Environment
ExxonMobil Told To Improve Safety On Damaged Pipeline
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) told ExxonMobil to make safety improvements to the Silvertip pipeline in Montana that ruptured and spilled oil into the Yellowstone River July 1.
State, Fed Technicians Remove Bomb from Oklahoma Pipeline
The FBI announced Aug. 11 the discovery of an explosive device attached to a natural gas pipeline in Okemah, OK, about seventy miles east from Oklahoma City.
Report Says New Drilling Permits Could Add Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs
A just-released economic analysis of natural gas and oil development in the Gulf of Mexico indicates the United States could add $45 billion to the American economy and 430,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs in the next two years.
China Reports Oil Spills Basically Under Control
CNOOC Limited reported that oil spills which occurred in PengLai 19-3 oil field had been brought “basically under control” on July 5.
EPA Proposes Air Quality Rules For Fracing
<p>On July 28, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft of new air quality rules for oil and natural gas applications, including processing plants and wells using hydraulic fracturing. The draft had not yet been entered into the federal record, but were available for review and announced upcoming public hearing meetings in Dallas, Pittsburgh and Denver.</p>
Investigation Follows Bison Blowout
<p>After TransCanada's Bison pipeline experienced an as-yet-unexplained rupture in Wyoming July 20, an investigation is under way but has not yet uncovered the cause of the accident. The rupture occurred in remote country and did not result in any injuries or property damage aside from the pipeline itself.</p>
Editor's Notebook: Absolute Values
As a nation as well as an industry we should be grateful for the apparent wealth of natural gas we are finding throughout the United States. It means a reliable, relatively inexpensive energy source for years to come in addition to badly needed jobs, tax revenues for governmental entities, and increased energy independence.
Investigating Catastrophic Events With AMI Gas Data
On April 15, 2010 at approximately 4 p.m., the quiet neighborhood of Calhoun, GA, 65 miles north of Atlanta, was rocked by an explosion. The force of the blast blew out windows within a quarter-mile radius and could be felt up to two miles away.
DOE Allows Wider Exports Of Domestic Gas As LNG; Fracking Initiatives Begin To Gel
With domestic supplies of natural gas overwhelming domestic demand, LNG terminals – in a dramatic reversal from just a few years ago – are looking to build liquefaction facilities and export, not import.
Pipeline Safety, Keystone XL On API Agenda
SAN ANTONIO, TX-Meeting amid the backdrop of several headline-making events, a record attendance of nearly 470 participated in API’s 2011 Pipeline Conference held in San Antonio.
New Jersey Natural Gas Files to Build Natural Gas Vehicle Refueling Stations
New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) submitted a filing June 16 with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities seeking authority to invest up to $15 million to build compressed natural gas vehicle refueling stations in Monmouth, Ocean and Morris counties.
DOT Control Room Regulation To Take Effect Early
The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) announced June 16 that a new regulation to improve the management of pipeline control rooms will go into effect over a year earlier than originally planned.
Keystone Pipelines Cathodic Protection Journey Spans Three Years And 2,147 Miles
The Keystone Pipeline is a 2,147-mile (3,456-km) pipeline that transports crude oil from Hardisty, Alberta, to U.S. Midwest markets at Wood River and Patoka in Illinois, and ultimately to Cushing, OK. On June 30, 2010, TransCanada (TCPL) began commercial operation of the first phase of the Keystone Pipeline System.
Gazprom May Build LNG Complex For Japanese
Gazprom and a consortium of Japanese companies led by Itochu Corp. have agreed to study building a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and a gas chemical complex in Russia’s Far East city of Vladivostok as Japan seeks to boost fuel supplies after its worst nuclear accident.
Pipeline Suspension Bridges Topic At Pipeliners Meeting
Parsons project manager Seth Condell, P.E. discussed the intricacies involved in pipeline suspension bridges at a recent meeting of The Pipeliners Association of Houston.
Pipeline Safety Bill Starts to Move Through Congress
A new pipeline safety bill started its trek through Congress May 5 when the Senate Commerce Committee passed The Pipeline Transportation Safety Improvement Act (S. 275). The mild bill is largely unobjectionable to the gas and liquid pipeline industries, but neither does it grant INGAA's long-standing top priority: adopting a risk-based approach to retesting of pipelines in high consequence areas (HCAs).
INGAA Foundation Reinforces Pipeline Safety Stance
The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America Foundation met April 6-8 at the Las Colinas Four Seasons resort in Irving, TX with a tight schedule focusing on pipeline safety, public outreach and preparing for an uncertain future. Attendance was strong, although not a record, with 175 participants.
Line Pipe Coating Facility Works Million Man Hours Without Lost Time Accident
"Our Birmingham team has achieved an incredible accomplishment by maintaining 10 successful years of proactive safety in their work environment," said Merry Brumbaugh, vice president, L.B. Foster Tubular Products. Company representatives said a decade of safe operations at the Alabama plant demonstrates an intense safety awareness encouraged by DuPont's Safety Training Observation Program and promoted with ongoing corporate-wide safety initiatives.
New Oil, Gas Production Technologies Do More Than Affect Production
New technologies used to squeeze oil and natural gas from tight formations like shale do more than just convert barren areas to large producing reservoirs. Production is the sweet smell of success but is really only a part of the overall transformation. Because of this metamorphosis of turning barren areas into producing locations, the total infrastructure comes into play.
ENTELEC Launches New Regulatory Committee
The Energy Telecommunications and Electrical Association (“ENTELEC”) has formed a new “Regulatory Committee” to address regulatory developments of interest to ENTELEC’s membership throughout the energy industry. All members of ENTELEC – end-users and vendors alike – are invited to join the new committee.
Kinder Morgan Completes Gulf Coast Ethanol Terminal
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. announced April 26 that it has completed construction of its Deer Park Rail Terminal (DPRT) and related ethanol handling assets at its Pasadena Terminal located along the Houston Ship Channel.
Study Indicates Risk To LDC Assets Posed By Static Electricity
The danger of static electricity in natural gas distribution pipe has been well-documented by third-party industry associations and federal oversight agencies. The American Gas Association issued static electricity precautions in the Plastic Pipe Manual in 1985. It recommended external static suppression procedures as well as procedures for static suppression during purging operations.
Editor's Notebook: Facing The Danger
I’m going to let you in on a little secret: energy is a dangerous business. Whether laying pipeline in the hinterlands of America or the streets of Philadelphia, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, coal mining beneath the state of West Virginia or staring at the controls of a Japanese nuclear reactor frantically trying to stem a radioactive breach after Mother Nature’s apocalyptic double-header, the energy business is fraught with unexpected danger. No one can anticipate every possible problem.
New Challenges Drive R&D At National Grid
We all know the traditional drivers for gas operations R&D: 1) aging infrastructure, 2) better leak detection and repair, 3) trenchless technology, and 4) better methods of live inspection and repair. In more recent times, pipeline integrity and damage prevention concerns have been the focus of much innovation and materials research – primarily on plastic pipe. This has been and will continue to be a research goal.
Shuster To Support Transmission Company-sought Change To Integrity Program; EPA Delays Emissions Reporting
Pipeline safety hearings were the rage in early March. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) held hearings March 1-3 on last year's PG&E explosion in San Bruno, CA. Then on March 7 the House subcommittee on railroads, pipelines and hazardous materials held a hearing in King of Prussia, PA focusing on the explosion of a 12-inch diameter main in Allentown, PA owned by UGI Utilities, Inc.
Water Reclamation Services For Marcellus Shale Producers
STW Resources Holding Corp. has signed an agreement to engage a fleet of mobile units for the treatment and reclamation of hydraulic fracture flow-back and produced waters from oil and gas production.
Semi-Submersible Getting Offshore Waste Recycling System
Oil and gas environmental waste contractor TWMA will install and operate its offshore waste recycling system on the Stena Spey semi-submersible drilling rig working in the UK North Sea for Chevron.
Testing Downstream Of Marcellus Treatment Plants Shows Water Safe
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said results of in-stream water quality monitoring for radioactive material in seven rivers showed levels at or below the normal naturally occurring background levels of radioactivity.
Operators Take Control From Well To Terminal With Integrity/Risk Software Product
In the oil and gas industry, companies that rely on deficient control and management systems are not only risking loss of production and the asset but also putting lives and the environment in danger. A failure to manage these risks can ultimately lead to a sequence of events that may have consequences on a global scale.
El Pasos Dan Martin Determined To Prove Safety Is Job One With Pipelines
I’ve always wondered, why do men and women enter the pipeline business? Some would say it’s a special calling, vital for our lifestyles, and with it comes a special satisfaction in seeing a complicated job through to completion. It certainly can’t be the long hours away from home, the remote locations that pipeline workers are often sent for weeks, months, or even years on end, or the steady thumping of the ‘not in my backyard’ naysayers who reap the benefits — just as long as the projects don’t come close to their properties or otherwise touch their lives.
- 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
