Storage
Falling Oil Prices Exert Influence on Utility Construction
The free-falling oil price caught many observers off guard. Historically, crude oil and natural gas prices tend to stay in alignment as the imbedded energy content is the defining characteristic. Since 2010, when the price of these commodities separated, many observers anticipated upward volatility in the price of gas to realign it with the price of oil. Few analysts anticipated oil falling to realign with low-cost natural gas.
Forget About Keystone XL Canadian Crude Is Coming
While Congress and the White House continue to wrangle over the Keystone XL pipeline extension, the oil industry is taking matters into its own hands. Markets are primed for an influx of Canadian crude oil, but with pipeline transport off the table for the foreseeable future, producers have built alternative modes to meet the demand. The problem is, recent disasters have soured legislators and environmentalists on road and rail for moving oil.
Pipeline Moving Canadian Crude to Gulf Coast Refineries Starts
Crude from the Canadian oil sands deposits gained an additional major outlet in the U.S. when the joint venture of Enbridge, Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners L.P. completed construction of its Cushing-to-Texas pipeline and started deliveries in December to Gulf Coast refineries. The new pipeline’s operations and routes are very similar to TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline project for bringing oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.
EnLink Landman Follows Family Tradition
Recently EnLink Midstream invited me out to West Texas to see my first pipeline spread – the Martin County Extension Pipeline. On the way to the line we stopped by the Deadwood gas plant where I met Chris Coleman, EnLink Midstream’s senior landman. He was amiable, genuine and welcoming, even letting me ride shotgun in his work truck, which I had to jump to get into. As we drove across the flat Texas land, kicking up a flurry of red dirt, he began telling me about his job.
Cathodic Shielding Effects Tested: PipePillo vs. Foam
Perhaps one of the most important safe guards put in place to maintain the long-term integrity of buried pipelines is a cathodic protection system. Cathodic protection (CP) is an anti- corrosion technique used to prevent the corrosion of metals such as steel and iron in electrolytically conducting environments such as seawater and soils containing water.
Wood Mackenzie: Oil Market Concerns Inescapable in 2015
Global consulting company Wood Mackenzie has drawn on the knowledge and expertise of senior analysts in compiling a new report, Horizons: What To Look For In 2015. In discussing the report, Paul McConnell, principal analyst for Global Trends at Wood Mackenzie, pointed out that oil market concerns will be inescapable in 2015. “With no sign that OPEC is reconsidering its decision to leave production targets unchanged, the impetus falls on non-OPEC producers to limit supply growth and bring the market back into balance,” he said.
Latest Price Shock Offers Some Midstream Bright Spots
The price of oil may have fallen to its lowest level in six years, but this “price shock” is different than the 2008-’09 variety, according to analysts at Pace Global. “The current low-price situation is likely to persist for several years unless geopolitical events shift the market psychology from one of surplus to one of shortage,” Jim Diemer, vice president and head Pace Global-Siemens’ Energy Consulting Company, told PG&J.
Newsreel: Northeast Utilities Becomes Eversource Energy
Northeast Utilities, which operates New England’s largest energy delivery company, has become Eversource Energy. All of the company’s subsidiaries, including Connecticut Light and Power Co., NSTAR Electric, NSTAR Gas, Public Service Co. of New Hampshire, Western Massachusetts Electric Co. and Yankee Gas Services Co. have begun operating under the Eversource brand. The company serves more than 3.6 million electric and natural gas customers in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and employing a workforce of more than 8,000 New Englanders.
Editors Notebook: The Silver Lining Pipelines Work
You already know that Houston is the energy capital of the nation, most likely the world. But did you know that Houston is also the violent bank robbery capital of the nation with no close second?
Russias Pipeline Dreams Under Threat
Russia is the second-largest producer of dry natural gas and the third-largest liquid fuels producer in the world, and these products are inextricably intertwined with its government. State-controlled company Rosneft dominates oil production while Transneft owns and operates Russia’s oil pipelines. Gazprom is the country’s dominant gas producer and pipeline operator, and the Ministry of Finance admitted in February that oil and gas royalties, taxes and dividends account for at least 50% of the Russian government’s revenue.
Study: Mariner East To Add $4.2 Billion To Pennsylvania Economy
Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East projects are expected to add up to $4.2 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy and create 300-400 permanent jobs, according to a study by Philadelphia-based Econsult Solutions, Inc. released Feb. 5. Commissioned by Sunoco Logistics, the economic forecast projected construction of the projects will generate $23 million in personal income tax in the state, as well bringing in $62 million in tax revenues from vendors, employees and related activities.
Pipeline Stress Corrosion Cracking: Detection and Control
Corrosion of underground natural gas and liquid petroleum pipelines occurs in a variety of forms and requires specialized mitigation methods to detect and control. First identified in the 1960s, stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is a form of corrosion that results in clusters or colonies of cracks on the external surface of the affected pipeline.
Meritage Midstream Announces NGL Pipeline Extension
Meritage Midstream has begun operations on the first leg of the 108-mile Thunder Creek NGL Pipeline. The pipeline will be owned and operated by Thunder Creek NGL Pipeline, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Meritage.
Enterprise Products Seeks Shipper Support For NGL Pipeline Expansion
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. recently sought shipper support for a proposed expansion of the portion of its Panola Pipeline Company, LLC natural gas liquids system between Carthage and Mont Belvieu, TX.
British Columbia Prohibits Oil Or Bitumen Transport Through LNG Pipelines
British Columbia has adopted a regulation to ensure pipelines built to support LNG facilities will not be permitted to transport oil or diluted bitumen. This follows concerns expressed in environmental assessments and by First Nations about the long-term pipeline use.
Energy Forecast Predicts Rising Gas, Oil Demand As Global Middle Class Grows
ExxonMobil’s 2015 energy forecast posits natural gas as the fuel with the most demand growth between now and 2040, overtaking coal as the second most popular energy source with a 65% gain vs. its 2010 levels. By the end of the period, the report predicted more than 125 Bcf/d will be shipped by LNG or inter-regional pipeline.
Keystone Pipeline Ends First Year Of Canada To Texas Delivery; Expansion on Hold
TransCanada’s Keystone Pipeline has just completed a year’s service of bringing Canadian tar sand syn crude from Alberta to U.S. Gulf Coast facilities for refining and marketing. This was the third phase of the project. Bringing crude from Cushing, OK to Texas began in January 2013 and still has a lateral line to be completed that will bring crude oil from Nederland, TX to Houston-area refineries. A terminal will be completed in mid-2015 for the Houston refining.
Middle East Key Market For Service Sector
The Middle East will be a key market for oilfield services companies for decades to come as countries across the region seek to maximize recovery from maturing assets and bring new fields into production, reports energy specialist corporate advisory firm Simmons & Company International Ltd.
Concerns about water quality after MT pipeline rupture
GLENDIVE, Mont. (AP) — Workers recovered about 10,000 gallons of oil from a ruptured pipeline that spilled crude into Yellowstone River and contaminated the drinking water supply of an eastern Montana city downstream.
OPEC Output Unlikely To Change Even If Oil Drops To $40
OPEC will stand by its decision not to cut output even if oil prices fall as low as $40 a barrel and will wait at least three months before considering an emergency meeting, said the United Arab Emirates’ energy minister on Dec. 15, according to Bloomberg.
Editor's Notebook: The Lessons Of History
You have to appreciate history, for it tells no lies and whether we like it or not, it tends to repeat itself. Last month I recalled how the Saudis ramped up production 30 years ago with the backing of the Reagan administration in order to wreck the Soviet economy though it also did long-term damage to the U.S. oil industry. With crude prices in the $55 range (as of Dec. 18), motorists are delighted but nerves are on edge in Texas and other regions where the economies depend on oil and gas production.
Energy Transfer, Regency To Build NGL Pipeline
Lone Star NGL, a joint venture of Energy Transfer Partners, and Regency Energy Partners, has received board approval to construct a 533-mile, 24- and 30-inch NGL pipeline from the Permian Basin to Mont Belvieu, TX and convert Lone Star’s West Texas 12-inch NGL pipeline for crude oil and condensate service.
Monarch Holds Open Season For Texas-Oklahoma Crude Line
Monarch Oil Pipeline, a subsidiary of Monarch Natural Gas Holdings, is holding an open season through Jan. 30 to solicit capacity commitments from shippers for a new oil pipeline system to gather and transport crude oil from production areas in Hemphill and Lipscomb counties in Texas to Plains Pipeline’s Reydon Station in Roger Mills County, OK.
Rimrock To Build, Operate Grand Mesa Pipeline
Rimrock Midstream entered into agreements with Grand Mesa Pipeline, a subsidiary of NGL Energy Partners, to construct and operate the Grand Mesa Pipeline.
Saudis May Hold The High Card
Global oil demand will grow 1 MMbpd in 2014, or about 300,000 bpd more than the IEA’s latest forecast, according to ESAI Energy’s recently published Global Fuels Outlook. The report highlights discrepancies between ESAI Energy’s and the IEA’s forecasts for demand growth and provides an outlook on petroleum product markets – and spreads to crude – through 2016.
Greyrock Advances Small-Scale GTL Production Plant
Greyrock Energy, a company whose strategy is to transform natural gas into premium transportation fuels, announced on Nov. 4 a final investment decision (FID) to deliver one of the world’s first small-scale Gas-to-Liquids (GTL) facilities.
Take-Off For Gas Pipelines In Mexico, Brazil
Latin America is home to vast quantities of natural gas and oil. Pipeline construction in this region is driven by the need to transport, process and distribute newly discovered oil and gas to market, or to build dedicated pipelines in anticipation of a large increase in gas-fired power generation.
Iran Aims At Unlocking Massive Oil, Gas Reserves In Wake Of Nuclear Deal
The six world powers - China, France, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany - are continuing efforts to persuade a reluctant Iran to scale back its nuclear program with hopes the long-time standoff can be settled.
U.S. Oil And Gas Production Continues To Rise
<em>Pipeline & Gas Journal</em>’s 34th Annual 500 Report provides the industry’s most inclusive statistical review of U.S. energy pipeline systems. Once again, the report ranks the nation’s top gas distribution, liquids and gas transmission systems. The gas distribution rankings are based on number of customers, while transmission companies are ranked by mileage. Each liquids pipeline company ranking is based on yearly crude deliveries.
Editor's Notebook: Low Prices, High Spirits
Fact No. 1: China has cornered the market on solar power panels. Fact No. 2: Indonesia has cornered the market on wind turbine parts. Fact No. 3: Natural gas, and to a growing extent crude oil, are American-made products. Fact No. 4: Natural gas and crude oil are fueling an industrial renaissance in the United States. I can keep on going but unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere you know by now that the U.S. is undergoing a major transformation of its industrial and manufacturing base thanks to abundant, cheap and most importantly, reliable supplies of natural gas and crude oil. There remain several important issues still to be resolved such as LNG and crude oil exports, fracking disclosures, emissions controls and improved safety standards for transporters.
- Kinder Morgan Proposes 290-Mile Gas Pipeline Expansion Spanning Three States
- Enbridge Plans 86-Mile Pipeline Expansion, Bringing 850 Workers to Northern B.C.
- Intensity, Rainbow Energy to Build 344-Mile Gas Pipeline Across North Dakota
- U.S. Moves to Block Enterprise Products’ Exports to China Over Security Risk
- Court Ruling Allows MVP’s $500 Million Southgate Pipeline Extension to Proceed
- U.S. Pipeline Expansion to Add 99 Bcf/d, Mostly for LNG Export, Report Finds
- A Systematic Approach To Ensuring Pipeline Integrity
- 275-Mile Texas-to-Oklahoma Gas Pipeline Enters Open Season
- LNG Canada Start-Up Fails to Lift Gas Prices Amid Supply Glut
- TC Energy’s North Baja Pipeline Expansion Brings Mexico Closer to LNG Exports
