Challenge
Our client, a leading North American pipeline and midstream company, needed to sell over 50,000 feet of used take-up pipe located in Tivoli, Texas. The company had to overcome three significant hurdles to ensure maximum recovery for this sale.
First, nearly all of the pipe was buried underground, meaning that prospective buyers would have to bid on the pipe without viewing the entire lot. Second, the drill pipe had been installed almost 60 years ago, increasing the likelihood that hazardous materials such as asbestos would be present, making the pipe unsellable. Finally, the client had to sell and remove the pipe within a short timeframe, as it planned to install new pipe in its place soon.
Solution
The client engaged Liquidity Services to manage all aspects of this sale, from lotting the pipe to finding potential buyers to supervising removal. The client selected Liquidity Services because of our energy industry expertise, which includes over $1 billion in total energy sales, more than 80,000 transactions completed, and expertise in nearly every asset category.
Liquidity Services worked with the client to test all pipe, ensuring it was free of asbestos and other hazardous materials. Then, we identified 21 buyers with past interest in take-up pipe and held a live auction for them that included inspections of the pipe’s visible portion.
Post-auction, we coordinated and supervised buyer pipe removal. This was an exceptional challenge since the pipe was located at several sites, none of which were equipped for load-out. The buyer had to wrap the pipe and load it using its own cranes and forklifts, all in wet site conditions.
Results
The winning bid for the client’s take-up pipe was approximately $775,000, nearly double its initial recovery expectation. We completed the sale in an aggressive timeline of just one week, allowing the client to install the new pipe on schedule.
Our intelligent sales approach and industry expertise helped us efficiently identify highly interested bidders to ensure maximum recovery. By handling every aspect of the sale, we enabled the client to turn the burden of used drill pipe into recovery to fuel its core business.