Environment
Methane: A Poster Child For Voluntary Progress
EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy calls our nation’s natural gas abundance “a game-changer in our ability to really move forward with pollution reductions.” She’s right. Expanding natural gas use for power generation is the primary reason the U.S. has reduced carbon emissions more than any other country over the past eight years and driven sulfur dioxide and smog-forming NOx emissions down by more than two-thirds over the past two decades.
Developing Crack Size Detection Criteria for Unpiggable Gas Pipelines
NYSEARCH/Northeast Gas Association (NGA) and development partner Invodane Engineering have introduced the Explorer series of robotic internal inspection platforms and sensors which can perform integrity assessments on natural gas pipelines now incapable of using conventional inline inspection (ILI) technology. The commercial partner on the project is Pipetel Technologies Inc.
Pipeline Moving Canadian Crude to Gulf Coast Refineries Starts
Crude from the Canadian oil sands deposits gained an additional major outlet in the U.S. when the joint venture of Enbridge, Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners L.P. completed construction of its Cushing-to-Texas pipeline and started deliveries in December to Gulf Coast refineries. The new pipeline’s operations and routes are very similar to TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline project for bringing oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.
Wood Mackenzie: Oil Market Concerns Inescapable in 2015
Global consulting company Wood Mackenzie has drawn on the knowledge and expertise of senior analysts in compiling a new report, Horizons: What To Look For In 2015. In discussing the report, Paul McConnell, principal analyst for Global Trends at Wood Mackenzie, pointed out that oil market concerns will be inescapable in 2015. “With no sign that OPEC is reconsidering its decision to leave production targets unchanged, the impetus falls on non-OPEC producers to limit supply growth and bring the market back into balance,” he said.
Latest Price Shock Offers Some Midstream Bright Spots
The price of oil may have fallen to its lowest level in six years, but this “price shock” is different than the 2008-’09 variety, according to analysts at Pace Global. “The current low-price situation is likely to persist for several years unless geopolitical events shift the market psychology from one of surplus to one of shortage,” Jim Diemer, vice president and head Pace Global-Siemens’ Energy Consulting Company, told PG&J.
Newsreel: Northeast Utilities Becomes Eversource Energy
Northeast Utilities, which operates New England’s largest energy delivery company, has become Eversource Energy. All of the company’s subsidiaries, including Connecticut Light and Power Co., NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, Western Massachusetts Electric Co. and Yankee Gas Services Co. have begun operating under the Eversource brand. The company serves more than 3.6 million electric and natural gas customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and employing a workforce of more than 8,000 New Englanders.
NTSB Study Seeks Changes to Gas Transmission Integrity Programs
A new National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) study calls for major changes to integrity management (IM) programs of gas transmission pipelines in high-consequence areas (HCAs).
Illinois Oil Train Derailment Involved Safer Tank Cars
GALENA, Ill. (AP) — The two rail cars that split open and burst into flames during a western Illinois oil train derailment were retrofitted with protective shields to meet a higher safety standard than federal law requires, the railroad said. Thursday's accident in a rural area south of the city of Galena is the latest failure of the safer tank car model and raises more concerns that even tougher requirements are needed.
Government: Proposed Obama Methane Emissions Plan Lacks Details
The Obama administration announced a plan to cut methane emissions from pipeline operations but gave no specifics beyond the federal agencies which would handle rule-makings. The technical details of those rule-makings and the extent of the cut of methane emissions they seek to produce won't be known for some time.
Pipeline Stress Corrosion Cracking: Detection and Control
Corrosion of underground natural gas and liquid petroleum pipelines occurs in a variety of forms and requires specialized mitigation methods to detect and control. First identified in the 1960s, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a form of corrosion that results in clusters or colonies of cracks on the external surface of the affected pipeline.
Poplar spill fueling worries about Dakota Access; replacement announced
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A pipeline oil spill in Montana that contaminated a river and a city's drinking water supply is adding to fears about a proposed pipeline to carry oil from western North Dakota to a terminal in Illinois for distribution to refineries in eastern states.
Texas Railroad Commissioner Looking For Sound Advice On Regulating
Newly sworn-in Texas Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton told about 165 members of the Texas Pipeline Association (TPA) members in Houston that he will be looking to the oil and gas industry for “good, sound advice” on improving regulations during his tenure. The Texas A&M University graduate said it is imperative to establish a “level playing field for operators” where regulations are concerned and in some ways work as an advocate for Texas’ energy interests, which must compete with other states.
Creative Responses To Provide Natural Gas
With the continuing expansion of natural gas development in shale plays across the nation, pipeline infrastructure continues to be built out, with product making the trek from source points to downstream consumers. However, not every end-user has access to affordable natural gas yet.
Achieving Vital Security With Cloud Services
Are your company’s business systems connected in any way to the industrial control systems (ICS), including Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), which are used to manage the company’s critical infrastructure? If they are, and the best guess is they are, then the ICS/SCADA could be vulnerable to cyberattacks in addition to the business side of the networks.
Editor's Notebook: Local Updates
I hope the industry is paying attention to some regionalized developments that could hamper activity, at least in the short term.
British Columbia Prohibits Oil Or Bitumen Transport Through LNG Pipelines
British Columbia has adopted a regulation to ensure pipelines built to support LNG facilities will not be permitted to transport oil or diluted bitumen. This follows concerns expressed in environmental assessments and by First Nations about the long-term pipeline use.
U.S.-China Carbon Pact: Promising Start Or Path To Nowhere?
In November, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping surprised the world by agreeing in principle to targets for carbon dioxide emissions in a symbolic effort to address climate change. This is a pact of historic magnitude that recognizes a need for the world’s two largest emitters – both longstanding antagonists – to reduce future release of greenhouse gas. But aside from a handshake and a promise, what will actually come from this mutual recognition?
Energy Providers, Including Pipelines, Vulnerable To Malware
Financial services firms may have a slight edge in security readiness over their energy sector counterparts, but not by much. These two industries – highly targeted by cybercriminals – must move quickly to address their cybersecurity deficiencies and shore up their defenses against advanced malware threats.
Improving Cybersecurity Defenses In Oil And Gas Applications
In recent years, there have been a number of high-profile, advanced malware threats that targeted or attacked the energy sector such as Dragonfly, Stuxnet, Flame and Shamoon. And while these threats need to be taken into account when analyzing and preparing for potential security risks, they actually only account for a low number of overall threat sources.
In Turnaround, FERC Proposes to Allow Surcharges to Fund Modernization
In a departure from past policy, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is considering allowing interstate pipelines to recoup the costs of complying with federal environmental and safety regulations.
50 homes evacuated after Missouri pipeline break
BOWLING GREEN, Mo. (AP) — More than four dozen homes near the town of Bowling Green in northeast Missouri have been evacuated due to the rupture of a natural gas pipeline.
Concerns about water quality after MT pipeline rupture
GLENDIVE, Mont. (AP) — Workers recovered about 10,000 gallons of oil from a ruptured pipeline that spilled crude into Yellowstone River and contaminated the drinking water supply of an eastern Montana city downstream.
Tighter Regulations Push Environmental Concerns To Front Burner
Natural gas production and pipeline construction thrive on predictability. They depend on reliably meeting milestones and deadlines in order to connect new sources of energy into supply lines.
Cold Weather Can Play Havoc On Natural Gas Systems
Cold weather can produce threats to the integrity of distribution pipeline systems. Integrity management (IM) concepts required an operator to identify threats as a necessary step to prioritizing integrity assessments and developing mitigations.
Challenges Facing Large-Diameter Pipelines Crossing Mountains
Canadian hydrocarbon production is growing and the nation is looking to pursue offshore markets as an important element of a strategy for expanded oil and natural gas sales.
Battleground for Anti-Oil/Gas Efforts Increasingly Local
As the 2014 mid-term elections faded from view, one cogent footnote of the political power change was the significant shift in the money and manner of spending it in the national environmental movement. Even some of their harshest critics were noting a higher level of professionalism and use of legitimate spokespersons as they attempted to spend their growing cash infusion more strategically.
Pipeline Engineering Quality Management System
I’ve only been working in the pipeline engineering business for a short time, but have noticed a disparity between how the quality systems of the two main portions of the business are structured. This, even though corporate quality and construction quality systems both follow the International Standards Organization (ISO) 9001:2008 format of quality standards.
Leak Detection Systems Critical To Pipeline Safety
Selecting a suitable leak detection system is not an easy task for pipeline operators. The system must meet the needs of the particular application and comply with relevant regulations. The most advanced technology available uses the extended real-time transient model (E-RTTM) model, which guarantees reliable leak monitoring for various types and lengths of pipelines, even under transient operating conditions.
Gas Infrastructure Aging Gracefully Despite Flawed News Story
While statistically pipelines remain the safest method to transport natural gas and liquids, growing demands on the aging infrastructure has increasingly pointed to the need for upgrades – sometimes tragically so.
Editor's Notebook: Dinner-Table Politics
It’s just a few days before Thanksgiving, so let’s talk turkey and football. The Keystone pipeline has never really been about energy. It’s been a political football almost since the day TransCanada proposed a pipeline to bring Canadian oil sands product to Gulf Coast refineries.
- Phillips 66 to Shut LA Oil Refinery, Ending Major Gasoline Output Amid Supply Concerns
- FERC Sides with Williams in Texas-Louisiana Pipeline Dispute with Energy Transfer
- U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Pipeline Permits
- ConocoPhillips Eyes Sale of $1 Billion Permian Assets Amid Marathon Acquisition
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
- U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Pipeline Permits
- Malaysia’s Oil Exports to China Surge Amid Broader Import Decline
- U.S. LNG Export Growth Faces Uncertainty as Trump’s Tariff Proposal Looms, Analysts Say
- Marathon Oil to Lay Off Over 500 Texas Workers Ahead of ConocoPhillips Merger
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
