Technology/R&D
Novel Solution to Fracking Wastewater Could Keep Everyone Happy
Water used for fracking has always been a headache for the oil industry but now, thanks to new technology being developed in the United States, produced water – H2O used in the process of oil and gas extraction – could soon be recovered and used to power the operation or be put back into the grid, saving operators a bundle. Critics of fracking have long pointed to the prodigious use of water in the fracking process as one of the reasons to be against the controversial procedure, which props open layers of shale rock in order to let the oil or gas hydrocarbons flow into the well bore.
World News: Report Outlines Climate Framework, Spending
Development of a clear climate framework and a global emissions target is essential if $48-53 trillion for a new sustainable energy infrastructure is to be delivered, according to a new report from the World Energy Council. The findings are discussed in the fifth edition of the energy leaders’ dialogue series, the World Energy Trilemma Report, ‘Priority actions on climate change and how to balance the energy trilemma,’ released by the World Energy Council and project partner Oliver Wyman, along with the Global Risk Centre of its parent Marsh & McLennan Companies.
Offshore News: McDermott Awarded 12 Jacket Order for Saudi Fields
McDermott International, Inc. was awarded a large brownfield contract by Saudi Aramco for the engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) of twelve jackets for offshore oil and gas fields in Saudi Arabian waters. Engineering and procurement is expected to be performed by McDermott’s teams in Dubai, and Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. The jackets are scheduled for fabrication by McDermott’s Dubai, U.A.E.-based fabrication facility.
Best Practices for Mitigating Flow Measurement Errors Associated with Hydrate Formation
Operating pipelines at high pressure and low temperature can lead to natural gas hydrate formation, even with modest water content. Hydrate formation is also a growing concern as flow measurement equipment and operators become more accustomed to handling wet gas flow. Hydrate particles can attach to pipe walls, instruments, and other structures within the pipeline, which can then lead to gas measurement errors or instrument failure due to solid particle attachment or high-velocity impacts.
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.
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.
Wireless Field Measurement Takes Next Step
For process monitoring applications, the wireless revolution has come of age. Particularly in the upstream sector, oil and gas operations have fully realized the value proposition advertised by manufacturers. Wireless transmitters are now very commonly applied to measurements of level, pressure and temperature at compressors, gathering lines, separators, rod pumps and well-head “trees.” Wireless instruments have proved to be cost-effective, reliable, safe, secure, simple and environmentally friendly.
Regulators Ask Appalachian Power to Keep Up Infrastructure at Closed Plant
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia regulators have asked Appalachian Power to maintain infrastructure at a closed coal-fired power plant that could one day be used to convert the facility to natural gas. Fully demolishing the Kanawha River Plant would rule out such a conversion, the Public Service Commission said in an order issued Tuesday. "We're just starting to understand the implications of the order," Appalachian Power spokeswoman Jeri Matheney said Wednesday. "We're going to have look at these costs and the feasibility of complying with the order."
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.
Cyber-Threat Puts Oil and Gas Majors on Edge
The massive cyber-breach of the U.S. Government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) systems is the latest in a string of high-profile cyber-attacks in the last couple of years.
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.
PA11 Pipe to Connect Landfill Gas to Local Distributor
Arkema Inc., Georg Fischer Central Plastics LLC, and BioResource Development LLC (BRD) have partnered on a project to install a polyamide 11 (PA11) piping system to connect landfill gas to the local gas distribution system near Omaha, NE.
Major Pipeline Operators to Evaluate Aerial-based Safety Technologies
Three of North America’s largest pipeline operators - Enbridge Pipelines Inc., TransCanada Corporation, and Kinder Morgan Canada - have signed a Joint Industry Partnership (JIP) agreement to conduct research into aerial-based leak detection technologies, in the interest of enhancing across-the-board pipeline safety.
External Corrosion Mapping, Anomaly Assessment Using Eddy Currents
Evaluating pipeline anomalies remains a vital task in the pipeline industry. Properly identifying, assessing, and repairing defects is crucial in ensuring public and environmental safety. Recent technological advancements have automated this process and drastically increased its overall efficiency.
Shell Chemical Wins Air Permit for Proposed Marcellus Ethane Plant
MONACA, Pa. (AP) — Shell Chemical has been granted an air quality permit for a proposed petrochemical plant in western Pennsylvania, a step the company called "a critical milestone" as it decides whether to build the multibillion-dollar project along the Ohio River. The state Department of Environmental Protection announced Monday that it had approved the company's air quality plan and several water-related permits for the site in Potter Township, Beaver County.
What's New June 2015
New products and services from Case Construction, Inline Services, TT Technologies, QPS Engineering and more.
Photos of Ruptured West Coast Pipeline Offer Clues of Reason for Leak
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Photos of the pipeline that spilled oil on the Santa Barbara coast show extensive corrosion and provide clues about the cause of the rupture, experts said. Corrosion visible around the crack, coupled with wear documented inside the pipe, led Robert Bea, a civil engineering professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, to believe the pipe burst during a pressure spike when the operator restarted pumps that had failed the morning of the May 19 spill.
Developing Engineering-Based Integrity Programs for Pipelines, Plants
Integrity assessment has always been a part of operations and maintenance activities. As plant piping and pipeline infrastructure has aged, industry first developed basic tools, and as their importance became apparent, these tools improved to meet those increasing needs.
Control Room Management Best Practices
<em>(Editor’s note: This is the second article of two articles.)</em> Pipeline controllers work in an environment with continuous interruptions and distractions. With every new SCADA upgrade there is the potential to increase the amount of information presented on the displays, causing the amount of distraction to grow side by side with industry innovation. Such distractions can become “noise,” confusing or distracting a pipeline controller from making timely decisions that affect the safe operation of the pipeline.
Energy Transfer Partners Building 100 Miles of Rich Gas Pipeline
Energy Transfer Partners has entered into long-term gas gathering, processing, and fractionation agreements with EdgeMarc Energy. To facilitate these agreements, ETP has purchased 20 miles of high-pressure pipeline from EdgeMarc and will build a new cryogenic gas processing plant, a new fractionator and additional gas gathering pipelines.
Developing Engineering-Based Integrity Programs for Pipelines, Plants
Integrity assessment has always been a part of operations and maintenance activities. As plant piping and pipeline infrastructure has aged, industry first developed basic tools, and as their importance became apparent, these tools improved to meet those increasing needs.
Pipeline Firm Told California Oil Spill 'Extremely Unlikely'
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Texas company whose ruptured pipeline created the largest coastal oil spill in California in 25 years had assured the government that a break in the line while possible was "extremely unlikely" and state-of-the-art monitoring could quickly detect possible leaks and alert operators, documents show. Nearly 1,200 pages of records, filed with state regulators by Plains All American Pipeline, detail a range of defenses the company established to guard against crude oil spills and, at the same time, prepare for the worst should a spill occur.
High-Speed Compressors Spawn Need for Better Guidelines
With the growing use of high-speed separable reciprocating compressors in natural gas storage and transmission applications, the Gas Machinery Research Council (GMRC) sees the need for better guidelines and practices to govern the specification, design and application of this class of compression equipment.
Trenchless Technologies Solve Marine Crossing Challenge
Based in Queensland, Australia, the GLNG project involves gas field developments in southeast Queensland and an LNG plant on Curtis Island, near Gladstone. Sanctioned in January 2011, GLNG includes the development of coal seam gas (CSG) resources in the Bowen and Surat Basins, construction of a 420-km underground gas transmission pipeline to Gladstone, and two LNG trains with a combined nameplate capacity of 7.8 mtpa on Curtis Island. The project has an estimated gross capital cost of US$18.5 billion and is on track for first LNG in the second half of 2015.
Whats New: May 2015
New products and services from McElroy, CDI, Blastwrap, ESAB, National Safety Apparel and more.
Accu-Bore Meets Time-Sensitive HDD Project Head On
The job began as a relatively straightforward directionally drilled creek crossing to install 600 feet of steel gas pipe. However, a change in the size of pipe, unexpected site restrictions, difficult soil conditions, and limited hours to work made this project far from routine. It was exactly the type of project suited for California contractor Accu-Bore Directional Drilling, a horizontal directional drilling contractor that also provides engineering services and complete turnkey and design-build capabilities.
Cybersecurity 2015: Connected Pipelines and Proliferation of Threats to Infrastructure
On Aug. 5, 2008, the 1,099-mile-long Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, which is frequently used by many of the world’s largest oil and gas companies to transport crude oil across Europe, exploded outside of Refahiye, Turkey. Shortly after the incident, the ethnic group, known in Western Asia as Kurdish separatists, claimed responsibility for the explosion.
EFM and Real-Time Control Data Considerations
As the worldwide demand for energy drives new investments in oil & gas exploration, production, and transportation, an increased need for visibility into flow measurement across the enterprise comes with it. The market not only requires accurate flow metering for upstream, midstream, and downstream applications, but also needs to be able to access this information across the enterprise.
What's New: April 2015
What's new from Rotork, Ajax TOCCO, Crest Industrial, Transducers Direct, Tulsa Rig Iron and more.
Growing PRCI Membership Tackles Inline Inspection, Regulatory Concerns
Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), which has led the drive for more reliable pipeline technologies since 1952, recently selected new research projects to fund for the coming year. In an energy environment increasingly focused on safety and driven by regulatory concerns, its members chose to concentrate on improving inline inspection (ILI), preventing third-party intrusions along rights-of-way and compiling data that could enable changes from the EPA over compressor pump regulations.
- Trump Aims to Revive 1,200-Mile Keystone XL Pipeline Despite Major Challenges
- Valero Considers All Options, Including Sale, for California Refineries Amid Regulatory Pressure
- ConocoPhillips Eyes Sale of $1 Billion Permian Assets Amid Marathon Acquisition
- ONEOK Agrees to Sell Interstate Gas Pipelines to DT Midstream for $1.2 Billion
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- U.S. LNG Export Growth Faces Uncertainty as Trump’s Tariff Proposal Looms, Analysts Say
- Tullow Oil on Track to Deliver $600 Million Free Cash Flow Over Next 2 Years
- Energy Transfer Reaches FID on $2.7 Billion, 2.2 Bcf/d Permian Pipeline
- GOP Lawmakers Slam New York for Blocking $500 Million Pipeline Project
- Texas Oil Company Challenges $250 Million Insurance Collateral Demand for Pipeline, Offshore Operations
