Operations

Failed Fitting Led to 1,200 Barrel Oil Leak from Trans Mountain Pipeline

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada completed its investigation into a June 2020 release of crude oil at the Trans Mountain Sumas pump station in British Columbia, determining a 1-inch pipeline fitting was the source of the leak.

Tank Car Impact Tests Take Aim at Safety Concerns

Tank cars transport roughly 2 million shipments of hazardous materials (hazmat), carrying goods that are essential to North America’s economy, public health and quality of life. Railroad safety is the key to making it all work. Rail is recognized as the safest mode of transportation for moving bulk shipments of hazardous materials.

New Analysis Tool Can Help Solve Gas and Steam Transient Problems in Pipelines

Applied Flow Technology (AFT) says its new AFT xStream analysis software tool can help engineers rigorously evaluate and solve gas and steam transient engineering problems they have only been able to guess at in the past.

Evaluation of Metal Loss Corrosion with RSTRENG

Corrosion metal loss assessment is a method for evaluating the strength of corroded pipelines that includes criteria from ASME/ANSI B31G, which is a guide for the evaluation of the remaining strength of corroded pipe.

CASE STUDY: Free Span Assessment of Subsea Pipelines

Free spanning of subsea pipelines is a concern during both the installation and operational phase of the pipeline life and needs to be monitored to ensure the integrity of the pipeline.

Diagnostic in Bidirectional Prover - An Innovative Approach

It is important to accurately measure hydrocarbon commodities transferred through pipelines or marine terminals to maximize revenue generation at the point where the ownership of the commodity is transferred.

Edge Computing Optimizes Pipeline Management

For midstream oil and gas companies, edge-computing platforms create opportunities that resolve long-standing problems and effectively enable real-time data in asset management and decision-making,

New PHMSA Rules Ease Burdens, Maintains Safety

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) re-examination of the Federal Pipeline Safety Regulations should ease regulatory burdens on the construction, maintenance and operation of gas transmission, distribution and gathering pipeline systems, according to the final rule in the Federal Register.

NTSB Looks to Improve Pipeline Leak Detection and Mitigation

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board named improving pipeline leak detection and mitigation as an item on its “Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements” for 2021-2022, the agency announced.

Improving Natural Gas Distribution Systems to Ease Pressure Risks

This article examines redundant overpressure protection (OPP) requirements at the city gates in the U.S. and how several operators are at risk of noncompliance as states begin to enforce redundant OPP requirements specifically at the city gates.

ABB Leak Detection, Greenhouse Gas Measuring System Can Help Satisfy PIPES Act

HoverGuard can help operators of USA’s three million miles of pipeline infrastructure increase their safety and environmental capabilities in line with the USA 2020 PIPES Act, the company announced.

GateHouse Maritime to Monitor Gas Pipeline in the Baltic Sea

Poland’s GAZ-SYSTEMS awarded offshore surveillance, maritime analytics and data company GateHouse Maritime a 5-year contract to monitor a new gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, the companies announced.

Application of Distributed Fiber-optic Sensing for Pipeline Integrity and Security

Distributed fiber-optic sensing (DFOS) describes several technologies that can be utilized to convert a fiber-optic cable into an array of distributed sensors by connecting it to an optical interrogator unit (IU).

Inhibitor Development for Extreme Conditions in Deepwater

Deepwater exploration and production has seen a higher-than-average growth in the past 10 to 15 years when compared to other sectors in the industry, brought about by high and stable production and technological advances that have driven lifting costs down to all-time lows.

Many Benefits Occur Within Integration of the Control Room with SCADA

Implementing comprehensive control room management (CRM) with modern SCADA systems can offer utilities and pipeline operators myriad benefits, particularly when it comes to improving pipeline safety.

Spotlight on Utilities

Routine calls for utility workers led to lives being saved due to their proper training and quick thinking.

Life Extension of Pipelines with Crack Defects Using Composite Repairs

Composite repairs are being used widely to restore the integrity of pipelines impaired by wall thinning arising from corrosion anomalies.

Using Remote Monitoring to Evaluate Pipeline Lightning Immunity

While lightning itself does not cause corrosion, the damage it creates to a pipe’s walls, coatings and cathodic protection (CP) system can leave a pipeline vulnerable.

Duke Energy Begins Replacing Aging Gas Pipeline

Construction got underway on the 12-mile Central Corridor replacement pipeline designed to run though Hamilton County, Ohio, which is in the southeast corner of the state and contains the city of Cincinnati.

SBS Energy Sets Record in GOM Decommissioning Project

SBS Energy Services (SBS) completed a multiphase project to decommission 29,000 feet (8,839 meters) of 10-by-6-inch (254-by-152-mm) insulated pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) in partnership with Helix Energy Solutions, setting a new offshore snubbing unit/hydraulic workover world record.

Phillips 66 Selects Crux OCM for Pipeline Control Center Operations Pilot

Phillips 66 selected Crux OCM, a pioneer of robotic industrial process automation (RIPA) for oil and gas operations, for a pipeline control center operations pilot.

PART 2: Policy Implications for Satellite-Based Methane Detection

Access to publicly available satellite methane data from TROPOMI, and in future platforms such as those being planned by the ESA Copernicus missions, are animating interest from for-profit companies and not-for-profit advocacy groups interested in using methane data to advance these organizations’ missions.

Integrating Flow Assurance Engineering Domains Ensures Operations in Caspian Sea

Once the term “flow assurance” was coined in the 1990s, continued evolution in the offshore marketplace has demanded that the industry invest in advancing the design, strategies and principles that form the core of the field.

Why Investors Should Care about Challenges Mitigating Gas Flaring

Flaring has been a lightning rod for criticism of the upstream oil and gas sector due to the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions it creates, as well as the perceived wastefulness by the companies who flare. What some may not realize is that the alternative, known as “venting,” is even more damaging.

Managing Integrity for Subsea Pipelines Without Pigging

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration estimates that 40% of the world’s pipelines are difficult to pig or are deemed “unpiggable,” which means they cannot be inspected via inline inspection, but their integrity still needs to be maintained.

Canada's Suncor Energy Reviewing Mining Safety After Three Workers Killed

The incidents follow accidents during construction of Trans Mountain Corp's oil pipeline expansion, causing it to halt work temporarily.

Corrosion Inhibitor Development for Extreme Conditions

This article discusses corrosion inhibitor development for ultra-deep-water systems that experience most of these extreme conditions, including downhole temperatures as high as 400° F (204° C) and pressures as high as 20,000 psi (1,379 bar).

Data Analytics, Predictive Maintenance of Field Automation

The last six decades have experienced an explosion of technological development, with the most recent focus being on data analytics, and the pipeline industry has more than dipped its toe in the benefits of data analysis.

Pipeline Integrity: History of Direct Assessment Process

Direct assessment is a process through which a pipeline operator determines a pipeline’s integrity through integrating knowledge of the physical characteristics and operating history of a pipeline with the results of diagnostic testing.

Action Remains Best Defense Against Pipeline Cyberattack

Among other consequences, a major cyber-breach could result in additional disruptions to commodity prices, widespread energy shortages or outages, and loss of life and property.