October 2013, Vol. 240 No. 10

Advertisers from the print edition of Pipeline & Gas Journal, October 2013, Vol. 240 No. 10.

President Obama sure is a cagey fellow; after watching him closely for the past six years I don’t think there’s much doubt about that. So, that leads me to the big question: what exactly is he planning to do with that long-overdue decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline?

Around the world there are nearly 1.4 trillion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) reserves in conventional undeveloped oil and gas fields according to Wood Mackenzie’s latest upstream outlook. This includes nearly 1.1 trillion boe of "technical reserves" – a term Wood Mackenzie uses for reserves for which there are no firm development plans in place.

The Medgaz gas pipeline started delivering natural gas in March 2011 from the gas compressor station on the Algerian coast to the receiving terminal in Spain.

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.

ROSEN, which began as an engineering company for oil and gas industry inspection, is today a worldwide provider of cutting-edge solutions in all areas of the integrity process chain.

CenterPoint Energy and OGE Energy Corp. have named the senior operations leadership team for the natural gas midstream partnership that will consist of the former’s interstate pipelines and field services businesses and the latter’s midstream business, Enogex LLC.

New York City’s skyline is ever-changing and is now undergoing a change of another kind – a cleaning of the air around it, assisted by a Con Edison program, which helps people switch to cleaner-burning natural gas.

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.

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.

Recently formed Pipeline Drying International, LLC, of Houston provides air drying of pipelines, stations, LNG tanks or any vessel with its patent-pending Mobile Drying Unit (MDU8000), which produces up to 4,500 cubic feet/minute (cfm) of oil free negative dew point air. This while consuming less than 22 gallons per hour in fuel.

An Industrial Control System (ICS) is comprised of many disparate components, including hardware and software technologies, the system infrastructure--from the communications network to the physical plant--the human element for tasks that require manual intervention, and the environment.

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.

United LNG, an LNG export company converting an offshore import terminal to export LNG, expects to require 300 miles of pipeline to serve the facility’s projected 4 BCF/d capacity once fully functional, according to Director Eric Saenz.

Matt Ballard, president of Sevier County Utility District in Tennessee, became chairman of the American Public Gas Association (APGA) at its annual meeting in July. He serves on the board of the Tennessee Gas Association (TGA), the TGA education/Steering Committee Board of Directors and is a past member of its Board of Directors. Ballard is also a member of the APGA Operations and Safety Committee.

Leak detection and repair have become increasingly critical to the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas and to protecting the environment. Yet many gas distribution companies are finding that their pipelines are aging at a faster rate than they can be surveyed and repaired. That’s because the traditional flame-ionization leak-detection process is hard-pressed to keep pace with emerging demand for more frequent, accurate and efficient surveys and repairs.

Many sections of piping were previously constructed or are operated in ways that do not allow the use of inline inspection (ILI) tools of a traditional design. For more than 10 years, Diakont has focused on the development and deployment of tooling to support the inspection of these pipeline sections that were previously considered “unpiggable.”

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.

Rolls-Royce has announced a $175 million contract to supply Asia Gas Pipeline LLP (AGP) with equipment and related services to power the flow of natural gas through Kazakhstan’s Line C Gas Pipeline, part of the vast 1,833-km Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline network.

Removing polychlorinated biphenyls – commonly known as PCBs – from existing facilities is no easy task, so just imagine the added challenge of removing PCBs from active compressor stations that deliver natural gas to hundreds of communities in five states. Columbia Pipeline Group is facing just this challenge as it remediates 36 operating stations by 2014.

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.

Oil and gas operations are near the top of the list of sectors which will be affected if the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) proposed workplace standard on crystalline silica becomes final.

AGL Resources Inc. received unanimous approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to implement its accelerated infrastructure replacement (AIR) program. This allows AGL’s Elizabethtown Gas utility to invest $115 million over four years to enhance the safety, reliability and integrity of its distribution system.

Alliance Energy Services agreed to acquire a Benson, MN, propane terminal from Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP (KMP) for $5 million. The terminal supplies more than 75 million gallons per year from the Cochin Pipeline System and has a storage capacity of about 1.4 million gallons.

Audubon Engineering was chosen to create the front-end engineering and design for Noble Energy’s new $45 million LNG facility, Colorado's first dedicated LNG plant.

Officials of Axis Pipe and Tube Inc., The Prolamsa Group and state and local officials participated in groundbreaking ceremonies in Bryan, TX for a pipe and tube facility. The company will invest more than $150 million in the plant.

A $5 billion pipeline vital to Premier Christy Clark's plan to revitalize British Columbia's economy through LNG development is facing a tough environmental battle on the north coast. "They can't be allowed to follow that route," grizzly bear biologist Wayne McCrory said last month of the pipeline corridor proposed for the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission Project.

Dominion Resources has won approval from the federal Department of Energy to export LNG from the facility the company wants to add to an existing import terminal in Maryland, the fourth such project authorized by the agency.

An Inergy Midstream LP and Enserco Midstream LLC joint venture will own and operate a crude oil rail terminal, located in Douglas County, WY.

Meritage Midstream Services II LLC has acquired 100% ownership of Thunder Creek Gas Services LLC from Devon Energy Corp. and PVR Partners LP.

As part of a "U.S. Century" fueled by global shale gas dominance, domestic natural gas prices will rise and volatility will return in the next three to five years, participants at the LDC Gas Forum Mid-Continent in Chicago were told on Sept. 10.

Smart Pipe Co. Inc. has secured an additional $12 million financing round with an $8 million investment from a subsidiary of Enbridge Inc.

Tengasco Inc. closed on the sale of its Swan Creek field in Hancock County, TN along with its other Tennessee oil and natural gas leases for $1.5 million to Swan Creek Partners LLC and its affiliate General Gas Pipeline LLC.

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.

Excelerate Energy awarded UK-based Technica Ltd. an $8 million contract for multi-discipline detailed design and procurement management for the Aguirre Offshore GasPort.

Double Eagle Pipeline LLC, a 50/50 joint venture between Magellan Midstream Partners and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., has begun operation of the 85-mile western leg of its pipeline system moving condensate from Gardendale near Cotulla, TX in LaSalle County to Three Rivers, TX.

Black & Veatch and Kiewit completed the FEED work and pre-construction planning activities for the Jordan Cove Liquefaction project. Located in Coos Bay, OR, the facility will utilize Black & Veatch's PRICO LNG technology to produce up to 6 million tons of LNG per year for export.

Alexey Miller, chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and Zhou Jiping, chairman of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), signed an agreement outlining the terms and conditions of pipeline gas supply from Russia to China via the eastern route pipeline.

Construction of the 141-mile, 16-inch Parkway Pipeline, a 50-50 joint venture between Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. and Valero Energy Corp., is complete and transporting refined petroleum products from refineries in Norco, LA to an existing petroleum transportation hub in Collins, MS owned by Plantation Pipe Line Co.

NiSource Midstream Services has completed a compressor upgrade project at its Majorsville compressor station in Dallas, WV. The project included replacement of four vintage Ingersoll Rand KVG412 compressors with four CAT 3606 engines using Ariel JGC4 compressors.

ONEOK Partners, L.P. will invest $440 million in the natural gas liquids-rich area in the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to:

Rosneft and ExxonMobil have begun preliminary work on a joint LNG plant to be built in the Far East by 2018 by selecting a contractor to complete the design and engineering work. In 2013 and 2014 the companies intend to select liquefaction technology, define basic equipment requirements, complete civil-engineering surveys, and prepare legal documentation.

The Southern Peruvian Pipeline project will be awarded in February, according to Peru’s investment promotion agency, ProInversion. The selected contractor will design, build, operate and maintain the pipeline.

The Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) has authorized its contractors to start surveys for collecting detailed information on the landowners living along the pipeline corridor to complement existing data.

Despite many positive developments in recent years, the future of the ambitious TAPI gas pipeline project remains in doubt. All four partner countries are making serious preparations for the project.

Trunkline LNG Export, LLC has awarded a front-end engineering and design (FEED) contract to Technip for potential expansion of the LNG import terminal in Lake Charles, LA.

Chevron’s Richmond, CA refinery is huge in terms of both size – 2,900 acres – and people with over 1,700 workers making it the largest of Chevron’s refinery Richmond’s largest employer.

In the oil and gas industry, corrosion accounts for more than 25% of failures, according to a recent NACE International report. Corroded pipe repair or replacement costs the industry more than $7 billion per year, based on estimates from the National Association of Corrosion Engineers.

New products and services from TOA Technologies, Heath Consultants, Pipetech, Tiger Industrial Rentals, ProSoft Technology, Enervation, Chevron Products Company, LYME-AID, Kenworth, Wood Group, Emerson, ULC Robotics and more.

Installation in hours, lasts for decades. Pre-engineered and outfitted. Minimal site preparation.

GE’s SPS Surface Pumping Systems are being specified for a growing number of liquid and CO2 pipeline applications.

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