May 2014, Vol. 241, No. 5

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL), which is upgrading its more than 11,000- km pipeline grid after 40 years of operation, has contracted for more than 2.4 million square meters of pipeline coating from DENSO GmbH Germany.

Advertisers from the print edition of Pipeline & Gas Journal, May 2014, Vol. 241 No. 5.

TMK-IPSCO, the American Division of global pipe manufacturer TMK, will reduce the number of operating hours used to produce welded pipe at its Blytheville, AR, Camanche, IA and Wilder, KY plants. In addition, the 8-inch welded pipe mill at Wilder will be idled. In total, the number of operating hours at TMK IPSCO’s welded pipe plants will be reduced by 30%.

Well, no one ever said it was going to be easy trying to persuade the public that natural gas is indeed the fuel of choice for years to come because of its low cost, reliability, abundance and environmental benefits.

Many utilities are expanding portfolios of power generation assets, and as older coal-fired plants retire, utilities are deciding what must replace them. While some older plants are candidates for retrofitting to natural gas, others will be forced to shut down.

That so many Americans found themselves without enough propane to heat their homes adequately this winter can be attributed to several factors. Oddly enough, though, experts agree none of these involve an actual shortage of fuel.

As master limited partnerships (MLPs) come to dominate the midstream business, the people who helm them must understand not only the intricacies of gas and liquids extraction and transportation, but the financial methods and strategies that drive their firms’ investment and market success. One way to gain that knowledge is from a career path with plenty of unexpected turns.

For more than a half century the state of Louisiana has been one of North America’s largest natural gas producers and home to a pipeline grid that is the crossroads of the industry.

IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol synthesized the agency’s 2013 World Energy Outlook and his own analysis to suggest that for the next 20 years, low energy costs caused by the early and plentiful development of shale gas and energy infrastructure will give the United States a large competitive advantage over other nations when it comes to attracting and developing business.

David J. Devine, president of central regional natural gas pipelines for Kinder Morgan, is 2014 chairman of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA). A graduate of Rice University in Houston, he outlined his priorities and goals for Pipeline & Gas Journal, including gas and electricity reliability, regulatory and legislative issues facing the industry and the need to provide continuing education and outreach to public and private sector stakeholders.

In recent months, MarkWest Energy Partners has commenced operations of seven major infrastructure projects in the Northeast, including five new cryogenic processing plants totaling 1 Bcf/d of capacity and two fractionation facilities totaling 98,000 bpd of C2+ fractionation capacity.

A combination of environmental and safety concerns elevated in recent years has made the chase to corral and eventually eliminate methane leaks from the nation’s natural gas infrastructure a budding crusade.

The utility construction market, and particularly the distribution and transmission pipeline construction market, are exceptionally healthy and the overall mood and perspective of contractors is one of great optimism.

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.

In recent years as the natural gas business has changed, so have the associations that work and support the utility industry. But one focus has never changed: the commitment to safety, whether it is on-the-job or in the delivery of products to the end consumer.

The term “hazard analyses” is intended to cover a number of team-based assessment methodologies, including hazard identification (HAZID), hazard and operability (HAZOP), “what-ifs” and checklists. The collective intent of these methodologies is to minimize risk to acceptable or “practicable,” levels.

The U.S. and Canada will require annual average midstream natural gas, crude oil and natural gas liquids midstream infrastructure investment of nearly $30 billion per year, or $641 billion (real US$2012) total over the 22-year period from 2014 to 2035, a new study found.

For the fourth year in a row, analysts at Capacity Center reported the total volume of natural gas pipeline capacity traded by the top 20 companies increased over the previous year – this time by a “remarkable” 106%, topping 15.8 Bcf/d.

When we graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1968, the American oil industry was in the midst of a boom. Domestic crude production had increased every year for nearly a decade, and Texas was the world’s swing oil producer, providing our nation with important strategic flexibility.

Well-organized workforce housing can be a valuable partner for companies pursuing their sustainable development goals, as well as a component of long-term profitability.

Methane, the major ingredient of natural gas (98% plus), is getting more heat than just from the sun’s radiation! Considered a greenhouse gas (GHG) because of its ability to absorb heat and transfer it to affect the earth’s climate, methane is getting federal and state government as well as civic attention.

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.

Birmingham, AL-based Energen Corporation will sell its natural gas utility business, Alabama Gas Corporation (Alagasco), to The Laclede Group, Inc. The value of the transaction is $1.6 billion, comprised of $1.28 billion cash and $320 million of debt.

The natural gas industry performed reliably in the face of colder than normal temperatures and numerous record-setting demand days this winter, the industry’s Natural Gas Council (NGC) said. Freezing temperatures frequently covered large portions of the U.S. at once, placing exponentially greater pressure on peak-day demand for natural gas, with little recovery time between cold spells.

PECO continues to expand its natural gas system, celebrating the significant milestone of providing natural gas service to more than 500,000 customers in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced that the Gulf of Mexico Lease Sale 231, held March 19, 2014, garnered $872,143,771 in high bids on 329 tracts covering 1,707,358 acres.

Malaysia's upstream segment could see good days ahead in the short-to-medium term as the completion of both greenfield and brownfield developments brings new volumes of oil and gas online, Business Monitor predicted in a new report.

Failures of installed pipes, umbilicals and cables during installation can potentially lead to higher costs for the oil and gas industry and delayed start-ups. There are no standards or recommended practices that address analysis methodology related to the laying of such products.

Enable Midstream Partners’ crude services subsidiary has entered into a long-term agreement with XTO Energy Inc., a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., for XTO’s crude oil production through a system that will be constructed in North Dakota’s Bakken Shale.

Enbridge Inc. plans to replace Line 3, a 1,031-mile, 34-inch pipeline that has been in operation since 1968 and is one of six crude oil pipeline that comprise the its mainline system.

Coastal GasLink filed an environmental assessment application that is now in a 180-day public review period for the proposed 400-mile Coastal GasLink project.

At the recent EU-U.S. summit in Brussels, Belgium, European leaders asked President Obama to share the nation’s shale gas bonanza with Europe by speeding gas exports to help counter the stranglehold Russia has on the continent's energy needs.

The Federal Coordinator’s Office for Alaska Natural Gas Line projects has posted a new web page on its site to provide an easily accessible collection of public information on the proposed Alaska liquefied natural gas project.

Douglas-Westwood’s new World Floating Production Market Report forecasts that between 2014 and 2018 $99 billion will be spent on floating production systems (FPS) – an increase of 138% over the preceding five-year period.

Pieridae Energy (Canada) Ltd. has received environmental assessment (EA) approval for its proposed Goldboro LNG project in Nova Scotia.

Hiland Crude, LLC recently held an open season to solicit shipper interest for crude oil transportation service involving an expansion of its 488-mile Double H Pipeline that is under construction. An initial open season was held in 2012 for the base capacity.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. announced it will build and operate a new, 213-mile, 16-inch pipeline to transport carbon dioxide (CO-2) from the company’s St. Johns source field in Apache County, AZ to the Kinder Morgan-operated Cortez Pipeline in Torrance County, NM.

Magellan Midstream Partners, LP received sufficient commitments during its recent open season to move into the next phase for its potential pipeline to Little Rock, AR. The partnership continues to finalize the scope and engineering estimates for this potential project, which may include using an existing third-party pipeline for a portion of the route.

Medallion Pipeline Company, LLC closed a successful binding open season for its proposed crude oil pipeline, the Wolfcamp Connector, as well as for the southward extension of the proposed Reagan Gathering Extension.

Paradigm Energy Partners, LLC has executed a gathering contract that will anchor the build-out of an expansive gathering system extending from the Charleson Field of northern McKenzie County, ND, south to market take-away in and around Johnson's Corner.

Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) is moving forward with a series of heavy oil developments in the Orinoco Oil Belt that will allow a significant increase in production while requiring the development of massive new infrastructure, Ruben Figuera, director of new developments in the Orinoco Oil Belt, told the World Heavy Oil Congress 2014 in New Orleans.

PennTex Midstream Partners, LLC has signed two separate midstream transactions to build two gathering and processing platforms in the Permian Basin and Northern Louisiana.

South Stream Transport B.V. CEO Oleg Aksyutin and Saipem Senior Vice President Stefano Bianchi, have entered into contracts for constructing the first of the four offshore lines of the South Stream gas pipeline.

Southcross Energy Partners has acquired natural gas pipelines near Corpus Christi, TX along with related contracts. The purchase price is about $40 million. The pipelines were acquired from Onyx Midstream, LP and Onyx Pipeline Co.

Technip has inked a contract with Abu Dhabi Marine Operating Company (ADMA-OPCO) for project management consultancy services for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) phases of the Zakum Oil Lines Replacement Project-Phase 1 (ZKOL) off Abu Dhabi.

Applied Natural Gas Fuels, Inc. has purchased 31 acres of land in the RailPort Business Park in Midlothian, TX to build a multi-liquefier LNG production platform previously announced in September 2013.

Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. has entered into agreements with Petrobras to provide well intervention services off Brazil.

Ukraine and Poland are in talks to extend the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline to Plock, Poland.

UTEC Survey (Australia) Pty Ltd was awarded a contract by Saipem for offshore survey and positioning services during the pre-lay, lay and post-lay installation of a 42-inch, 889-km pipeline that will connect the INPEX operated Ichthys LNG project’s offshore central processing facility situated 200 km off the coast of Western Australia with its onshore gas processing plant near Darwin in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Williams Partners L.P. is moving ahead with key construction milestones and progress on a tieback expansion as its proprietary Gulfstar FPS (Floating Production System) nears completion in the eastern deepwater Gulf of Mexico. The Gulfstar One project is the first spar-based floating production system with major components built entirely in the United States.

Williams Partners’ Transco reported a key regulatory milestone on two related projects designed to increase natural gas delivery capacity to Brooklyn and Queens in time for next winter’s heating season.

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.

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