Pipeline
Company Blamed for 31-Acre Sinkhole Sues Oil Company
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The company blamed for a 31-acre sinkhole that forced 350 rural Louisiana residents out of their homes has sued Occidental Petroleum Corp., claiming that negligent drilling and production contributed to the damage. Texas Brine Co. said Occidental and Oxy USA Inc. should have to cover more than $100 million in damages that Texas Brine has paid or will have to pay. Occidental did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Assumption Parish.
SGA Chairman Says Bring on the Challenges
For every opportunity in the natural gas business there is an equal challenge, and conversely, every challenge can be turned into an opportunity. That’s the nature of the gas business today, but as any industry observer will tell you, that’s been the nature of the beast for the last 15 years.
Effectively Using New Data Technologies for Pipeline Routing
Oil and gas companies are using information technologies and resources now accessible on desktops for planning new pipeline routes. Technologies and resources include geographic information systems (GIS), mobile information technology, satellite imagery, topographic maps, environmental data and tax data.
Not Deterred By Huge Risks, Shell Opts For Megaprojects
U.S. shale has offered the oil industry a business model that is different from conventional drilling of the past. High initial decline rates, especially compared to conventional wells, requires companies to continuously drill to keep up production. But with lower upfront costs and shorter ramp up times, shale drilling is arguably less risky than a multibillion-dollar megaproject that the oil majors had become accustomed to over the past decade.
Latest in Pressure Cycle Induced Fatigue Crack Growth Modeling
Recent high-profile pipeline incidents have increased awareness of integrity threats associated with legacy seam-welded pipe. Additionally, expectations from the public, regulators and pipeline operators to effectively manage these threats have increased. Pipeline operators use guidance published in PHMSA’s TT05 – Low Frequency ERW and Lap Welded Longitudinal Seam Evaluation– to model the effect of pressure cycle-induced fatigue on the growth of crack flaws to determine the optimum integrity re-assessment date prior to their growth to a critical level.
NY Farmers' Group Proposes Gas Well Fracking Using Propane
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A group of five farm families is seeking a state permit for a natural gas well using gelled propane instead of water for fracking, thus avoiding New York's ban on high-volume hydraulic fracturing. The Snyder Farm Group is seeking to develop a 53-acre natural gas well in the Tioga County town of Barton, near the Pennsylvania border. A permit application is in the preliminary stage before the Department of Environmental Conservation, a lawyer who represents the company seeking the permit said Thursday.
California Beach to Reopen 2 Months after Oil Spill
GOLETA, Calif. (AP) — A California beach fouled by an oil spill will reopen to swimmers and campers two months after a pipeline ruptured and spewed thousands of gallons of crude along the coast, officials said. State Parks rangers toured the shoreline west of Santa Barbara on Thursday and cleared Refugio State Beach to reopen July 17.
A Call for Crude Oil Exports and Pipelines
The U.S. shale revolution has created jobs, improved the balance of trade, spurred billions of dollars of foreign and domestic investment, reduced carbon emissions and lowered oil and gas prices. From the shale gas fields in Williamsport to the refineries around Philadelphia, new energy technologies have had a profound local impact. This revolution could do even more if the U.S. allowed crude oil exports and expanded its pipeline system.
Carbon Emission Regulations Could Jeopardize LNG Projects
Natural gas is increasingly being viewed as one of the most important sources of fuel in the coming decades. That is why Royal Dutch Shell, an oil major, made a huge bet onLNG when it decided to purchase BG Group, which has major holdings in LNG projects in Australia and East Africa.
Permits Granted for Bakken Pipeline Beneath ND Lake
The North Dakota Public Service Commission unanimous backed a Hess Corp. crude oil pipeline that will run under Lake Sakakawea. The $105 million project will convert an 8-inch pipeline to transfer Bakken crude oil along a 2.4 mile section of pipe buried 6 feet under the lake bottom in 1992.
Enterprise to Build 416-Mile, Texas-Based Pipeline
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. has executed long-term agreements that support development of a 416-mile, 24-inch pipeline to transport crude oil and condensate from the company’s Midland, TX terminal to its Sealy storage facility west of Houston. From Sealy, the new pipeline would link to Enterprise’s ECHO terminal through an interconnect with the Rancho II pipeline, which is scheduled to be in service shortly. Through ECHO, customers will have direct access to every refinery in Houston, Texas City, Beaumont and Port Arthur as well as Enterprise’s dock facilities.
DOEs Gant: Shifting Energy Policy to Stewardship of Abundance
Although we are already 15 years deep into the 21st century and women working at the top rungs of professional life no longer turn heads, when it comes to the “hard” numbers-crunching parts in the global economy – science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) – women still get asked why they selected this way to earn a buck. This same question is occasionally put to Paula Gant, holder of a doctorate degree in economics and the deputy assistant secretary for oil and natural gas in the federal Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy.
House Committee Subpoenas Kerry for Keystone XL Documents
WASHINGTON (AP) — A House of Representatives panel has issued a subpoena to Secretary of State John Kerry for department documents, reports and letters related to the contentious push to build the $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline. Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced the subpoena on Wednesday. The pipeline would transport oil from Canada's tar sands to pipelines linked to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.
Administration Proposes More Safety Valves for Gas Lines
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Obama administration moved Wednesday to significantly expand a requirement for utilities to install inexpensive safety valves on gas lines across the nation following deadly fires and explosions going back decades that officials and safety advocates said could have been avoided. The Transportation Department proposal would cover new or replaced natural gas lines serving multi-family dwellings, small businesses and homes not already covered under a 2009 mandate.
Declining Rig Count in U.S. Tight Formations
The count for both horizontal and vertical rigs in U.S tight formations has declining drastically from October 2014. This article discuss the declining rig count in the seven major Energy Information Administration (EIA) U.S. oil and natural gas regions.
Summer Gas Prices in the Northeast: Why So Low? Why So Unpredictable?
As summer approaches, there are two things to know about natural gas prices in the New York/New England area. First, it is a difficult time to predict gas price movements in the Northeast. But in general, prices are down – and are likely to stay that way for this summer. It’s hard to predict prices because there are a lot of new and unpredictable supply-and-demand dynamics across the country that are particularly pronounced in the Northeast. For instance, the explosion of shale gas production in the Marcellus and Utica shale regions.
Tall Oak Midstream Expands Service in Oklahomas STACK Play
Tall Oak Midstream, LLC is constructing an oil gathering, storage and transportation system to serve producers in Oklahoma’s Sooner Trend (STACK) play. Tall Oak is already gathering and processing natural gas on its STACK system for multiple customers. Anchored by a long-term agreement with Felix Energy, LLC, the system will connect to multiple downstream pipelines that provide direct access to the market center at Cushing, OK. Tall Oak expects to bring the system into service later this year.
EIA: Annual Energy Outlook Through 2040
The latest Annual Energy Outlook 2015 (AEO2015) prepared by the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) presents long-term annual projections of energy supply, demand and prices through 2040. This analysis focuses on six scenarios: a reference case, low and high economic growth cases, low and high oil price cases, and the high oil and gas resource case.
Canadas Carbon Emissions Rules Spark Hope for Keystone
TransCanada Corp. has written to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arguing that new Canadian rules on emissions should persuade him to approve the construction of the much-delayed Keystone XL pipeline. The proposed $6.4 billion project would carry an estimated 830,000 bpd of Canadian crude oil per from Hardisty, Alberta, to Steele City, NE, then link up with Keystone’s existing line, which would take the oil on the final leg to the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico.
Environmentalists Want California to Stop Offshore Fracking
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Environmentalists called on California Gov. Jerry Brown to halt plans for months of hydraulic fracturing in the waters off Southern California, warning that it could lead to chemical pollution or an oil spill. State regulators this month approved nine permits for operator Thums Long Beach Co. for so-called fracking operations between August and December in Long Beach Harbor.
In The News: EPA Says Fracking Not Widespread Problem in Drinking Water
The federal Environmental Protection Agency on June 4 released a much-anticipated study of whether hydraulic fracturing contaminates drinking water supplies, concluding that while there have been some cases of contamination, the issue is not widespread.
Gulf States Reach $18.7 Billion Settlement with BP over Oil Spill
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Officials in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana announced an $18.7 billion settlement with BP on Thursday that resolves years of litigation over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The settlement announcement comes as a federal judge was preparing to rule on how much BP owed in federal Clean Water Act penalties after millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf. Individual states also were pursuing litigation. Most of those penalties were to be distributed among the states for environmental and economic restoration projects along the Gulf Coast.
Sunoco Logistics Plans Pipeline to Marcus Hook
Sunoco Logistics Partners announced June 4 plans to build an additional pipeline to deliver Marcellus Shale products to Marcus Hook, reflecting a growing market for liquid fuels derived from the region's shale drilling. <em>The Philadelphia Inquirer reported</em> Sunoco Logistics said it intends to build two pipelines simultaneously as part of its Mariner East 2 project. The project, announced in November, is the second phase of a plan to move materials including propane, butane, and ethane from Appalachian shale-gas fields to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex southwest of Philadelphia.
Wood Group Wins Onshore Pipeline Work for Origin Energy
Wood Group has secured a $1 million contract with Origin Energy to provide detailed design engineering for the onshore pipelines related to the Halladale, Black Watch & Speculant (HBWS) Natural Gas Project in South West Victoria, Australia. The HBWS gas fields are located in the offshore Otway Basin in Victoria but due to their proximity to shore, and to avoid sensitive marine environments, they are being drilled using extended reach drilling (ERD) techniques from onshore location and tied back to the existing Otway Gas Plant.
Analysis: Williams Takeover Bid Portends Moves to Come
In the wake of Energy Transfer Enterprises’ (ETE) thus far unsuccessful takeover bid of Williams Cos., some in the industry are predicting more of the same type of activity as cheap energy spurs stronger companies to look for less sound rivals to gobble up.
California Oil Spill Gushed Like Hose 'Without a Nozzle'
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters investigating a reported petroleum stench at a California beach last month didn't take long to find a spill — oil was spreading across the sand and into the surf. Tracing the source, they found crude gushing from a bluff like a fire hose "without a nozzle," records show.
Colombia's President Blasts Rebels for Causing Oil Spill
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — President Juan Manuel Santos says an oil spill triggered by a rebel attack on a pipeline the worst environmental disaster in Colombia's history. Santos made the comments Friday while visiting the southern port city of Tumaco to survey damage from the June 22 bombing by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
Magellan, LBC to Build Terminal, Pipeline Infrastructure on Gulf Coast
Magellan Midstream Partnersand LBC Tank Terminals, LLC ("LBC") announced they formed a 50/50 limited liability company. Seabrook Logistics, to own and operate crude oil storage and pipeline infrastructure in the Houston Gulf Coast area. The assets will include more than 700,000 bbls of new crude oil storage and other distribution infrastructure located adjacent to LBC’s existing terminal in Seabrook. In addition, the JV will build an 18-inch pipeline, which will connect the new storage to an existing third-party pipeline that will transport crude oil to a Houston-area refinery.
European Regulators Clear Siemens' Buyout of Dresser-Rand
NEW YORK (AP) — European regulators have cleared Siemens' $7.6 billion acquisition of the U.S. oilfield equipment-maker Dresser-Rand. The German electronics and engineering company is beefing up its global oil and gas and power generation businesses, seeing growth opportunities in Dresser-Rand's portfolio of compressors, steam and gas turbines and engines. The deal is scheduled to close on June 30. Siemens AG has agreed to pay $83 per common share of Dresser-Rand, which has a market capitalization of $6.12 billion. The deal includes assumption of debt.
US Capacity to Refine Crude into Products Reaches 18 MMbpd, EIA Says
Increased refinery runs, based on increases in both capacity and use, have helped accommodate increases in U.S. crude oil production. The United States' capacity to refine crude oil into petroleum products – measured as operable atmospheric crude distillation unit (CDU) capacity – increased by 0.2% in 2014, reaching 18 MMbpd, according to EIA's annual Refinery Capacity Report.
- Williams' $1 Billion Gas Pipeline Blocked by U.S. Appeals Court, Derailing Five-State Project
- Texas Waha Hub Gas Prices Plunge to Record Lows, Hit Negative Territory
- U.S. Buys Nearly 5 Million Barrels of Oil for Emergency Stockpile
- U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down Controversial Biden Pipeline Safety Rules
- Texas Oil Pipelines Near Max Capacity, Threatening Future Export Limits
- Report: Houston Region Poised to Become a Global Clean Hydrogen Hub
- Exxon Mobil to Start Gas Reserve Seismic Surveys in Greece
- LaPorte, Texas, Issues Shelter in Place After Altivia Plant Leaks Toxic Gas
- Texas Startup Endeavors Again to Build First Major U.S. Oil Refinery Since 1977
- Mid-Year Global Forecast: Midstream Responding to Demand from LNG Projects
