February 2021, Vol. 248, No. 2

Archive

Editor's Notebook

Time to Look Ahead (and Back)

When projects start being advanced again a familiar foe will be lying in wait – that being the ever-vigilant anti-pipeline coalition.

Features

CONSOLIDATION: Mergers and Acquisitions Embrace Oil Patch

Uncertainty begets caution, which can lead to indecision. In the oil patch this eventually can lead to mergers and acquisitions (M&A) or Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings.

Big Four European Pipeline Owners Receptive to Change

Spain’s Enagás, Belgium’s Fluxys, France’s GRTgaz and Italy’s Snam own and operate more than 62,000 miles (100,000 km) of gas pipelines and related infrastructure across Europe and beyond.

Data Analytics, Predictive Maintenance of Field Automation

The last six decades have experienced an explosion of technological development, with the most recent focus being on data analytics, and the pipeline industry has more than dipped its toe in the benefits of data analysis.

Corrosion Inhibitor Development for Extreme Conditions

This article discusses corrosion inhibitor development for ultra-deep-water systems that experience most of these extreme conditions, including downhole temperatures as high as 400° F (204° C) and pressures as high as 20,000 psi (1,379 bar).

South Africa’s Gas-to-Power Plan to Boost Pipeline Market

South Africa is eyeing the generation of at least 3,000 MW from various gas-to-power technologies by 2027. This trend is likely to increase investments in natural gas exploration, indigenous production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports.

Managing Integrity for Subsea Pipelines Without Pigging

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration estimates that 40% of the world’s pipelines are difficult to pig or are deemed “unpiggable,” which means they cannot be inspected via inline inspection, but their integrity still needs to be maintained.

Pipelines at Heart of Bangladesh’s $453 Million Gas Project

Bangladesh’s government has undertaken an expensive gas infrastructure project with two goals: efficiency in gas production is to be improved and gas transmission pipeline capacity is to be extended.

Bakken Facing Challenges in Coming Year

Going forward, the Bakken Shale region should continue to provide good opportunities for midstream companies in 2021, though it will face challenges recovering in the wake of the pandemic.

Why Investors Should Care about Challenges Mitigating Gas Flaring

Flaring has been a lightning rod for criticism of the upstream oil and gas sector due to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions it creates, as well as the perceived wastefulness by the companies who flare. What some may not realize is that the alternative, known as “venting,” is even more damaging.

Integrating Flow Assurance Engineering Domains Ensures Operations in Caspian Sea

Once the term “flow assurance” was coined in the 1990s, continued evolution in the offshore marketplace has demanded that the industry invest in advancing the design, strategies and principles that form the core of the field.

SITE RG Goes from Strength to Strength in 2020

Despite the tough year of 2020, one Alberta-based integrated services provider business, SITE Resource Group (SITE), continues to thrive.

PART 2: Policy Implications for Satellite-Based Methane Detection

Access to publicly available satellite methane data from TROPOMI, and in future platforms such as those being planned by the ESA Copernicus missions, are animating interest from for-profit companies and not-for-profit advocacy groups interested in using methane data to advance these organizations’ missions.

Global News

Global News February 2021

A collection of briefs provides an update on global pipeline-related stories from this month.

Government

Pipelines Sail into Political Winds in Washington in 2021

With the ascension of President Joe Biden and environmentally friendly Democratic agency heads taking over U.S. regulatory and independent agencies, interstate gas pipelines face a host of newly emboldened, top-level appointees.

Projects

Projects February 2021

A collection of brief articles provides updates on global pipeline projects for the current month.

Two-Year Plan Proposed to Undo Work on Atlantic Coast Pipeline

  The developers of the now-canceled Atlantic Coast Pipeline have laid out plans for how they want to go about unwinding the work that was done for the multistate natural gas project and restoring disturbed land. In a filing with federal regulators, the company proposed a two-year timeline f..

Tech Notes

Siemens Building CO2-Free Hydrogen Plant

Siemens Smart Infrastructure and WUN H2 GmbH signed a contract to build one of the largest hydrogen production plants in Germany. It will be built in Wunsiedel in the north of Bavaria.

Strohm Testing High-End TCP for Total ExxonMobil

Composite pipe technology company Strohm secured a contract with Total and ExxonMobil for a qualification testing program for a high-pressure, high-temperature thermoplastic composite pipe (TCP).

What's New

What's New February 2021

RegO  RegO introduced Presto-Tap, the industry’s only UL-listed liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) system leak test devices to its portfolio. Adding the full line of Presto-Tap devices to its portfolio of LPG valves, regulators and tank hardware enables the company to provide ..

People in the News

People in the News

People Poirier François Poirier was named president and CEO of TC Energy Corporation, succeeding Russ Girling, who retired. Poirier joined the company in 2014 as president, Energy East Pipeline, and most recently served as chief operating officer and presi..

Companies in the News

Companies in the News

Companies  The ROSEN Group announced that it has joined the European Clean Hydrogen Alliance, which was launched by the European Commission last July as part of the EU strategies for energy system integration and hydrogen.  In a statement, ROSEN said, “As a company committed to helping operators o..

Associations in the News

Associations in the News

Associations  TPA  Shay Bluntzer, executive director of Public Affairs for NuStar Energy, has been elected chairman of the Texas Pipeline Association (TPA). In his role at NuStar, one of the largest U.S. independent liquids terminal and pipeline operators, Bluntzer has helped build the company’s..

Spotlight

Keystone XL Comes Up Short in Decade-Plus Battle

As promised on the campaign trail, U.S. President Joe Biden formally revoked a key permit needed to build the Keystone XL pipeline, dashing the hopes of much of the Canadian crude oil sector.