July 2017, Vol. 244, No. 7

Energy Transfer Partners Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. announced Michael J. Hennigan, president, Crude, Liquids and Refined Products, has left the partnership for another business opportunity. Prior to the recently closed merger of ETP and Sunoco Logistics Partners, LP (SXL), Hennigan served as pr..

The next time Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visits President Putin in the Kremlin, he should ask his former buddy something that’s bothered me for years: what are the Russians up to in attempting to sabotage our energy industry? First, let’s understand that energy has always been used as a polit..

Leaks in the distribution system actually rank low as the common cause of pressure drop – the reduction of pressure from the compressor discharge to the actual point of use. This article explains the causes of pressure drop, a variety of solutions and ultimately how to eliminate costly downtime.

With the discovery in 2006 of the Tupi gas field (now known as Campo Lula), Brazil began a new era in the national petroleum industry. In December 2016, the volume of gas and oil produced reached 1.5 MMboe/d, which represents 46% of the total production of hydrocarbons at the national level. Petrob..

Natural gas supplies nearly 34% of the energy needs in the United States, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). This number will likely rise as recent advancements in exploration and availability of shale gas and innovative drilling techniques make it an increasingly attractive e..

Virtual pipelines are scheduled shipments of natural gas between two points – from A to B – by road, rail or sea without a fixed pipeline. Virtual pipeline operations are usually to be found in remote areas where the terrain makes it too costly or too difficult to construct permanent pipelines. The..

Hilcorp Alaska leaders are ready to look ahead after a rocky start to 2017. The company has two drilling rigs working in Cook Inlet, on the Steelhead and King Salmon platforms, and just announced a $75 million plan to ultimately reduce oil tanker traffic in the Inlet. Hilcorp found itself making u..

It would be hard to find a pipeline industry executive as fluent in change as Kimberly Watson.  As a young Texas A&M University accounting graduate, the Houston native started her job search at the epicenter of an oil bust and a savings and loan crisis that plunged the Texas economy into a major rec..

A while back, Peoples Natural Gas customers paid millions of dollars for gas that the North Shore utility couldn’t account for and its customers may not have received. In 2015, 4.4% of the gas that Peoples took into its system wasn’t there when the utility tallied the volumes it delivered to custome..

For natural gas companies, there is growing pressure to deliver more energy, increase profitability and minimize financial losses. Greater expenditures are needed to ensure system integrity and replacement of aging infrastructure. Operators must also reduce operating costs and tightly control capit..

The common definition of a closure is a pressure-containing component used to blank off an opening nozzle on a vessel or end of pipeline. Under this definition, a closure could be: • Weld cap (flat, ellipsoidal, spherical, conical) • Bolted blind flange • Quick opening closure As defined by ..

Coming out of the first quarter in 2017, the venerable Permian Basin had no fewer than three major natural gas takeaway pipeline projects on the drawing board along with several liquid pipe projects as well, exuding an industry-leading appeal among the U.S. major oil and gas production basins. The ..

A pregnant polar bear found an unusual spot to dig her maternity den, selected a bank of snow bank along a bridge leading to an artificial production island near Prudhoe Bay, AK – and operating company Hilcorp Alaska couldn’t be happier. “I’ve worked in the area for several years, and while you pre..

If the attendance and tone of the speakers at the 13th annual Pipeline Opportunities Conference, held March 21, are any indication of what awaits the energy business, things are continuing to look up. Almost 400 participants filled the Omni Houston Hotel in the city’s Galleria District to hear a ra..

Liquid contaminants in natural gas pipelines have recently become an increasing concern.  Typical liquid contaminants can include water and hydrocarbons condensed from the gas stream, glycol carryover from inefficient equipment or process upsets, methanol injected to avoid hydrate formation, and com..

Have you ever heard the joke that asks, “Where do the writers of dictionaries go to look up a word’s spelling?” Or have you ever wondered how people truly know how long a meter is? Well, the answer in both cases is, there are standards that are used as references. Now, sitting in an unassuming labo..

Accurate allocation measurement results are a key financial and commercial driver for E&P companies. Yet despite limited evidence of the performance of Coriolis and ultrasonic flow meter technology, they are being increasingly deployed for oil flows contaminated with water or natural gas. This arti..

Recommendations for the New Administration Latin America holds the largest concentration of hydrocarbon reserves outside of the Middle East. The region’s official proved oil reserve figure was 340 Bbbls (20% of the world’s total) in 2015, second only to the Middle East with 803 Bbbls (47%), and mor..

In many ways, Coriolis and ultrasonic flowmeters have similar applications and serve similar needs. Yet, despite their similarity, they are quite different in many ways. The Coriolis and ultrasonic markets are the two fastest growing of any flowmeter markets. So it is natural to ask if they are comp..

EPA Agrees to Reconsider Elements of Methane Emissions Controls The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has delayed implementation of its 2016 methane leak rule for 90 days beyond the original June 3, 2017 start date as a first step in reconsideration of parts of that rule. Both the American Pet..

Ray Lewis Honored by Houston Pipeliners Association The Pipeliners Association of Houston celebrated a very special career at its June 5 meeting, honoring long-time ROSEN Group Director Ray Lewis on his 60th anniversary working in the industry with its 2017 Pipeliner of the Year Award. Lewis was i..

U.S. Tops World Hydrocarbon Production in 2016  The United States remained the world’s top producer of petroleum and natural gas hydrocarbons in 2016 for the fifth straight year, despite production declines for both petroleum and natural gas relative to their 2015 levels, the U.S. Energy Informatio..

Northern Gas Pipeline Construction Gets Green Light Jemena received approval from Australia’s Northern Territory Government to construct the first 214-mile section of the $800 million Northern Gas Pipeline Project, a 386-mile pipeline that will connect Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory to Mou..

An overview of new products that can be used on pipeline construction projects, as featured in our July 2017 issue.