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Columbia's 780 - km Cano Simon oil pipeline has been attacked yet again for the 78th time this year. And while it had been out of service to better repair the pipeline after a similar attack just a few months ago, there was still considerable damage to the environment.

Columbia has struggled for years to combat perceived National Liberation Army (ELN) attacks on its hydrocarbon infrastructure. The rebel group contends that the country is selling out its national resources to multinational companies and demands a re-think.

Three new gas pipeline studies which the EU hopes will be a prelude to eventual construction are expected to start soon. The 160-km gas pipeline would be built between Malta and Gela in Sicily, cost around €350 million with a projected completion by 2024. The studies being undertaken are looking into the route, the seabed, the effects on the environment as well as the design of the infrastructure needed for the project. The studies are expected to be completed by the end of the 2019 summer.

In what has been described as "the worst time" for Canada's oil industry, a United States District Judge, Brian Morris, ruled last week that more time was needed to study the potential environmental impact of the 1905-km, $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline project.

In his decision, Morris said the analysis didn’t fully cover the cumulative effects of greenhouse gas emissions, the effects of current oil prices on the pipeline’s viability or include updated modelling of potential oil spills.

For the second time this year Kinder Morgen has decided to abandon a major pipeline project.

The first, the Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Expansion project, that would have brought tar sands heavy crude from Alberta to the west coast of British Columbia, was sold to the Canadian federal government when environmental opposition was deemed too strong to overcome. Kinder Morgan said it expected cash proceeds from the Trans Mountain sale would total US$900 million.

Recently, the Pipeline Technology Journal (ptj) launched a Russian version of the international ptj e-journal. The new version is created together with the Moscow-based RADIOFRONT publishing house. The Russian version of ptj deals with Russian and European cutting-edge technologies of pipeline monitoring and maintenance and is distributed to leading pipeline operators in Eurasia.

Saudi Aramco and the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) today announced the successful commissioning of AB-4 pipeline, a new phase of the strategic Saudi Aramco-Bahrain crude oil pipeline to meet the Kingdom of Bahrain’s growing energy demand.

The North-South gas pipeline, 1122-km in length with a 42-inch diameter, and which would annually transport around 12.4 billion cubic meters (bcm) of LNG from Karachi to Punjab in Pakistan, is expected to break ground in 2019 and be completed in 2020.

All of the technical aspects of the BOOT project have been finalized and now the matter will be vetted by the respective legal teams in the two principal countries, Russia and Pakistan.

An oil pipeline exploded in a residential area in Nigeria last Saturday. The operating company NNPC speaks of several deaths. The exact number of victims is still uncertain but local media reports indicate a much higher casualty rate than previously reported.

The offshore pipelay vessel "Audacia" has begun its work on the Nord Stream 2 project. "Audacia", operated by Allseas, is the second vessel together with the "Castoro Dieci" (C10) to lay the Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the German route section.

The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) have held a comprehensive review of their bilateral relations and have agreed to develop a number of pipelines between the two countries to supply landlocked Nepal with oil, natural gas and LPG.

The oil pipeline, a 69-km connection between Motihari, India and Amlekhgunj, Nepal, will provide an alternative to trucks for the supply of petroleum products. Construction has already begun on the Nepal side and the pipeline will be completed in its entirety by 2019.

It appears ExxonMobil will lead the development of yet another pipeline system coming from the prolific Permian Basin, where the company expects a fivefold increase in output to as much as 800,000 BOE/D.

The 614-km, 40 inch Ajaokuta - Kano Gas Pipeline (AKK), the single biggest gas pipeline in the history of oil and gas operations in Nigeria, will now go forward with $ 2.38 bn financing secured by the China National Petroleum Corporation.

Groundbreaking is supposed to occur in October: “We want to maximize the construction work before the end of the year. We are hoping for the quick resolution of the financing agreements so that we will kick-start the project in October when the dry season begins.”