June 2019, Vol. 246, No. 6

A glimpse at what is ahead for the oil and natural gas industry politically played out in the first quarter of 2019 in Colorado, a state long recognized for its ability to balance energy development, economics and the environment.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, large discoveries of natural gas have been found off the coast of Israel and Egypt earlier in the decade. This together with increased demand for gas across the region are now reshaping both production and market demand, requiring construction of a series of new pipelines and LNG import and export facilities.

Although rich in energy resources, the United States has increasingly adopted a viewpoint that fossil fuel should be eliminated from the clean energy solution. The industry has been singularly targeted, grouping all fossil fuel into the same category, as a destructive influence in climate change.

Over the years as a pig tracker, I have noticed that getting a good transmitter signal from a steel mandrel (cleaner type) pig has become increasingly difficult compared to smart pigs.

Ultrasonic crack technology, using piezoelectric transducers, is a proven and widely used solution for crack and crack-like defect detection in liquids pipelines. Over the past 20 years, only minor developments and improvements in this area were offered to pipeline operators.

Today, there are millions of miles of pipeline all over the world, and many of these systems are old. Pipelines transport energy (crude oil, refined petroleum, natural gas and biofuels to name a few) and other fluids to various markets across vast distances. The integrity of the pipelines is of paramount concern to ensure the safety of people and the environment.

Stricter regulations, price volatility, and emerging technologies are disrupting conventional operational approaches in today’s midstream pipeline industry; even transport demand has never been greater. Therein lie both challenges and opportunities.

The simple truth is some pipelines may be piggable for certain applications and non-piggable for others.

The main objective of the Dominican Republic’s Energetic Plan 2010-2025 is to reduce the import of oil by replacing it with natural gas by a considerable amount.

This article examines the ways that digitalization can be leveraged in pipeline construction projects for improved quality assurance, project efficiency and overall ROI.

Black powder is composed of different forms of iron sulfide (FeS), iron oxides (Fe3O4, FeOOH) and iron carbonate (FeCO3), mechanically mixed or chemically combined with any number of contaminants, such as salts, sand, liquid hydrocarbons, metal debris, and even naturally-occurring radioactive material (NORM).

The re-emergence of the United States as a leading power in energy markets is good news for all Americans. A secure and resilient energy sector helps all end-users here at home, from manufacturers to residential consumers.

The Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) crossed the rocky mountains of Albania, putting it on track to start delivering gas to Europe next year.

Rangeland Midstream Canada plans to design, construct and operate new crude oil and condensate pipelines in the Marten Hills region of north central Alberta.

Cogent Midstream said it plans to build a new 400 MMcf/d pipeline to deliver residue gas from its Big Lake Natural Gas Processing Complex in the Midland Basin to the Gulf Coast Express Pipeline (GCX).

Magellan Midstream Partners is confident a proposed Midland origin point will attract enough commitments from shippers to go forward with a crude pipeline from the oil storage hub in Cushing, Okla., to Houston, Chief Executive Michael Mears said.

Tellurian subsidiaries will begin separate open seasons on two proposed natural pipelines that will connect constrained shale production areas to the growing industrial market in Southwest Louisiana.

Tallgrass Energy is pursuing a project to support crude oil production in northern Weld County, Colo., near the border between Wyoming and Colorado. The Hereford Project will include 30 miles of 12-inch pipeline, as well as expanded capacity on the Pony Express system.

Bayou Bridge Pipeline launched a non-binding expansion open season to solicit shipper interest for expanded joint tariff transportation service received from certain connecting carriers onto the Bayou Bridge Pipeline System.

State environmental regulators in New York denied a water quality permit for a 24-mile (39-km) underwater pipeline from New Jersey to Queens designed to meet rising demand for natural gas in New York City and Long Island.

As American politicians seek sanctions and Denmark debates route approval, construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has moved steadily ahead. By mid-May, more than 745 miles (1,200 km) of pipe — about half the total length of Nord Stream 2 — had been laid in the Baltic Sea, company officials confirmed.

Shippers and refiners put ships heading to the Middle East on alert last month after armed drones struck a Saudi Aramco pipeline and Saudi oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

China announced it would raise tariffs on LNG imports from the United States amid a series of additional levies, a move that could further reduce U.S. LNG shipments to the world’s fastest growing importer of the fuel.

The Balticconnector pipeline, which is due to start operation early next year, will begin with a capacity of between 97 MMcf and 133 MMcf per day from Estonia to Finland, Estonian partner Elering said.

A gas company’s faulty equipment is the most likely cause of an explosion at a suburban Maryland apartment complex that killed seven people in 2016, according to federal report.

The head of the U.S. pipeline safety agency says officials intend to finalize long-delayed rules aimed at preventing oil spills and natural gas explosions by the end of the year.

A California judge fined Plains All American Pipeline $3.35 million for a 2015 California coastal oil spill caused by the rupture of a corroded pipeline.

South Dakota’s governor and attorney general are asking a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit challenging a new law that aims to prevent disruptive demonstrations against the Keystone XL pipeline if it’s built.

Buckeye Partners, which owns and operates one of the largest diversified networks of integrated midstream assets in North America, has agreed to be acquired by IFM Investors in an all-cash transaction with an enterprise value of $10.3 billion.

Two Massachusetts senators, one of them a Democratic presidential candidate, have introduced the first pipeline safety bill as Congress works to put together legislation reauthorizing the Pipeline Safety Act, which expires on Sept. 30.

The Department of Energy will award $24 million in grants for the development of tools, methods and technologies to cost-effectively enhance the safety and efficiency of the nation’s natural gas production, gathering, storage, and transmission infrastructure. Grants will be as much as $3 million but no lower than $1 million.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has begun an effort to develop a new program to support water reuse. The agency will be putting together an action plan based on input from industry groups and local governments with the intention of using funding provided by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) for whatever types of projects are eventually deemed eligible. Congress provided the EPA with $68 million in funding for WIFIA loans in fiscal 2019, which ends Sept. 30.

Pipeline solutions provider T.D. Williamson (TDW) paired its SmartPlug isolation system with hot-tapping and plugging (HT&P) services to enable a pipeline replacement at a Saudi Arabian industrial plant while the facility remained in service.