November 2015, Vol. 242, No. 11

Advertisers from the print edition of Pipeline & Gas Journal, November 2015, Vol. 242, No. 11

As President Obama smugly twiddles his thumbs and decides when he’ll put Keystone out of its misery, sides are being taken, mostly along political lines, in the real debate that will decide the fate of the domestic oil industry: ending the outdated 1975 ban on crude oil exports. Obama, of course, sees no need to lift the ban, though he says he might reconsider IF the oil industry gives up its tax breaks. As one expected, Hillary Clinton, presumptive Democratic nominee for president, also opposes ending the ban.

This has been a busy year of new challenges and issues facing the Appalachian oil and gas industry as rig count in the Appalachian Basin and elsewhere is down substantially compared to the previous two years. A significant challenge ahead for shale developers in a lower price environment is to continue to be active in finding land, drilling wells and getting the natural resource to market. This article concerns our most recent report, published in May, on the issues and challenges facing midstream operators in the Appalachian Basin.

Company & Association News Association News Ganesan (Subbu) Subbaraman joined the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) as the first member of the newly launched Fellowship Program.

Pipelines have been established for many years as the simplest and most economical way to transport high quantities of natural gas over long distances, moving gas from new shale fields and other production sources to LNG stations, local utilities, industrial plants and natural gas–fired electric power plants. Natural gas pipelines only consume an average of 2-3% of the gas’s potential energy to overcome frictional losses along the route, making them more cost-effective than the use of road or rail transport.

Federal officials want tighter safety rules for pipelines carrying crude oil, gasoline and other hazardous liquids after a series of ruptures that included the costliest onshore oil spill in the nation’s history in Michigan.

The U.S. midstream oil and gas construction industry has experienced tremendous growth over the past decade, forcing industry stakeholders from across the nation to work together under extreme environmental conditions, compressed project schedules, persistent labor fluctuations and ongoing cost pressures.

INGAA CEO Don Santa showed increasing frustration with PHMSA’s continued failure to move forward with important pipeline safety regulations. At Senate hearings Sept. 29, he said gas transmission pipelines are hesitant to make extensive safety investments now since those investments could be proved inadequate or wrong-headed once PHMSA finally publishes an upcoming safety rule containing numerous changes dictated by the 2011 Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act.

Geophysical surveys can be the bedrock – pardon the pun – of environmental projects, from locating abandoned underground storage tanks (USTs) and utilities, to complex mapping of geology in remedial investigations and finding landfill boundaries and other buried unknown problems.

The frustrations of an oversupplied LNG market and low prices were evident as about 100 LNG buyers, sellers, lenders, advisers and goods and services suppliers gathered in London earlier this fall. “How do you plan your business in an environment like that,” said David Ledesma, managing director of South-Court Ltd., a UK-based oil and gas consultancy. “How are you going to go out and make final investment decisions?”

There are about 3.5 million kilometers of oil and gas pipelines worldwide needing regular cleaning, inspection and maintenance, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA).

Just months after a pipeline rupture dumped 20,000 gallons of oil into the ocean on Oct. 8 near Santa Barbara, CA, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a package of bills aimed at preventing and better responding to future spills. Brown said he signed the bills “in order to more fully protect our inland and coastal communities and environments from the harm of oil spills.”

Latin America’s prominence on the world gas stage has increased over the last several years. Although it is well-endowed with natural gas resources, the region has struggled to find its footing as both a natural gas producer and consumer. Consequently, Latin America’s potential as a natural gas import province is the topic of increasingly animated debate.

Any inspection device used internally must be introduced into the pipeline to be investigated. This implies that the line is accessible. “Piggable” lines need suitable launchers and receivers and are generally inspected in a unidirectional mode. If tool traps are not available or suitable, access has to be achieved via other means. Accessibility can be achieved through technical and/or procedural means.

Natural gas markets have gone topsy-turvy. Until recently, prices around the country were generally pretty similar, with gas costing a bit more in the Northeast, far from where it was produced on the Gulf of Mexico coast. But that reality has changed dramatically in the last few years.

The development of North America’s unconventional oil and gas resources has brought new life to the region’s midstream sector. The infrastructure necessary to gather and transport commodities to resurgent downstream and chemicals sectors, new gas-fired power generation, and other new demand requires investment approaching a trillion dollars by some estimates.

In the gridlock of first-quarter 2015 earnings conference calls last spring, Doug Suttles, CEO at Alberta-based Encana Corp., talked bullishly about the Canadian energy company’s production growth prospects. This while in the midst of reporting a $1.7 billion loss for the quarter tied to a $1.2 billion impairment charge brought on by last year’s global oil price crash and another $500 million of red ink coming from a foreign exchange loss. Regardless, Suttles couldn’t have been more upbeat when he talked to analysts in mid-May.

The Pipeline & Gas Journal 35th Annual 500 Report is the industry’s most comprehensive listing of U.S. energy pipeline systems. As in past years, the report ranks gas distribution, liquids and gas transmission systems. Gas transmission companies are listed by total miles of pipe. Gas distribution operators by number of customers and liquids pipelines by total crude oil and products delivered.

Oil and gas engineers face a major problem in accurately and reliably measuring and monitoring the various fluids that are introduced into oil pipelines from well site pumping stations. A thorough understanding of both the oil separation process and the properties of valves and actuators is required to correctly specify a system that will sufficiently measure and monitor these various types of fluids. Also, the conditions downstream from each well are different, requiring valves and actuators to be highly customized to their specific role in the process.

As winter approaches, the hot topic of conversation in the Northeast once again becomes the looming frigid temperatures and accompanying burdensome cost of heating homes and offices along with powering manufacturing plants. With this in mind, the Access Northeast project developers plan to upgrade existing pipeline facilities and market area storage assets in New England to deliver – on peak days – up to 1 Bcf/d of natural gas for electric-generation markets.

Statoil has begun production of the world’s first subsea gas compression facility at the Åsgard field in the Norwegian Sea. The facility features two MAN Diesel & Turbo HOFIM compressor units which were supplied to Statoil’s contractor Aker Solutions. It consists of modules for two identical sets of compressors, pumps, scrubbers and coolers fitted together in a 1,800-metric ton steel frame.

Rob Gardner, manager of Economics & Energy Division Corporate Strategic Planning Department Exxon Mobil Corporation. Rob graduated from Louisiana State University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering and began working for Mobil Oil in Louisiana in a series of technical and supervisory engineering positions in gas plants along the United States Gulf Coast. From 1987 to 1990, Rob moved to Mobil Natural Gas and began working in the new expanding natural gas marketing organization and took part in the growing deregulations of United States gas markets.

Four major U.S. companies – Dominion, Duke Energy, Piedmont Natural Gas and AGL Resources – formed Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC to build a $5 billion interstate natural gas pipeline. The 564-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) will be capable of delivering up to 1.5 MMbcf/d of gas that will be used to generate electricity, heat homes and run local businesses in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Dakota Access Pipeline, LLC has awarded Michels Pipeline Construction, a Division of Michels Corporation, and Precision Pipeline, LLC construction contracts for multiple segments along the 1,134-mile Dakota Access Pipeline. Once completed, the project will transport light sweet crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks production areas in North Dakota to Patoka, IL where shippers will be able to access multiple markets, including Midwest, East Coast and Gulf Coast regions.

Rockies Express Pipeline selected Quanta Services to provide turnkey engineering, procurement and construction services for the REX Zone Three Capacity Enhancement Project. Quanta subsidiaries QPS Engineering and Price Gregory International will play key roles in the project, which includes installing three new compressor stations and upgrading of two existing stations.

Vallourec has deliveries totaling 14,000 tons of premium tubes in the scope of a contract with Hess Corp. for the Stampede project in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Stampede is a deepwater subsea development located in the Green Canyon Block area, 115 miles south of Fourchon, LA.

UTEC Survey was recently hired to provide a positioning solution for the installation of a monopod liquid natural gas platform and 30-km, 10-inch LNG pipeline for a major operation located in Alaska’s Cook Inlet. Twenty-four field personnel were mobilized and engaged with Coda Octopus Products for use of their Echoscope technology to provide positioning and survey services for five vessels.

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