June 2013, Vol. 240, No. 6

Advertisers from the print edition of Pipeline & Gas Journal, June 2013, Vol. 240, No. 6.

Solomon Associates has announced the opening of its office in Houston, which the company says will help it better serve its clients as well as assist in the recruitment of top industry professionals.

The other day I received this friendly e-mail from a PR person for The Nation, a newsletter that is the antithesis of Human Events. I can live without either. She asked if I would like to review an energy-related article.

Headquartered in Spokane, WA with a service area of more than 30,000 square miles in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and parts of southern and eastern Oregon, Avista Utilities is embarking on a 20-year program to systematically replace 714 miles of plastic main piping and install transition tubing at the identified steel tees at a cost of about $10 million a year. The investor-owned utility serves about 323,000 natural gas customers and another 158,000 electric customers.

Today’s inline inspection (ILI) technologies provide reliable solutions for inspecting pipelines once deemed unpiggable or difficult to inspect. Yet the tools are only one part of the solution. The fact remains that “unpiggable” pipeline challenges do not affect just the ILI tools – planning and managing the overall inspection project, and the complex variables involved, are critically important in delivering expectations in these challenging environments.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has released an updated oil and gas resource assessment for the Bakken Formation and a new assessment for the Three Forks Formation in North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana, showing the formations contain an estimated mean of 7.4 Bbbl of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil.

DESFA, the gas transmission system operator in Greece, has ordered state-owned public gas corporation DEPA SA to supply the country’s largest and most expensive high-pressured natural gas pipeline ever.

The work of a forensic engineer can be exciting, challenging and rewarding; however, behind the glamorous veneer, it is high pressure, hard work, frequently requiring its practitioner to draw unpopular conclusions.

You call your own fouls in pickup basketball. And if a big disagreement flares up over a call, the issue gets settled by declaring a ‘do-over’ -- you pretend the play never happened and reset the ball and score. I couldn’t help but think that in the wake of TransCanada’s recently announced delay of its Keystone XL pipeline project, the company might be wishing it could call a ‘do-over.’

At NACE International’s CORROSION 2013 annual conference in Orlando, FL, Pipeline & Gas Journal asked a selection of attendees for their perspectives on what brought them to the meeting, the leading issues in corrosion management, and where their companies and the industry as a whole seem headed.

The regulated gas industry conducts research & development (R&D) at a relatively lower level than other unregulated industries and really needs to capitalize on those projects in which benefits are realized.

Specialist pipe measurement technology company Optical Metrology Services (OMS) Ltd, recently completed measuring more than 19,000 pipe ends for Bredero Shaw at its pipe-coating facility in Leith, Scotland. The pipes are destined for use on Chevron’s technically challenging Congo River Crossing (CRX) Pipeline project.

For Johann Stupp and five succeeding generations of the Stupp family, America has certainly been a land of opportunity. Still, it’s unlikely that 157 years ago, Johann could ever have imagined that a company bearing his name would be known worldwide as an industrial leader providing essential materials for the construction of pipelines, bridges, sports facilities and even high-rise buildings.

Pipeline & Gas Journal, in partnership with the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), held its 9th annual Pipeline Opportunities Conference March 26 at the JW Houston Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Houston. Among the topics discussed were oil and gas prospects for 2013 and beyond, the shale gas boom, prospects for LNG exports and pipeline infrastructure to satisfy new supply sources.

While the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA) may have first logged shale gas development and production as far back as the mid-1990s, it has only been in recent years that shale plays have become universally recognized as a game-changer for the energy industry.

Sheehan Pipe Line Construction Co. (SPLCC), started in 1903, is the oldest pipeline construction company in the U.S. and is celebrating 110 years in business in 2013. The Tulsa, OK-based company has designed a new logo to commemorate the anniversary and will be creating collector items and memorabilia to celebrate their success.

A hundred years encompasses a lot of history; if you’re talking about the energy industry and pipeline infrastructure, then you’re really including almost the entire history of the business.

Business transformation can be a daunting task for any organization to undertake. As the economy begins to show signs of recovery, companies seeking to shift their strategy away from cost-cutting and toward growth and value creation are learning this the hard way.

Centrifugal compressor surge and its prevention have drawn significant attention in compressor literature and editorial content. An important aspect of surge avoidance lies in the design of the compressor station and, in particular, the piping upstream and downstream of the compressor.

Oil and gas companies are tasked with maintaining, securing and ensuring that hundreds of miles of pipeline deliver energy to residents and businesses throughout the country every day. This is a job made even more daunting considering the shortage of resources within the industry and budgets requiring managers to stretch every dollar.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) took a first, tentative step to give New England utilities more flexibility in arranging for natural gas supplies. But the Order issued on April 24 left at least one pipeline executive wondering whether the Commission actually accomplished anything of value.

Alliance Pipeline Ltd. named William (Bill) Christensen as its president of law, general counsel and corporate secretary.

Atlas Energy LP’s midstream subsidiary, Atlas Pipeline Partners (APL) LP, has a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the equity interests of TEAK Midstream LLC for $1 billion.

Crestwood Midstream Partners LP, Crestwood Holdings LLC and Inergy LP, Inergy Midstream LP have signed definitive agreements to create a fully integrated midstream partnership valued at $7 billion.

Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP has a new fee-based gas gathering, processing and purchase agreement with Monarch Natural Gas LLC.

Dallas-based Energy Transfer Technologies (ETT), a leader in energy management, has announced its largest installation to-date of Dual Drive compression systems.

More than 200 state, regional and national energy transmission pipeline industry leaders will gather July 30-Aug. 2 in Sarasota, FL to explore safety, security, supply, projects and industry trends at the Florida Energy Pipeline Association’s (FEPA) 24th annual summer symposium.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMP) LP closed its acquisition of Houston-based Copano Energy LLC. KMP has acquired all of Copano’s outstanding units for about $5 billion, including debt assumption.

The Millennium Pipeline Co. held a non-binding open season for firm transportation service under its existing rate schedule FT-1 to be made available through existing capacity and construction of at least one compressor station and 60 miles of new pipeline that would connect to the Dominion Transmission system near Cortland, NY, and the Tennessee Gas Pipeline System near Syracuse, NY.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved a settlement with UGI Utilities Inc. that included a $200,000 civil penalty, which stemmed from an investigation into an Oct. 31, 2011 explosion in Millersville that caused $450,000 in damages to a home and business.

Savage announced the expanded service offerings at its terminals in Price and Salt Lake City, UT to include crude by rail transloading services and associated car storage, on a manifest basis. These terminals will provide Uinta Basin crude, bound for key refinery markets, with access to rail transportation.

SemGroup Corp. has a definitive agreement to acquire the equity interests of Mid-America Midstream Gas Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy Corp., the owner of gas gathering and processing assets in the Mississippi Lime play, for $300 million.

Shell Pipeline announced a successful supplemental open season period for additional firm capacity on the fully reversed Houma-to-Houston pipeline system (Ho-Ho Reversal).

Solomon Associates of Dallas announced its 2013 Natural Gas Transmission System Performance Analysis (NGTS Study) to help pipeline operators maintain a high level of operating cost efficiency and stay competitive amid today’s challenging market conditions.

Oil and gas activity turned modestly upward in the first quarter of 2012 after slight declines in the latter half of 2012, according to the latest release of the Texas Petro Index (TPI).

Tata Steel demonstrated its ability to deliver pipeline solutions to challenging and complex projects at the Offshore Technology Conference.

Jacking gears are by definition the most characteristic systems of self-elevating units and jack-ups. However, this gear remains often neglected on board, with a high potential for dire consequences.

Enbridge Inc. and Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. have launched an online portal to offer free, customized pipeline emergency training to first responder organizations located along Enbridge's and the Partnership's more than 50,000 miles of onshore pipelines comprising several pipeline systems in the U.S. and Canada.

Enterprise Products Partners plans to expand its crude oil storage and distribution infrastructure serving the Southeast Texas refinery market. The expansion will be completed in phases with final completion expected late next year.

The governments of transit countries in the Nabucco-West project — Austria, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria — have appealed to the European Union to back the selection of this pipeline route by the Shah Deniz gas producers in Azerbaijan.

Excelerate Energy completed its front-end engineering and design (FEED) work for the 4.4 million ton per annum (mtpa) dockside liquefaction facility to be located in the Texas Gulf Coast.

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners has entered into a long-term contract to support the expansion of its Sweeny lateral that it is building from the Kinder Morgan crude condensate pipeline to Phillip 66’s refinery in Brazoria County, TX.

Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. has announced that it will conduct Phase I of an open season for the Dakota Express Pipeline, a proposed pipeline to transport Bakken crude oil from western North Dakota to Hartford, IL and Patoka, IL.

Lithuanian state-controlled energy terminal operator Klaipedos Nafta delayed approval of a contractor to build a link to connect its planned LNG terminal to the distribution grid pending a probe of the tender terms. This could hold back launch of the gas platform in late 2014.

A subsidiary of McDermott International Inc. has won a project for a customer in the Arabian Gulf.

NET Midstream reported that NET Mexico Pipeline, LP, a wholly owned subsidiary of NET, will build a 124-mile, 42-inch natural gas pipeline system to the Texas/Mexico border, with associated compression.

Petrobras will double in size in the next seven years, said CEO Maria das Graças Silva Foster at last month’s Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. She said production in Brazil, which was 2.2 Mboe in 2012, will reach 5.7 million in 2020, largely due to the pre-salt.

While meeting in Amsterdam recently, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte witnessed the signing of an agreement of intent to expand the Gazprom-controlled Nord Stream pipeline system into the Netherlands and potentially to the United Kingdom. The CEOs of Gazprom and of Gasunie, Aleksei Miller and Paul van Gelder, signed the document, following Putin and Miller’s initiative to expand Nord Stream.

In mid-December, a retired jack-up drilling rig under tow from Fourchon, LA to be dismantled in Texas began taking on water. Despite being in an area of heavy marine activity in the Gulf of Mexico, the tow captain maneuvered the sinking rig into a little-used section of the Vermillion leasing block where the seas finally washed over the main deck and forced the rig to the ocean floor.

Rosneft and Japan's Marubeni Corp. signed a memorandum of cooperation to implement LNG projects and the development of oil and gas fields.

The Samsun-Ceyhan oil pipeline project looks to have been shelved after a Russian minister told Turkish media it would be uneconomical.

Scotland's oil and gas supply chain exports rose by 8.4% in 2011-12, to $12.7 billion — almost double the rate of the previous year — according to the latest figures from Scottish Development International and the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI).

Spectra Energy Corp. has agreed to drop down 50% of the Express-Platte Pipeline System to Spectra Energy Partners for $555 million in cash, $139 million in newly issued partnership units, and $129 million of acquired Express-Platte System debt.

Mokveld has been awarded the subsea anti-surge control valves for the Åsgard Subsea Gas Compression Project.

Bryan is scheduled to get a new pipe and tubular facility. The Prolamsa Group will build the 300,000-plus tons-per-year facility in the city’s Texas Triangle Park area.

A lack of pipeline capacity to the U.S. - Canada's only export market - has pushed executives and government officials to propose alternative routes to both the east and west coasts of Canada.

CASE Construction Equipment last month introduced the new Tier 4 interim CX130C and CX160C excavators to its C Series product line, offering customers fuel economy increases of up to 8% and 5%, respectively, vs. previous B Series models. This results in increased productivity, along with lower overall owning and operating costs facilitated through easier maintenance.

Online and offline pipeline chemical cleaning process inefficiencies can be a major cause of cost increases and pipeline downtime in maintenance projects. M-I SWACO Pipeline Services (M-I PLS) in Houston have developed advanced evaluation methods and patented formulated chemical products that significantly improve the effectiveness of any pipeline cleaning requirements.

Consolidate your real-time and historical data collection into one application, KEPServerEX. KEPServerEX enables improved operations and decision making by providing real-time data to SCADA systems, as well as EFM output to validation and accounting systems.

PIR Push-In Raised Face Protectors from Alliance Express have flexible fins ensuring a snug fit into the bore.

Installation in hours, lasts for decades.

A Sensor Array developed in conjunction with a major pipeline company provides confirming corrosion control data in difficult to access locations.

Protect your pipe with the RPP plug from Alliance Express.

ValvTechnologies, Inc. ValvTechnologies, Inc. has added bidirectional flow capabilities to its existing V1 valve product line, releasing a backpressure-resistant, metal-seated ball valve.