth, gradually decreasing the drill’s angle as the depth increases, to bottom out 30 meters below the riverbed. Once it reaches the opposite side, the drill ascends and resurfaces. At that point, as many as 60 prewelded sections are pulled through the hole.
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