Safety
Mass. Budgets Statewide Review of Natural Gas Systems
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a spending bill that funds a statewide examination of Massachusetts’ natural gas distribution system, a review that was ordered after last September’s gas explosions near Boston that killed one person, injured 25 others and damaged or destroyed dozens of build..
TANAP’s Seismic Fault Crossing Posed Challenges For Welding
The Trans Anatolia Natural Gas Pipeline transports Azeri gas from the Shah Deniz field through Turkey and Europe. Construction of the technically challenging project was complicated by the North Anatolian Fault.
Letter from PRCI President Cliff Johnson: Investing in Research to Improve Pipeline Safety
Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI) exists as a way for its members, who are pipeline operators, service providers and other industry stakeholders, to collectively and collaboratively, conduct research, develop, and evaluate new and emerging technologies that have the potential to improve..
Mariner East 1 Pipeline Operational Again
Energy Transfer LP announced that effective Monday, April 23 Mariner East 1 pipeline has resumed operations. The 350-mile, 8-inch NGL pipeline transports NGLs across Southern Pennsylvania to Energy Transfer’s Marcus Hook Industrial Complex in Delaware County, PA.
API-AOPL Annual Report Shows Liquids Pipeline Incidents Down Significantly
The American Petroleum Institute (API), in coordination with the Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) has released the 2019 API-AOPL Liquids Pipeline Performance Report, which details a 20% decrease in liquids pipeline incidents impacting people or the environment over the last five years despite increases in both pipeline mileage and barrels delivered.
Mass. Budgets Statewide Review of Natural Gas Systems
Gov. Charlie Baker has signed a spending bill that funds a statewide examination of Massachusetts’ natural gas distribution system. The review was ordered after the Sept. 13 gas explosions that killed one person, injured 25 others and damaged or destroyed dozens of buildings in the Merrimack Valley.
Con Edison Halts Gas Hookups, Citing Interstate Pipeline Constraints
Consolidated Edison Inc said it will impose a moratorium on new natural gas service in parts of New York's Westchester County to protect system reliability due to limited space on interstate pipelines to the region.
At Least 5 Killed in Iran Gas Pipeline Explosion
A gas pipeline explosion in southwestern Iran killed at least five people and injured six, the Tasnim news agency reported.
Andax
Andax Andax introduced the Xtreme Shell Pipe Flange Containment System, a reusable, hard containment shell designed to fully enclose a pipe flange, manifold or any other leak point. The drain hose diverts the leak to a closed container, thereby reducing the potential dange..
Pure Safety Group
Pure Safety Group Pure Safety Group (PSG) unveiled its Guardian Fall Protection S1 safety harness, which is the first in a series of innovative new harnesses designed with three levels of features for various work scenarios. All harnesses meet OSHA standards, while exceedi..
Unwanted Night Moves
Whenever the subject of internal corrosion in pipelines comes up, it rekindles some unpleasant memories from my extensive time as a pipeline company spokesperson. Being part of an emergency response team for over 12 years was rewarding in many ways, but there was always an uneasy feeling when the phone would ring in the middle of the night.
PHMSA and Advisory Group Finalizing New Safety Program
A Voluntary Information Sharing (VIS) advisory group, working with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), voted to recommend a new, industry-wide safety reporting program in which employees, in a “no-fear” environment, would report pipeline operational and infrastructure risks and hazards. Reports would be “de-identified” and centralized. The goal is that potential problems would be found and corrected before they worsened, possibly becoming emergency situations.
Storage Tanks Explode at Venezuela Heavy Oil Project
Two storage tanks have exploded at the Petro San Felix heavy-crude upgrading project in eastern Venezuela, according to an oil industry source and a legislator.
Panhandle Eastern Capacity Reduced by Missouri Pipeline Blast
Energy Transfer said it has reduced mainline capacity on its Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line system after a fiery rupture downstream of its Centralia Compressor Station. The blast caused no serious injuries, but power to several homes was interrupted, authorities said.
Pipeline Management Office Proves Beneficial to Pipeline Digs
The Digs Project Management Office (PMO) is often referred to as the “Big PMO” because of its sheer volume of work and its potential effect to the pipeline assets and its stakeholders.
Ensuring LNG Liquefaction Facilities’ System Tightness
By Nirmal Surendran Menon, Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), New Zealand System “tightness testing” is the last stage before inerting (the introduction of a non-combustible gas into a closed system) and the introduction of hydrocarbon and is a vital safety step in the start-up sequence..
Combined Flaws Represent Key Danger to Pipelines
Sergey Zubin, chief engineer of Transneft Diascan, discusses the importance of detecting “combined flaws,” or those that occur in close proximity on the pipeline, with Pipeline & Gas Journal.
Advanced Analytics Can Help Boost Pipeline Performance
Leveraging existing operational data as well as new data sources available as part of a digital transformation can provide great opportunities to significantly improve performance through better asset reliability, efficiency and safety performance.
CEPA Seeks Common Ground on Bill C-69
Canada’s energy transmission pipeline companies are clear on what amendments they would like to see, and we ask the Canadian government to take the time to get this right.
Missouri Leak Prompts Closure of Parts of 2 Oil Pipelines
An oil leak near St. Louis prompted the closure of parts of two pipelines as crews work to determine the source, company officials and Missouri regulators said.
San Francisco Gas Explosion Shoots Fire that Burns Buildings
A gas explosion in a San Francisco neighborhood shot flames into the air for hours Wednesday and burned five buildings, sending panicked residents and workers fleeing into the streets. It took utility crews more than two hours to put out the fire after private construction workers cut a natural gas line, igniting the towering flames.
4 Activists Arrested Attempting to Shut Down Oil Pipeline
Four climate-change activists from the Catholic Worker movement were arrested in an attempt to shut down an Enbridge's Line 4 oil pipeline in north-central Minnesota.
Subsea Bayesian Networks – Integrity and Risk Assessments
If high levels of safety and environmental protection in the subsea oil and gas sector are to be maintained, then understanding the risks involved is more important than ever. But it has never been more difficult necessary to optimize IMR activities than it is now.
Mexico's Fuel Thieves Undeterred by Deadly Blast
Days after a fireball erupted near the Mexican town of Tlahuelilpan, killing at least 117 people pilfering gasoline from a pipeline, the area's fuel bandits were back in business.
Addressing Legal Risk Through SAFETY Act
Legal Perspectives By Eric Hutchins, Principal, H2 Legal, P.C., and Ted Murphy, Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth On the morning of Aug. 15, 2012, most Saudi Aramco employees were home celebrating Ramadan. Suddenly, the few remaining at work noticed problems with their computers. Screens flickered, a..
Death Toll Reaches 94 in Mexico Fuel Pipeline Fire Horror
People in the town where a gasoline explosion killed at least 94 people say the section of pipeline that gushed fuel has been a habitual gathering site for thieves, repeatedly damaged and patched like a trusty pair of jeans.
Thieves Siphon Whole Pipelines; Mexico to Ship Gas on Trains
Fuel thieves in Mexico have grown so bold they are drilling illegal taps under warehouses in big cities and siphoning off the entire contents of pipelines, Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said. He cited one pipeline carrying gasoline that thieves had drilled into so many times they had siphoned all the fuel in the duct.
PG&E Board Chair Sees Chapter 11 as ‘Only Viable Option’
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. said this week it will file for bankruptcy, raising concern that rates for electricity and gas will rise and victims of California wildfires who are suing the nation’s largest utility won’t get all the money they may be owed.
Lawmakers Urge US Agency to Bolster Pipeline Cybersecurity
Two Democratic lawmakers urged the Department of Homeland Security to better protect U.S. oil and gas pipelines from cyber-attacks, after a report they requested detailed a lack of federal oversight of the critical conduits.
Government
Change of Class Location Draws Opposition Citizen organizations and state regulators are opposing interstate pipeline efforts to convince federal regulators to provide an alternative to the class location system, which requires pipelines to take steps when there is population growth around a pipeli..
- Mexican President: Billionaire Slim Interested in Pemex Natural Gas Project
- Freeport LNG Sues Three Contractors Over Defects at Texas Plant
- Energy Transfer Adds 6,000 Miles of Pipeline with $3.25 Billion WTG Midstream Acquisition
- FERC Approves Transco's Texas to Louisiana Gas Pipeline Project
- Williams Says Court Rules in Its Favor in Pipeline Dispute with Energy Transfer
- U.S. to Buy 4.5 Million Barrels of Oil to Replenish Strategic Petroleum Reserve
- Kurdish Oil Smuggling to Iran Flourishes
- U.S. Court Overturns Alaska Oil Lease Sale, Halting Energy Development
- Second Gas Pipeline Rupture in Texas’ Reeves County Raises Environmental Concerns
- Williams Begins Louisiana Pipeline Construction Despite Ongoing Legal Dispute with Energy Transfer
