Operations

U.S. Energy Secretary: No Need to Hoard Fuel After Pipeline Outage

U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said on Tuesday there are no gasoline shortages in the wake of the Colonial Pipeline shutdown and that consumers should report any instances of price gouging of motor fuel.

Colonial Pipeline Shuts Down after Cyber Attack

Top U.S. fuel pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline has shut its entire network, the source of nearly half of the U.S. East Coast's fuel supply, after a cyber attack that industry sources said was caused by ransomware.

How Drones Assist with Pipeline Inspections

The benefits of drone technology are especially apparent in large-scale infrastructure projects with high regulatory burdens and high consequences if something goes wrong.

Enhancing Safety with Integrated Rupture Disk Assemblies

For decades, rupture disks have served the oil and gas industry as an effective, passive safety mechanism to protect against overpressure or potentially damaging vacuum conditions.

Automated Compliance Management Aids Recordkeeping

Amid growing PHMSA regulation and evolving technology, gas utilities are being called to modernize and improve business processes to meet safety and compliance goals. Going through this process will cause organizations to experience change on many levels.

Colonial Pipeline Increases Estimate of Gasoline Spilled in North Carolina

New data shows the amount of gasoline released in Mecklenburg County’s Oehler Nature Preserve exceeds Colonial Pipeline’s 1.2-million-gallon estimate.

Equinor LNG Plant Broke Rules Ahead of 2020 Fire, Watchdog Says

Equinor must fix a series of rule breaches exposed by a fire at its Melkoeya LNG plant in Norway last year for the plant to reopen, the country's safety watchdog said on Thursday.

Gazprom Helping Determine Lawful Ownership of Russian Gas Pipelines

In the absence of lawful owners, gas networks and pipelines lack proper control and maintenance. More than 70% of such facilities are in the North Caucasus, Volga and Siberian Federal Districts.

LOOP, Phillips 66 Win 2020 Distinguished Pipeline Safety Awards

The American Petroleum Institute announced LOOP LLC and Phillips 66 Pipeline LLC are the winners of the 2020 Distinguished Pipeline Safety Awards, which recognize operators who have distinguished themselves as champions of industry innovation and operational excellence.

Project Canary to Measure Greenhouse Gases from Rio Grande LNG Facility

NextDecade Corporation and Project Canary announced the formation of a joint pilot project for monitoring, reporting, and measurement of the greenhouse gas intensity of LNG to be sold from NextDecade’s Rio Grande LNG export facility in Brownsville, Texas.

Pipeline Company Recognizes April as National Safe Digging Month

Georgia’s Colonial Pipeline is reminding homeowners and contractors that safe digging must remain a priority to protect people and prevent damage to critical utility services.

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.