February 2013, Vol. 240 No. 2

ArcLight Capital Partners LLC announced formation of North Sea Midstream Partners (NSMP) and the acquisition by NSMP of Teesside Gas Processing Plant Ltd.

Following the setup of AS-Schneider Asia-Pacific in Singapore in 2011, the Armaturenfabrik Franz Schneider GmbH + Co. KG opened another company, AS-Schneider Middle East FZE, in Dubai in late 2012.

Late last year, an agreement was reached to merge Det Norske Veritas (DNV) and GL Noble Denton.

Advertisers from the print edition of Pipeline & Gas Journal, February 2013, Vol. 240, No. 2.

Texas Medical Center, Jan. 8—-I’m laying here in the middle of the night high up in St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital hooked to an IV and other gadgets monitoring my vitals. It is raining as I stare into the shrouded mist that blankets this vast complex.

People usually laugh when I tell them I chase pigs for a living. But the truth is that it’s very serious business - one which I have been perfecting for more than 25 years. I’ve tracked pigs in all kinds of pipelines, all over the world, and over the years I have seen all kinds of crazy things happen with pigs in pipelines. Probably the most important thing I’ve learned would be to expect the unexpected.

Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNRL), founded in 1989 and headquartered in Calgary, possesses a diversified combination of assets in North America, the North Sea and offshore Africa and is the largest independent crude oil and natural gas producer in Canada.

Your geologists found natural gas hiding thousands of feet underground. Your legal team negotiated rights of way with landowners. Your drilling team went down a mile or so, made a horizontal turn and “fracked” the shale bed, releasing the gas. Your well is producing. So now what?

Ensuring the stability and protection of critical infrastructure is essential to the nation's public health and safety, security, economic strength and way of life. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently revealed a rash of cyber attacks on natural gas pipeline companies.

Thinking about cyber and energy goes back to a great myth, which may or may not be true. It has long been rumored that agents of the Soviet government illegally obtained an industrial control computer by clandestine means from a Canadian manufacturer in the 1980s.

Oil and gas pipelines provide a significant amount of America’s energy demands. Like most energy infrastructure, pipelines rely on Industrial Control Systems (ICS), including Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, that function on computerized and communication networks. As a result, these networks present vulnerability and can be targets of cyber threats.

Good Human Machine Interface (HMI) design is essential to maximizing the value of a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. As SCADA and instrumentation technology has advanced, it has become easier and less costly to add information to the displays.

The determination of hydrocarbon dew point (HCDP), the temperature at a defined pressure at which hydrocarbon liquids begin to form, has become critical for the natural gas industry. A big reason is that producers are focusing on extracting heavier gases in traditional and shale plays in an effort to produce more profitable natural gas liquids (NGLs) rather than the natural gas that is selling at historical lows. This has increased the risk of hydrocarbon liquids entering or forming in gas transmission networks if this rich gas is not processed fully.

The Secret War: Stuxnet, Duqu And Flame The highly complex computer worm called Stuxnet, targeted at sophisticated industrial control systems, was first identified in July 2010. The arrival of Stuxnet changed everything . . . it was a harbinger of the shape of things to come.

Natural gas production levels in 2012 will establish a new record for the third straight year. Year-over-year production growth has slowed from 2010 and 2011 levels, but it has not reversed. Production growth is forecast to continue into 2013. Additional production growth also is expected in 2014.

The Association of Oil Pipe Lines (AOPL) wants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) fix a brewing dispute threatening billions of dollars in infrastructure projects.

The management of complex gas and oil pipeline systems demands constant, reliable system-wide control. Typically this is accomplished with system-wide monitoring and control using sophisticated System Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) equipment.

For many years, pipeline operators have been required to communicate safety information to emergency officials; however, actually making a difference with this type of communication is dependent upon the driver behind the effort. Is the operator merely checking the box to meet a compliance requirement or is the operator effectively communicating the right information to the right people in a timely manner?

Traditional satellite communications have had a stigma of being expensive and requiring large, power-hungry terminals that are complex to integrate with your applications.

“Energy firms have spent vast sums on the security of their information systems, but they must reorient from a reactive, tactical posture regarding intrusions and attacks to a more strategic, holistic view that expands beyond the categorization of the issue as only an IT problem."

It’s a mouthful (take a deep breath), but the mission of the Energy Telecommunications and Electrical Association (“ENTELEC”) is to advance knowledge and ideas concerning the engineering, design, construction, maintenance, administration, and operations of telecommunications, automation, electric power, information processing systems, and other electrical and electronic facilities employed in the energy industry.

A final rule meant to limit pipeline damage from excavation should be made final this summer. Two advisory committees voted approval and authorized changes to the proposed rule the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued in April 2012. Many of the changes appeared designed to toughen requirements on excavators.

The INGAA Foundation Inc. has released Construction Safety Consensus Guidelines designed to cover common natural gas construction operations such as basic personal protection equipment (PPE), pressure testing, overhead utilities safety, and trenching and excavation.

Chevron Corporation’s indirect Canadian subsidiary, Chevron Canada Limited, will acquire a 50% operating interest in the Kitimat LNG project and proposed Pacific Trail Pipeline and a 50% interest in 644,000 acres of petroleum and natural gas rights in the Horn River and Liard Basins in British Columbia.

Enterprise Products Partners L.P. affiliate Panola Pipeline Company LLC held a binding open season that ended Jan. 11, seeking shipper support for a proposed expansion of the Carthage-to-Lufkin segment of its NGL pipeline system.

A landmark gas-supply agreement with Germany signed last month by Statoil put the challenges facing Gazprom's business model in the spotlight, one of many recent setbacks for Russia’s largest company that experts see as signs of its diminishing power.

Over the past decade, Florida Power & Light (FPL) has reduced its use of oil by 98% by investing in new, highly efficient power plants that use U.S.-produced natural gas as a fuel to produce electricity. In 2001, FPL used more than 40 MMbbls of oil to power customers; in 2012, the company will use less than 1 MMbbls.

Iraq could develop its oil and gas infrastructure quickly enough to dominate Middle Eastern energy output within 18 years, according to a poll of industry professionals at a recent energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

LNG connsumption by Japan's 10 regional power utilities rose 15% last year as almost all the country's nuclear plants stayed shut. Power companies used an average 7.55 Bcf/d in 2012, up from 6.55 Bcf/d in 2011. LNG consumption increased by 20% in 2011.

Magellan Midstream Partners, L.P. launched an open season to assess firm customer interest to transport crude oil originating from the partnership’s Galena Park, TX terminal.

A McDermott International, Inc. subsidiary has signed a contract for the design and construction of a new high-spec, dynamically positioned combination S-Lay vessel with a 2,000-ton crane.

NuStar Energy extended its Niobrara Falls Open Season to Feb. 15 as it assesses interest in firm priority space to transport crude petroleum from the Niobrara Shale near Platteville and Watkins, CO to Wichita Falls, TX. The Niobrara Falls Project would be capable of transporting Permian and Granite Wash crude petroleum delivered into NuStar’s Dixon, TX tank farm.

Late last year, final work was being performed on the Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline Company LLC’s Seaway Pipeline expansion to increase capacity from 150,000 bpd to 400,000 bpd.

Sempra Energy has reached an important milestone to add natural gas liquefaction and export facilities to its existing Cameron LNG terminal in Hackberry, LA, filing its permit application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting approval to begin project construction.

Shell confirmed Jan. 7 that its Arctic-class drilling unit, the Kulluk, was safely towed to a safe harbor on Kodiak Island in the Gulf of Alaska where it will undergo a thorough safety assessment before resuming its journey to its winter harbor for repairs and maintenance.

Technip was awarded by the Discovery System a lump sum pipeline installation contract for Discovery’s South Timbalier Block 283 Junction Platform project in the Gulf of Mexico.

TransCanada has been selected by Progress Energy Canada Ltd. to design, build, own and operate the proposed $5 billion Prince Rupert Gas Transmission project.

Transneft plans to shortly open the country's first oil pipeline to reach the Pacific coast in a bid to widen Russia's supply to Asian markets.

Transocean Ltd. has reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to resolve certain outstanding civil and potential criminal claims against the company arising from the April 20, 2010, accident involving the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico.

Trelleborg Marine Systems was been awarded three contracts to supply docking and mooring equipment and monitoring software to all three liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects on Queensland’s Curtis Island: Queensland Curtis LNG, Gladstone LNG and Australia Pacific LNG.

Williams Partners’ Transco pipeline has filed an application with FERC to provide another natural gas delivery point from its Transco pipeline to New York City.

As technical and maintenance staffs shrink at manufacturing operations in North America and around the world, more industry clients are turning to Control System Integrators Association (CSIA) to run their operations more efficiently.

Flexovit's NEW Black Gold program has been engineered to offer superior benefits, performance AND cost reduction.

Consolidate your real-time and historical data collection into one application, KEPServerEX. KEPServerEX enables improved operations and decision making by providing real-time data to SCADA systems, as well as EFM output to validation and accounting systems.

The Limeco “EZ” is designed to tightly control the set point of a nitrogen loaded surge relief valve.