Gathering

Emergency Valve Shutdown Solutions In Shale Plays

Production from natural gas and liquids rich shale plays in the United States is booming. In the past five years alone, shale gas reserves have increased tenfold to 25 Bcf/d. Similarly, tight oil production has risen to 1.8 MMbcf/d, more than 600% over that same period [1]. This prolific growth trend has created a dramatic need for infrastructure improvements, including transport via pipeline from the wellhead to processing facilities and beyond.

Canyon Midstream Starts Permian Basin Development

Canyon Midstream Partners is developing a natural gas gathering, processing and treating system in the Permian Basin.

The Name Of The Game Is Still Pipelines

Tonight I’d like to cover several topics important to all of us. Projections for increased production of natural gas and crude oil, transportation of said commodities to the marketplace, climate change and politics.

Chevron Suspends Shale Gas Exploration In Romania

Chevron was forced to suspend exploration for shale gas in northeastern Romania after hundreds of anti-fracking protesters tore down fences.

ONEOK Partners Plans Investments For Williston Basin

ONEOK Partners, L.P. will invest as much as $780 million between now and the second quarter 2016 to build a 200 MMcf/d natural gas processing facility – the Lonesome Creek plant – and related infrastructure in McKenzie County, ND in the Bakken Shale in the Williston Basin; and complete a second expansion of the Bakken NGL Pipeline, which will increase the pipeline's capacity to 160,000 bpd from 135,000 bpd.

Canadas U.S. Ambassador On Pipelines, Climate Change And Why Canada (And Its Exports) Cant Be Stopped

With the continued lack of resolution to the Keystone XL approval question, the swift change in U.S. fossil energy production rates, and the boom in unconventional sources of energy, the last few years have changed long-standing patterns of energy trade between the United States and Canada. The issues are momentous in their own right, but the U.S.-Canadian relationship is more than special: it forms the world’s largest bilateral energy market. U.S. Energy Information Administration figures account for 3 million barrels of oil and petroleum products and 11 Tcf/d of natural gas crossing the border in 2011. The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa estimates that it is a $100 billion annual partnership.

Energy Reform Amendment Passes Mexico's Congress

President Enrique Peña Nieto's promised energy reform amendment to Mexico's constitution passed Congress Dec. 12, paving the way for state governments to ratify the amendment and new rules for the country's energy production and transportation to be written in the 120 days following.

Going With the Flow: Shift in Direction Presents Challenges

Fracking in the Marcellus Shale has markedly increased the supply of natural gas produced in the Appalachian Basin, which is typically of higher quality than gas produced from the Gulf. This increased supply has resulted in a shift in the historical pattern of gas flow.

Pipeline & Gas Journals 33rd Annual 500 Report

<em>Pipeline & Gas Journal</em>’s 33rd Annual 500 Report offers the industry’s most comprehensive statistical review of U.S. energy pipeline systems. As in past years, the report ranks the nation’s top gas distribution, liquids and gas transmission systems. Transmission companies are ranked by mileage, while the rank of each liquids pipeline company is based on yearly crude deliveries. The gas distribution rankings are based on number of customers.

Volvo CE Positions Itself For North American Market

In today’s fast-paced business world, there is a certain class of individuals who seem capable of running nearly any type of company. They combine academic prowess, problem-solving and people skills to a level few others achieve. Whether that unique skill set is recognized is often another question.

Kinder Morgan Executive Discusses Challenging Aspects Of Double Eagle Pipeline Project

Kinder Morgan is the largest midstream and the third-largest energy company (based on combined enterprise value) in North America. Kinder Morgan owns an interest in or operates approximately 80,000 miles of pipelines and 180 terminals. The company’s pipelines transport primarily natural gas, refined petroleum products, CO-2 and crude oil and its terminals store, transfer and handle such products as gasoline, ethanol, coal, petroleum coke and steel. Combined, Kinder Morgan has an enterprise value of approximately $110 billion.

Report Offers A Timely Perspective On Natural Gas

Recently the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (“C2ES”) released a comprehensive report entitled “Leveraging Natural Gas To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions” that lays out in a thoughtful manner the promising future of natural gas. Its timeliness, coming as the shale revolution continues to build in the United States and which President Obama made a centerpiece of his Climate Action Plan (CAP), make this document essential reading.

Need For Infrastructure Among Challenges Outside Of U.S.

Outside the U.S., the lack of a large-scale pipeline network and related infrastructure makes getting oil and gas to market difficult, and sometimes cost-prohibitive. A recent McKinsey & Company report estimates it will take up to $1.4 trillion in infrastructure investment to complete the necessary pipelines, rail networks, and drilling and gathering infrastructure necessary to fully capture the potential of the shale revolution in the U.S. The investment required to take advantage of a global shale revolution will certainly be even greater.

Family-Owned Sunland As Diversified As Construction Companies Get

You might say Craig Meier started at the ground level on the road to becoming president of Sunland Construction, Inc., working as a roustabout for several small contractors, while earning his mechanical engineering degree from the University of Oklahoma.

Prices, Transportation Determine Future For Canadian Oil And Gas

Recent reports on the state of crude oil and natural gas production in Canada suggest that the transportation bottleneck at the border will have long-ranging effects on Canada’s energy markets.

Accelerating Benefits Of Shale Plays With Bundled Technology

With energy independence, energy exporting through LNG, billions of dollars in economic benefit, and more than 4 million jobs hinged to the development and deployment of the shale play natural gas reserves, one would think a national plan would materialize to capitalize quickly on the pending benefits.

Energy Reforms Would Open Mexicos Petroleum Industry To Global Investment

In a bid to fulfill a campaign promise, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has proposed a change to the constitution to allow private companies to share in the development, transportation and refining of Mexico’s vast energy resources, which are reserved exclusively to Petróleos Mexicanos (PEMEX). The changes would revert the constitution to its 1940 position, maintaining national ownership of all hydrocarbons but overturning 1950s-era changes that prevent any private interest participating in the energy industry.

Global Implications Of Shale Development

As we watch the development of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast, the implications are both obvious and subtle at the same time. The economic outcomes are measureable at the local level with new business opportunities for established shop owners as energy companies and their many contractors make a concerted effort to source goods and services within host communities.

U.S. Shale Development Points To Far-Reaching Effect Worldwide

Ten years after the shale revolution first took off in the North Texas Barnett Shale formation, large-scale shale development primarily remains a phenomenon unique to the United States.

Crosstex Reaches Crossroads With ‘Transformational’ Cajun-Sibon Pipeline

During his 30 years in the energy business, Barry Davis has no doubt heard a fair amount of bluster and hyperbole about “big projects.” Yet, even a brief talk with the Crosstex president and CEO about the Cajun-Sibon expansion project leaves the listener keenly aware that in his mind there can be no understating the importance of this endeavor to his company.

Centurion Gives Green Light To Cline Shale Pipeline

Centurion Pipeline L.P., a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum Corp., plans to proceed with construction of the Cline Shale Pipeline system to transport crude oil from Irion, Sterling, Coke, Tom Green and Mitchell counties in West Texas to Centurion’s existing Colorado City station in Scurry County, TX.

MSC Unleashes Safety Report On Pipeline Boring Practices

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) released “Recommended Practices for Pipeline Boring,” the seventh in a series of content-rich guidance documents developed by the coalition’s various subject-specific committees.

Runaway Train Calamity Underscores Crude-By-Rail Concerns

When a train carrying 72 tanker cars of Bakken crude oil derailed in the Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic, killing 47 people and destroying 40 buildings, it powerfully rekindled the debate over the merits of rail vs. pipeline delivery throughout the industry.

Energy Economics Conference Suggests Upcoming Plummet In Oil Prices

Rice University’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy recently hosted a conference, “Energy Market Globalization: Investment and Commodity Price Cycles and the Role of Geopolitics.” Much discussion focused on the relationships of oil prices to other economic indicators, and whether these relationships indicated that oil prices may tumble in the near future.

Charlie Joyce: Born And Raised To Be A Pipeliner

The hallmark of the pipeline business has always been symbolized by the handshake. Never has there been a better example of this tradition than with Charlie Joyce and his family, owners of Otis Eastern Service, Inc., in Wellsville, NY.

Summit Midstream To Expand North Dakota Gathering Systems

Summit Midstream Partners, LLC announced an expansion of its Divide crude oil and water gathering system under construction in Williams and Divide counties, ND.

E&P Companies Cite Insufficient Pipeline Capacity Among Fastest-Growing Potential Threats

According to a study released by BDO USA, LLP, 80% of the 100 biggest publicly traded exploration and production companies by revenue listed insufficient pipeline, storage or trucking capacity as among the potential risks to their business for 2013. The study was conducted on the companies’ SEC 10-K filings, which list possible threats to their financial performance.

Americas Newfound Power: What U.S. Should Do To Capitalize On Shale, Renewable Energy Revolutions

It was hard not to do a double take when the story broke last November: By 2017, the headlines read, the United States would overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer. And by 2025, the U.S. could be exporting more oil and gas than it imports.

Uneven Energy Transportation Infrastructure Delaying Full Global Benefits Of Shale Gale

Increased natural gas utilization, and to a lesser extent oil development, is being hampered by a lack of market liquidity and spot pricing for the commodities both domestically and abroad. Roadblocks include insufficient pipeline connectivity in North America and into Europe, a dramatic lack of international energy infrastructure in Asia, and the regulatory and environmental delays that prevent the necessary investments from going forward.

Australia Facing Hiatus In LNG Development

At APPEA 2013, Wood Mackenzie's head of Australia Upstream Consulting, Andrew McManus, warned Australia faces a hiatus in LNG projects as the focus of buyers has turned to the U.S., where he said customers can find potentially lower-cost, more flexible LNG and the opportunity to diversify supply portfolios.