A.P.I. Pipeline Construction established its quality reputation in Trinidad and Tobago, and now is expanding throughout the Caribbean and beyond.

By Staci Davidson - Energy & Mining International - July 2011 Article

Feroze Hosein spent his career working all over the world on the construction of pipelines, first as a welder and then in more supervisory roles, recounts his son, Salim N. Hosein. Eventually, with so much experience in the pipeline construction industry, Feroze Hosein returned home to Trinidad and Tobago with a dream of owning his own pipeline construction business. In 1989, he founded the company with a goal to be capable of handling cross-country pipeline construction, of any magnitude or dimension.

"The company started very small – my father started it out of our home," Salim Hosein explains. "At that time, I was still in school, so I really grew up in this business. I've been here ever since it started, and I saw my father achieve his goal for this company."

Today, A.P.I. Pipeline is the largest operation of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago, and has built the largest pipeline project in the country to date: the Cross Island Pipeline Project, which required the construction of 77 kilometers of 56-inch diameter pipeline from Point Fortin to Beachfield, Guayaguayare. Based in Fyzabad, the company also has locations in La Brea and Point Lisas.

A.P.I. Pipeline has 80,000 square feet of fabrication and mechanical shop space, which is equipped with rollers, benders, lathes, welding sets and related equipment. It also has a fully outfitted sandblasting facility, a large fleet of site equipment and the only fully computerized directional underground boring machine in the country, Hosein says.

In addition to growing the size of its business, A.P.I. Pipeline has diversified its services. Cross-country pipeline construction remains the company's core strength, but it also provides horizontal directional drilling, tank construction, structural steel erection, process piping, plant maintenance and turnaround, and civil and infrastructure construction.

"I took over the business from my father in 2000, and I realized we needed to diversify the business," Hosein says. "We already had civil construction capabilities, and about four years ago we started to produce our own oil and gas. For some smaller wells, it was not economically viable for Petrotrin – the Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago – to operate them, so they awarded contracts out.

"This is a historical step for us and a big part of how our company will grow," he continues. "In the last four years, we increased our production by 500 percent, and I know we can increase it by a lot more."

A Quality Focus

A.P.I. Pipeline recently completed the construction of five kilometers of a 24-inch gas pipeline for Trinidad Generation Unlimited. The pipeline connected to the main network of the new 720-megawatt Union Estate Power Station, which will be the largest plant in Trinidad. This project also required A.P.I. to construct pressure regulation, pig receiver, slug catcher and gas metering facilities; 1.2 kilometers of 16-inch pipeline; a custody transfer meter station; and polypropylene distribution pipelines.

One of the company's current projects is in Tobago, where it is constructing a 12-inch pipeline and performing mechanical, electrical and instrumentation services for a natural gas receiving and metering station. This pipeline will transfer natural gas from an offshore platform for distribution throughout the island, Hosein says.

A.P.I. Pipeline also is involved in a number of smaller projects in the gas industry at this time, Hosein explains, and in the oil and gas production side of its business, it is bringing wells into production on land that it is leasing from one of the local oil companies. "We recently were awarded four more blocks, so we have a total of 8,500 acres we can exploit for resources," he says.

On all of the company's projects, he notes, the key is to maintain quality. A.P.I. has an entire department dedicated to ensuring the company meets or exceeds industry standards, and it uses state-of-the-art technology in its operations. Trinidad and Tobago is a small island state with only 1.3 million people, however, and sometimes it is difficult to find workers who have the skills to execute its projects, Hosein explains.

"Quality is something we do not compromise," he says. "We have a good human resources department and we spend a lot of time developing our people and training them. From engineers to laborers, we offer continuous in-house and external training. Just this week, everyone received advanced first-aid training. Quality and safety are extremely important to us."

Opening Opportunities

In the global pipeline construction industry, A.P.I. is a small- to medium-sized company, so when larger contractors come to work on the island, they often partner with A.P.I. because of its local expertise.

"In addition to our knowledge of the local community, we have the experience that attracts partners to work with us," Hosein says. "We also have well-kept facilities, a massive fabrication shop and multiple facilities throughout the country."

Going forward, A.P.I. plans to continue working in Trinidad and Tobago, but in the next 10 years Hosein hopes for the company also to be working more throughout the Caribbean as well as in South America, Latin America and Africa. He has been on a number of trade missions in these areas to establish partnerships and open up opportunities for A.P.I.'s geographic expansion.

"We are already doing some work in other Caribbean islands and we are developing some really strong relationships," Hosein