How are routes for new pipelines determined?
Natural Gas Pipelines For natural gas pipelines, project planning begins with the basics of supply and demand. Generally, if there is a demand for natural gas, pipeline companies conduct a market analysis to estimate the size of the market. This gas supply requirement is typically expressed in terms of million cubic feet of gas per day. With this information engineers can begin to estimate the facilities required to transport the required volumes of gas and the cost to construct the pipeline facilities. Engineers initially identify preliminary pipeline routes that will minimize impact to the public, public landowners and the environment. The pipeline company typically will go through a process of reviewing available maps of the region to be traversed, and available published environmental data to determine a number of possible alternatives, depending on the characteristics of the region. This desktop work will then be augmented by use of aerial and ground reconnaissance, to identify an
