December 2016, Vol. 243, No. 12
Company & Association News
Association News The INGAA Foundation’s Board of Directors elected Thomas D. Hutchins, vice president of Environmental, Health and Safety (EH&S) for the natural gas business of Kinder Morgan, Inc., as chairman for a one-year term beginning Nov.5. Hutchins has over 30 years of experience in the pip..
Editor's Notebook
So, what on earth is professional wrestler Gorilla Monsoon doing to the future editor of P&GJ in this 1975 photo taken at the Philadelphia Arena? It’s a compelling, somewhat poignant story that ultimately ties into the pipeline business. I will turn the story over to my alter ego, a wannabe sportswr..
Features
From 2000 to 2013, global petroleum demand has grown an average of 1.2% year-over-year with the developing regions of Middle East, Africa and Asia rising at a combined rate of 2.8%. During this same period, global demand for natural gas has increased at twice the annual rate (2.4%) of liquid petrole..
The 4th edition of AMI’s study, “Steel Pipe Coating – the Global Market,” was completed earlier this year. The report is the outcome of several months of intensive market research and analysis, focused on the pipe coating industry and its associated supply chain – from manufacturers of equipment and..
It is the year 2014: The industry has lived through several significant safety incidents over the last couple of years. San Bruno, CA and Marshall, MI occurred just a few short weeks apart in 2010. The East Harlem, NY incident had just occurred. Vectren had its incident in New Albany, IN in 2011, a..
Communication helps Washington Gas tackle pipeline replacement construction projects.
Now that Donald Trump has been elected President of the United States, will pipeline construction projects stand a better chance of moving forward?
Global demand for steel pipe is projected to advance 3.5% per annum through 2019 to 79.7 mmta, with growth paced by continued strong increases in developing markets. The pace of gains will decelerate from that of the 2009-14 period as construction activity slows in China and other developing countr..
Drones are helping make pipeline inspections more cost-effective.
Texas-based Anadarko Petroleum Corp. recently unveiled a new technology in oil-gathering that could decrease the impact some well sites have on their surroundings, potentially easing the sometimes strained relationships between the industry and its neighbors. When it will be available to all, howeve..
In the wake of a massive gas leak that occurred Oct. 23, 2015 at the Aliso Canyon Underground Natural Gas Storage facility near Los Angeles, an interagency task force came away with three key recommendations: Gas storage operators should begin a rigorous evaluation program to baseline the status ..
The plastics industry continues to push the envelope in creating higher performance materials for pipe, which then inspires new compositions and installation techniques. And the main benefactors are gas utilities, exploration and production companies, and ultimately their customers. The research an..
The Northeast Gas Association (NGA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) have joined forces to co-fund development of a hardness tester module for integration on the Explorer series of robotic platforms, developed for inspection of unpiggable natural gas pipelines. The resulting hardness..
Automated tools and techniques are being developed that are impacting how inline pipeline inspections are performed.
Incoming INGAA chairwoman, Diane Leopold, says natural gas pipeline construction projects will help America's economy for decades to come.
While reliable gas transmission, distribution and gathering networks are critical to the nation’s growth, such infrastructure is being threatened by a failing pipeline network that leaks methane. Corrosion, along with the age of the system, plus the materials used decades ago, has caused the pipe s..
Inline pipeline inspection with non-destructive evaluation helps produce complete records.
LDCs are poised to play a major role in pipeline construction projects moving forward.
The Hydrostatic Stress Board (HSB), an independent, technical-based group of voluntary industry experts, operating under the auspices of the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI), has reconstructed and expanded its website to expedite the listing request process and highlight the longstanding history ..
Steel tubes are still a success story. Except for a downturn in 2009, global production figures have been pointing in one direction only – upwards. According to the German Steel Tube Association (Wirtschaftsvereinigung Stahlrohre) in Düsseldorf (Germany), steel tube manufacturers increased their wor..
The second half of 2016 is shaping up to be one of the most active for M&A activity in the U.S. oil and gas industry, a sign that companies and investors are growing confident the worst of the more than two-year downturn is over. According to new data from the EIA, the value of the average M&A deal..
Bradley Walters, gas distribution manager for the city of Rocky Mount, NC, sees the public utility’s gas services and infrastructure program from an especially fresh perspective. At 30 years old, what other choice would he have? Already with the city nearly eight years, Walters, who cut his teeth o..
General
Houston-based EOG boosted its resource potential in the Delaware sub-basin of the Permian to 6 billion barrels – an increase of 155% compared to its previous estimate of 2.35 billion – based on its study of acreage acquired from Yates. “Our technical and operational advances applied to the combined..
Government
In The News
Projects
Williams Partners Revise Atlantic Sunrise In-Service Date After revising the targeted in-service date for its Atlantic Sunrise pipeline expansion, Williams Partners L.P. now expects full service in mid-2018. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) revised environmental review schedule se..
Q&A
Jim Hodges is the 2016-17 chairman of the American Public Gas Association (APGA). APGA is the national trade association for publicly owned natural gas utilities, in other words those owned and operated by government entities rather than stockholders. There are over 1,000 public gas utilities in the..
TechNotes
Elevated water temperatures running through pipelines can present umber of problems to owners in the oil and gas industry. Identifying ways to mitigate the issues associated with high temperatures, such as interior corrosion, have led United Pipeline Systems to develop a new polyethylene (PE) liner ..
What's New
An overview of new equipment to be used on pipeline construction projects, as featured in our December 2016 issue.
- Texas Waha Hub Gas Prices Plunge to Record Lows, Hit Negative Territory
- U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down Controversial Biden Pipeline Safety Rules
- Williams Seeks Emergency Certificate to Operate $1 Billion Mid-Atlantic Gas Pipeline After Court Reversal
- Texas Oil Pipelines Near Max Capacity, Threatening Future Export Limits
- Energy Transfer Subsidiary Selects KTJV for Lake Charles LNG Export Project
- Saudi Arabia Looking to Expand Pipeline to Reduce Oil Exports via Gulf
- Report: Houston Region Poised to Become a Global Clean Hydrogen Hub
- Texas Startup Endeavors Again to Build First Major U.S. Oil Refinery Since 1977
- Puerto Bahia, Gasco to Build Liquefied Petroleum Gas Facility in Cartagena, Colombia
- Ukraine Approves $20 Billion Plan to Boost Renewable Energy to 27% by 2030