Adam Barney

Salt Lake CC
Math 1210
Pipeline Project
Fall 2014
The U.S. Interior Secretary recently approved drilling of natural gas wells near Vernal, Utah.
Your company has begun drilling and established a high-producing well on BLM ground. They
now need to build a pipeline to get the natural gas to their refinery.
While running the line directly to the refinery will be the least amount of pipe and shortest
distance, it would require running the line across private ground and paying a right-of-way fee.
There is a mountain directly east of the well that must be drilled through in order to run the
pipeline due east. Your company can build the pipeline around the private ground by going 5
miles directly west and then 15 miles south and finally 45 miles east to the refinery (see figure
below). Cost for materials, labor and fees to run the pipeline across BLM ground is $500,000
per mile.
Cost of drilling through the existing mountain would be a one-time cost of $3,000,000 on top of
the normal costs ($500,000 per mile) of the pipeline itself. Also the BLM will require an
environmental impact study before allowing you to drill through the mountain. Cost for the study
is estimated to be $420,000 and will delay the project by 6 months costing the company another
$120,000 per month.
For any pipeline run across private ground, your company incurs an additional $350,000 per
mile cost for right-of-way fees.
Your company has asked you to do the following:
a) Determine the cost of running the pipeline strictly on BLM ground with two different
cases:
For all Scenarios the costs are:
BLM Land $500,000 per mile
Private Land $850,000 per mile
Mining through the Mountain $3,000,000
Environmental Impact Study $420,000
Delay per month $120,000

One running west, south and then east to the refinery.

65(500,000) =32,500,000

i)

One heading east through the mountain and then south to the refinery.
55(500,000) +3,000,000+420,000+6(120,000) =31,640,000

b) Determine the cost of running the pipeline:

i)
The shortest distance across the private ground to the refinery.
=
= 42.72 miles x 850,000 = 36,312,016

ii)

c)

Straight across the private ground, then straight to the refinery.

(15 x 850,000) +(40 x 500,000) = 32,750,000

Determine the optimal way to run the pipeline to minimize cost. Determine the length of
pipe that runs across private land and how far from the refinery it starts running on BLM
land. Clearly show all work including drawing the pipeline on the figure below. Make it
very clear how you use your knowledge of calculus to determine the optimal placement
of the pipeline.

Total Cost =
Total Cost =
dcost/dc =

d)
Include a sketch of the graph of the cost function, C(x), for this pipeline for any
configuration involving crossing some private ground as well as some BLM ground.
Make sure to scale your axes appropriately and to label the minimum point.

BLM Ground

5 mile

Private Ground

45 miles- BLM Ground

Pipeline Cost
OPTIMAL PATH TO MINIMIZE COST

30.3

STRAIGHT ACROSS PRIVATE LAND

32.8

SHORTEST DISTANCE ACROSS PRIVATE

GROUND

36.3

BLM LAND ONLY: EAST THROUGH

MOUNTAIN THEN SOUTH

31.6

BLM LAND ONLY WEST, SOUTH,THEN EAST

32.5
26

28

30

32

34

36

38

Based on the above proposed routes the most cost effective route to take will be to go 18.55
miles across the private land then 29.1 miles across BLM land.
In this class I have learned many new ways to approach real world problems and come to a
more accurate conclusion. This course has been a tough class to get through and required
extra time to understand the concepts. Working towards Environmental Engineering this
scenario is one that I may actually face one day.