January 2020, Vol. 247, No. 1

With the largest oil producing province in Canada, Alberta, announcing it would cap output for January at 3.81 MMbpd – the same level as in December – operators continue to scramble for additional capacity.

If North America was one giant oil and natural gas basin with one spigot, the flow handle would probably be set at only half-open in 2020, a year when global events will determine if, and which direction, the handle moves.

For those who thought producer retrenchment in U.S. shale basins, global trade wars or middling commodity prices would stop pipeline expansion dead in its tracks: Move along, folks. There’s nothing to see here.

Beijing’s leaders are increasingly concerned about China’s heavy dependence upon energy suppliers who worry, with a special concern centered on Russia and others in Africa and the Mideast.

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) officials are apparently still interested in developing a voluntary information sharing (VIS) safety reporting program.

Nearly 98% of barrel miles in the United States are governed by pipeline safety management systems, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). That, combined with greater public awareness, means that pipeline integrity and safety are under a greater degree of scrutiny than ever before.

The 1,865-mile (3,000-km) Power of Siberia $9 billion gas pipeline is set to become the longest transmission pipeline, east of the Ural Mountains, with its first delivery in mid-December. It will transmit 61 Bcm of natural gas a year from Irkutsk and Yakutia to Russia’s Far East, bringing vital energy for the economic development of the Russian side of the Amur River and onward.

As U.S. crude oil export volumes increased to an average of 2.8 MMbpd in the first seven months of 2019, the number of destinations – including countries, territories, autonomous regions, and other administrative regions – that receive U.S. exports has also increased.

The industry expects that all operators take a robust approach to integrity management, resulting in safe and reliable pipelines. One of the many known threats to pipeline integrity that must be explicitly addressed is Selective Seam Weld Corrosion (SSWC). This article explores ways of reliably assessing pipelines for the threat of SSWC and actively managing SSWC when it is an active threat.

The domestic pipeline industry has the capabilities to produce steel to the very highest standards of strength and integrity and has demonstrated this on many occasions over the years. However, whether it has enough capacity to meet all its current and future quality steel needs to produce high integrity pipelines is debatable.

There are millions and millions of feet of vintage pipelines in use throughout the United States with an exterior coating that contains asbestos. There is probably an equal amount of footage existing in out-of-use, idled or abandoned pipelines.

Artificial intelligence (AI) will be one of the most transformative technologies for business in the next 10 years. Early demonstrations of the power of AI in speech recognition and autonomous driving should remove those doubts.

U.S. exports of LNG set two consecutive records in October and November 2019, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates. LNG exports averaged 5.8 Bcf/d with 52 exported cargoes in October and 6.3 Bcf/d with 55 exported cargoes in November, EIA reported, citing Bloomberg Finance shipping data.

A final investment decision on a $3.15 billion LNG project near Mozambique’s capital will be taken around the middle of 2020, France’s Total and its partners in the project said after signing an agreement to develop the project.

EPIC Midstream loaded its first oil tanker at its new Texas export terminal and plans to open another dock in the third quarter of 2020, benefiting from rising demand for low-sulfur U.S. crude, EPIC President Brian Freed said in a mid-December interview with Reuters.

Authorities arrested 21 demonstrators who are opposed to a planned liquefied natural gas pipeline and a marine export terminal in Oregon.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers signed into law a bipartisan proposal making it a felony to trespass or damage oil or gas pipelines in the state, despite saying he had some problems with the bill.

New U.S. Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette slammed New York state regulators for blocking pipelines that would bring natural gas from Appalachia to New England but did not specify whether the Trump administration could do anything to push the projects forward.

U.S. energy regulators approved Tellurian Inc’s request to start site preparation work at its proposed $27.5 billion Driftwood liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project in Louisiana.

Europe’s first new gas interconnector in a decade, linking Finland and Estonia across the Baltic Sea, will weaken Gazprom’s hold on the region and spark price competition, the pipeline’s owners said.

Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta said it has agreed to a 10-year oil transit extension with Russia’s Transneft.

Democrats in the House are about to pass a new pipeline safety bill that is unlikely to attract any Republican support. The Pipeline Safety Act (H.R. 5120), which passed by two House committees in November with no GOP votes in favor, also clashes with the bi-partisan bill passed last summer by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

T.D. Williamson (TDW) released a standard offering for isolation fittings that fully complies with the new EN-13480 code, the European standard that replaces national codes in many countries.

Most construction accidents happen during pipe handling, when workers are loading and unloading large, heavy pipe or when additional construction equipment is brought in to move big and unwieldy pipe with workers in close proximity.

A recent IRS private ruling allows a real estate investment trust or “REIT” to own and operate traditional midstream infrastructure assets, including storage assets and pipelines, and derive REIT qualifying income from traditional commercial arrangements with customers. If structured correctly, the REIT’s income from these assets and arrangements is treated as “rents from real property,” an important aspect of qualifying for REIT status under the Internal Revenue Code (IRS).

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Bulgaria of deliberately delaying the implementation of Russia’s TurkStream natural gas pipeline on its territory and said that Moscow could find ways to bypass Bulgaria if needed.

The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) approved a route for Duke Energy’s Central Corridor natural gas pipeline.

Iran is building a $1.8 billion oil pipeline to its port of Jask outside the mouth of the Gulf, the country’s oil minister said, as part of plans to protect its exports against potential problems in the region and to boost shipments of Caspian oil.

Niger began construction on a $7 billion oil pipeline that will reach the coast through West African neighbor Benin. The 1,232-mile (1,982-km) pipeline is Niger’s most important project since gaining independence.

In one of the first actions of the new International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the U.S. government investment organization is pledging more that $600 million to the Rassini natural gas pipeline to be built across southern Mexico.

Germany’s parliament approved changes to the law governing the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to make it compliant with European Union regulations, removing a hurdle to completion of the Russia-led project.

U.S. oil export terminal operator Moda Midstream said it has begun to enhance its Moda Ingleside Energy Center (MIEC) in Ingleside, Texas, to allow the docking of larger-sized vessels and is considering a new pipeline as well.

Italy’s Saipem was awarded a contract in Equatorial Guinea worth $90-$100 million to build a 43 mile (70 km) subsea pipeline linking the Alen platform with the Punta Europa petrochemical hub, the oil ministry said.

Tallgrass Energy, through its affiliate Tallgrass Pony Express Pipeline, announced a binding open season soliciting shipper commitments for crude oil transportation from Pony Express’ Sterling origin to destinations in Cushing, Okla., in exchange for volume incentive tariff rates. The open season will run to Jan. 29.

Bionomic Industries offers Series 6500 Jet Scrubber as a fully integrated, pre-engineered, skid-mounted package complete with recirculation pumps, piping networks, entrainment separators, polishing scrubber, instrumentation and automated controls. The scrubber creates its own draft to eliminate the ..

To meet client demand, pipeline technology specialist STATS Group is offering the BISEP pipeline isolation tool and its related products in the North American pipeline gas distribution and transmission market. All products are manufactured and controlled through an industry leading ISO 9001 Integrat..

John Deere added three new models, the PD-72-inch (1,829 mm), PD-84-inch (2,134-mm) and PD-96-inch (2,438-mm), to its referral attachments line from the leading manufacturer of grading attachments, Level Best. New grade control-ready Level Best Dual Mast PD Series box blades will improve productivit..

Pure Safety Group (PSG) unveiled its Guardian Fall Protection S1 safety harness, which is the first in a series of innovative new harnesses designed with three levels of features for various work scenarios. All harnesses meet OSHA standards, while exceeding ANSI standards. The S1 features steel hard..

Olympus’ OmniScan instruments offer portable phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT). The new OmniScan X3 flaw detector improves inspection workflow, setting up for a job faster and more efficiently.  Total focusing method (TFM) images are collected through full matrix capture (FMC), giving users mor..

TT Technologies offers the Grundoburst static pipe bursting system, which uses a specially designed bladed cutter head to make bursting ductile iron and steel pipe possible.  The systems range in size from 45 tons to 287 tons of pullback force and can be used to burst pipe from 4 to 48 inches. Grund..

Dräger released its X-pid 8500 portable gas measurement device to the U.S. market. The gas chromatography-photoionization detector (GC-PID) allows selective measurement analysis of pre-determined compounds, such as benzene and butadiene, providing results in as little as 30 seconds. The device allow..

Ana Cervantes has joined sealing technology and corrosion-prevention specialists Dekotec as technical sales manager for Latin American markets.  Cervantes, who will be based in California, has more than 25 years of consulting and sales experience in the pipeline business.  ..

Corrosion Resistant Alloys (CRA) has appointed Matt Pond as chief financial officer. His 20 years of executive management experience began at Energy Allows, and he previously served as vice president of Business Development at CRA. Pond also has partnered and co-founded materials companies, includin..

Emerson announced two promotions within its Professional Tools business: Justin King has been named vice president of engineering and Rob Trefz, vice president of marketing. In their new roles, King will lead the development and evolution of the entire Professional Tools line of Pipe and Electrical ..

BCCK Holding Company has appointed Greg Herman as director of business development. Herman will be based in both Colorado and Oklahoma, where he will develop and support company growth in North Dakota, Oklahoma and the Rocky Mountain territories. Herman’s extensive background in oil and gas includes..

Pure Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company focused on oil and gas exploration and production, announced that it has named Michael L. Hollis as president. Hollis most recently worked for Diamondback Energy, a Permian-focused oil and gas producer, where he served as president and ch..

Helsinki-based technology group Wärtsilä named Sushil Purohit vice president for Area Americas within the company’s Energy Business, based in Houston. He most recently served as vice president for the company’s Energy Business in the Middle East, Asia and Australia...

Ironwood Midstream Energy Partners announced that former Twin Eagle’s chief operating officer, Danny J. Rea, has joined Ironwood II as chief commercial officer and director. Since 2015, Mr. Rea has handled both commercial and operational management for Twin Eagle’s midstream assets, which include cr..

Gulfstream Services International appointed Gordon Blackwood as business development director.  He previously was regional director for National Oilwell Varco and has over 20 years’ experience working globally in the oil and gas sector. ..

Continental Resources founder and CEO Harold Hamm will become executive chairman of the company. William Berry has been appointed CEO and President Jack Stark will assume the additional role of chief operating officer. ..

BCCK Holding Company said it was selected by Energy Transfer for the construction and installation of a Nitech Nitrogen Rejection Unit in West Texas.  The engineering, procurement and construction project will consist of a 97 MMscf/d nitrogen rejection unit technology at Energy Transfer’s Rebel Plan..

Backwoods Energy Services, the largest Indigenous-owned business in northwestern Alberta, has been named a winner by Waterstone Human Capital in the Mid-Market category of the “Canada’s Most Admired Corporate Cultures 2019” awards. The award recognizes best-in-class Canadian organizations scored in ..

Winn & Coales’ Denso North America subsidiary held a grand opening in Texas for a new location that provides expanded manufacturing capability along with greater warehouse capacity, enhanced R&D and testing capabilities and enlarged training space.

The Scottish Oil Club has announced a relaunch, with new branding to reflect its role as a discussion forum for professionals from across the energy sector. Newly named The Scottish Energy Forum, the organization will continue to host presentations on the economic, industrial, technological and poli..