Pipelines

BGC’s pipeline experts provide end-to-end support for routing, geohazard characterization, and engineering design. Our goal: avoid geohazard-prone zones where possible, and engineer practical, resilient solutions where avoidance isn’t an option.

We have delivered geohazard support for projects across prairies, mountains, permafrost, floodplains, and arid regions, offering:

• Terrain mapping and geohazard inventory development
• Geotechnical investigations and soil characterization
• Permafrost and seismic hazard assessment
• Watercourse crossing design and trenchless feasibility assessments
• Probability-of-failure and vulnerability modeling to inform systemwide risk integration

This approach helps clients optimize routes, minimize risk, and streamline permitting and design processes.

As a global leader in pipeline geohazard response, BGC provides real-time and on-site technical support from our multidisciplinary teams worldwide.
We help operators respond to climate-related events, such as floods or slope failures, with practical, time-sensitive solutions.

Our year-round hydrotechnical and geotechnical design services address both routine mitigations and emergency events, ensuring operational continuity and compliance.

When riverbed scour or lateral channel migration exposes or threatens a pipeline, BGC provides comprehensive hydrotechnical assessments and mitigation designs.

Our services include:

• Channel migration and bank erosion analysis
• Hydrologic and hydraulic modeling
• Scour potential and depth-of-cover surveys
• Flood and debris flow hazard assessments
• Instream mitigation design (e.g., armouring, river training, stabilization)
• Regulatory support and construction oversight

We compare the feasibility of instream vs. trenchless solutions, helping clients select the most cost-effective, durable mitigation approach.

Ground movement, erosion, and slope instability can significantly impact pipeline integrity. BGC’s geotechnical experts conduct site-specific analyses and design mitigation solutions that enhance safety and reduce downtime.

Our support includes:

• Drilling supervision, slip-plane identification, and instrumentation installation
• Stress relief monitoring and forensic failure investigations
• Slope stability modeling and design (e.g., shear keys, toe berms, soil anchors)
• Rockfall and debris barrier design
• Trenchless and trenched crossing design and construction support

Each project is executed within a risk-based, data-driven framework that ensures traceable and defensible decision-making.

BGC is an industry leader in using IMU bending strain and in-line inspection (ILI) data to evaluate geohazard impacts on pipelines. Each year, we review thousands of landslide sites, integrating ground movement data with pipeline stress behavior models.

This analysis helps identify when pipelines are actively impacted by ground movement, allowing operators to prioritize monitoring and mitigation based on real strain data.

We collaborate with pipeline stress analysis (PSA) specialists to simulate soil-pipe interaction, calibrate to real-world site conditions, and support strain-based geohazard management plans.

BGC provides on-site geotechnical and construction support to help owners and contractors manage complex geological and environmental challenges.

Our construction services include:

• Trenchless crossing support (HDD, Direct Pipe, Auger Bore, etc.)
• Slope drainage, fill placement, and erosion control
• ARD/ML management and soil verification
• Access road monitoring and foundation inspections
• Implementation and oversight of geohazard mitigation measures

With our help, pipeline projects achieve safe, efficient, and compliant construction in the world’s most challenging terrains.