Integrity
Wireless I/O Communication Solutions For Hazardous Environments
In 2010, an incident in San Bruno, CA brought national attention to the oil and gas industry when a natural gas pipeline exploded in a residential neighborhood, leveling homes and claiming several lives. The resulting shockwave from the explosion was equivalent to a 1.1 magnitude earthquake.
Safety Deeply Embedded In Pipeline, Hazardous Transport Oversight
In 2010, two tragic events – a million-gallon crude oil spill near Marshall, MI and a natural gas explosion in a San Bruno, CA neighborhood – occurred within two weeks of each other, focusing the nation’s attention on pipeline safety.
Underused Strategies To Keep Pipelines Running Strong
Compressor stations are the unsung heroes of the pipeline and gas industry. Given the media hype lately, the public’s focus has been driven primarily to the extraction and refining components of the energy equation with little notice paid to the engines – literally – that transfer products from one end of the country to the other.
Improving Field Verification In Pipeline Integrity Management Programs
An inline inspection (ILI) project is not complete until the reported features are verified in the field. The process is important because inappropriate inspection techniques can invalidate an otherwise valid report.
Helping Operators Comply With New IVP Regulations
Last summer the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) previewed proposed additions to its integrity management program (IMP) which require operators to test pipe segments located in high-consequence areas (HCAs) and to “devote additional focus, efforts, and analysis … to ensure the integrity of [those] pipelines.”
Comparing Speed-Control Pig Cleaning With Hard-Bodied Cleaning Pig
The Southeast Supply Header (SESH) is a 42-inch and 36-inch natural gas pipeline originating at Carthage, TX and running 446 miles to a terminus at Coden, AL. SESH links the onshore natural gas supply basins of East Texas and northern Louisiana to markets predominantly served by offshore natural gas supplies from the Gulf of Mexico.
Breaking Down Quad-O Regulations, Compliance Needs
Just as onshore production methods change and evolve over time, so too do environmental regulations. On Aug. 16, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published final regulatory updates specific to onshore oil and natural gas production that span from well completion to transmission. Deciphering and gaining a better understanding of these regulations will remove costly compliance pitfalls during normal operations.
PHMSA Shifts Emphasis Toward Preventing Highest Risk Events
Pipeline integrity management is a hot topic. Pipeline failures, while statistically rare, can be catastrophic and have captured attention as never before. Risk tolerance for pipeline failures from existing pipelines is very low, and getting lower.
Transportation Department IG: PHMSA Oversight Of One-State Pipelines Inadequate
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal agency responsible for making sure states effectively oversee the safety of natural gas and other pipelines is failing to do its job, a government watchdog said in a report released Friday.
API Considers New Voluntary Recommended Practice For Pipeline Safety
An American Petroleum Institute (API) advisory committee released a draft "recommended practice" describing a safety management system (SMS) for natural gas and liquid pipelines at a meeting sponsored by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) in February. The API was taking comments through April 11 and will approve RP1173, in some form, later this year.
Making America Understand Benefits Of Natural Gas Top Priority For AGAs Gregg Kantor
The American Gas Association (AGA) elected Gregg S. Kantor to serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors for 2014. Kantor is president and CEO of NW Natural. Headquartered in Portland, OK, NW Natural provides natural gas service to 689,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Oregon and southwest Washington. It is the largest independent natural gas utility in the Pacific Northwest.
Computing Risk: Leak Detection Strategies
Kalamazoo River, Mayflower, Grand Marsh, Bonga Field, Little Buffalo – all places that suffered pipeline spills in the last several years. The recurrence of significant incidents has many countries spending more and more time investigating the pipeline industry’s safety practices. This resurgence comes at a time when oil and natural gas initiatives around the world are putting pressure on new pipeline development.
Rail Transportation Of Oil: A Growing Congressional Safety Concern
Both House and Senate committee leaders with jurisdiction have begun to show impatience with what they view as out-of-date federal regulations on railroads carrying oil produced in the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Marcellus shale regions.
Fusion-Bonded Epoxys Effects On Cathodic Disbondment
Selecting suitable coating for buried pipelines is one of the most important parts of protecting external surfaces and reducing the corrosion rate. Controlling corrosion through cathodic protection and specific coating reduces the cathodic current; however, this creates an alkaline environment in the interface of the coating that covers the cathode surface, which can lead to disbondment.
Rebels Blow Up Three Gas Pipelines In Pakistan
Separatist rebels from Pakistan's resource-rich Baluchistan province last month blew up three gas pipelines, cutting supplies to the country's most economically important province. The Times of India credited the report to Ayub Bajwa, emergency manager for Sui North Gas Pipelines Limited in Islamabad.
Accurate Pipeline Inspection Data Requires More Than A Pig
An often overlooked aspect of technology development in the pipeline inspection world, though one that usually turns out to be the most critical to success, is the people involved.
Midwestern Contractors Case Study On Suspended Pipelines
Integrity projects are complicated enough when they involve locating anomalies along a buried pipeline that will then need to be excavated, evaluated and repaired. That factor increases significantly when the pipeline involved is connected to a heavily traveled motor bridge over a busy commercial river, adjacent to an active railroad spur in a large metropolis like Chicago – in the dead of winter.
Editor's Notebook: Don't Feed Them Cake
This is a story of how a boneheaded, albeit well-intentioned, PR decision destroyed years of image building in one fell swoop.
Remote Pipeline Monitoring: Reducing Risk Of Third-Party Damage
On July 30, 2004, a natural gas pipeline operating at a pressure of 70 bar ruptured. The accident occurred at Ghislenghien industrial park, near Ath, Belgium about 30 miles southwest of Brussels, Belgium. Twenty-four people died as a result of the explosion and subsequent fire (mostly firefighters and the police), and 120-plus were hospitalized, most with severe burns.
Leveraging Previous Inline Inspection Assessment Results
Pipeline integrity managers routinely receive inline inspection (ILI) tool data, in some cases, for the second or third pig run on a particular segment of pipe. Integrity managers largely spend time on the first ILIs in classifying anomalies under Part 195 and Part 192 criteria, excavating these anomalies and repairing the pipeline as necessary, based on the findings.
Developments Toward Unified Pipeline Risk Assessment Approach
A certain amount of standardization in any process can be beneficial to stakeholders. In the case of pipeline risk assessment, standardization establishes process acceptability. This leads to consistent and fair regulatory oversight as well as minimum levels of analysis rigor.
Energy Underpins Russia-Ukraine Standoff
International tension resulting from Russia’s occupation of Crimea, territory universally recognized as belonging to Ukraine, has many facets, but Russia’s dominance of the energy market in Europe and Ukraine informs the dynamic.
Pipeline Corrosion Issues Related To Carbon Capture, Transportation And Storage
For the foreseeable future, fossil fuels will remain the dominant source of the world’s primary energy production. There is growing concern that the use of these carbon-based fuels produce greenhouse gases, principally carbon dioxide (CO-2), which adversely affects the global climate and environment. One way to mitigate the problem is to use carbon capture, transportation, and storage (CCTS) techniques and systems.
Industry Associations Asks Help With Oil Spill Surveillance
The global oil and gas industry needs better ways to plan for oil spill surveillance, and it’s looking to the airborne remote sensing and commercial satellite industries for help.
ONEOKs Natural Gas Pipeline Explodes In Oklahoma
According to Reuters, a natural gas pipeline with an unknown capacity, operated by ONEOK Partners, exploded near Milfay, OK. No one was reported injured.
Court Rejects BPs Gulf Spill Settlement Appeal
One of BP’s attempts to curb pay outs for what it says are “fictitious” and “absurd” claims related to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill has failed after an appeal was rejected by a U.S. court, according to Reuters.
Lightning, A New Key For Pipeline Protection
In the past, it was thought that lightning strikes were random or due to an object being tall or located at a higher elevations. New discoveries are showing these are seldom the controlling factors and that geology plays a greater role. Fault lines tend to be struck by lightning more often, and it’s known that active fault zones are good for oil and natural gas exploration, but can be bad for pipelines.
Train accidents stir worries about crude transport
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — At least 10 times since 2008, freight trains hauling oil across North America have derailed and spilled significant quantities of crude, with most of the accidents touching off fires or catastrophic explosions.
Ky. gas line blast injures 2, destroys 2 homes
KNIFLEY, Ky. (AP) — An underground transmission pipeline carrying natural gas exploded early Thursday in southern Kentucky, sending two people to the hospital, destroying two homes and alarming residents who saw flames from miles away.
Emergency Valve Shutdown Solutions In Shale Plays
Production from natural gas and liquids rich shale plays in the United States is booming. In the past five years alone, shale gas reserves have increased tenfold to 25 Bcf/d. Similarly, tight oil production has risen to 1.8 MMbcf/d, more than 600% over that same period [1]. This prolific growth trend has created a dramatic need for infrastructure improvements, including transport via pipeline from the wellhead to processing facilities and beyond.
- Freeport LNG Plant Runs Near Zero Consumption for Fifth Day
- Biden Administration Buys Oil for Emergency Reserve Above Target Price
- Mexico Seizes Air Liquide's Hydrogen Plant at Pemex Refinery
- Kinder Morgan Declares Force Majeure on West Texas Gas Pipeline After Fire
- Enbridge Picks Contractors for Great Lakes Tunnel Project, Securing Line 5 Pipeline Route
- Pipeline Hydro Test Pressure Determination
- Venezuela Proposes Alternative Payment Plan as Weak Bids Surface in Citgo Auction
- Baker Hughes Wins Contract for Huge Aramco Gas Expansion Project
- Japan Looks at Developing Domestic Pipelines Sector
- Enbridge Picks Contractors for Great Lakes Tunnel Project, Securing Line 5 Pipeline Route
