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Doubts surrounding the awarding of the multibillion dollar Mariner East natural gas liquids pipeline system in Pennsylvania have given rise to an FBI corruption investigation into Dallas-based Energy Transfer. The focus of the agents’ questions involves the permitting of the pipeline, whether Governor Thomas Wolf's administration forced the environmental protection staff to approve construction permits and whether Wolf or his administration received anything in return, according to the Associated Press.

The small west African country of Equatorial Guinea, boasting the continent's best infrastructure (all attributable to its relatively vast hydrocarbon wealth - proven natural gas reserves estimated of 4.5 trillion cubic feet), has awarded Italy's Saipem a contract worth $90 - $100 million to build a 70km subsea pipeline connecting the Alen Platform with the Punta Europa petrochemical hub.

An oil pipeline has exploded Wednesday in Egypt, killing and injuring multiple people. According to the authorities, at least six people were killed and 16 others injured. The victims are said to be oil thieves.

The accident occurred in the northern province of al-Buhaira, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Health. The cause was an attempted oil theft. A fire broke out, causing a detonation.

The passing of John Tiratsoo fills me with sadness as I have come to know John as a visionary and motivated person in the international pipeline family who has pushed his work forward with dedication and endurance.

He sometimes made his way to Berlin and Hannover, where we had great times together in Germany’s finest beer gardens. I enjoyed his company as much as I admired his ideas in regards of the pipeline sector. Our industry has truly lost one of its best-known and much appreciated individuals.

Oil from the giant Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea has arrived at the Mongstad plant north of Bergen.

“This is a great day for Equinor and the Johan Sverdrup partnership, consisting of Lundin Norway, Petoro, Aker BP and Total. First oil to Mongstad only a few days after production start confirms that the field is producing well," says Irene Rummelhoff, executive vice president for Marketing, Midstream & Processing (MMP) in Equinor.

With over 2000 km of subsea pipeline laid for Nordstream 2 Gazprom and its European partners are ratcheting up the pressure on Denmark to grant access for the pipeline through its exclusive economic zone. This route would save the project significant time and money. Still it is by no means certain the Danes will go along.

"If they don't approve it... we will go around Denmark's economic zone," Gazprom chairman Viktor Zubkov said at a Moscow energy forum, quoted by TASS news agency.

Minnesota regulators at the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will take up the approval process for Enbridge Energy's controversial plan to replace its decrepit Line 3 crude oil pipeline across northern Minnesota.

The process had been stalled until legal challenges by environmental and tribal groups could be heard. These groups contend that any upgrade to the pipeline would aggravate climate change and pose an unacceptable risk of spills into sensitive lakes, streams and wetlands.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), otherwise known as America's pipeline regulator, has been deliberating for years on ways to strengthen its regulatory framework and at long last issued three new pipeline safety rules that will materially affect the way the over 804,672 km of pipelines are operated in the United States.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao personally weighed in saying, “These are significant revisions to federal pipeline safety laws and will improve the safety of our nation’s energy infrastructure.”

T.D. Williamson (TDW) is releasing a standard offering for isolation fittings that fully complies with the new EN-13480 code, the European standard that replaces national codes in many countries.

With their all-new engineered design—which the company calls the ProSeries™ Advantage—the TDW STOPPLE® and STOPPLE Plus fittings meet EN-13480’s high standard for safety.

Full compliance with EN-13480 means STOPPLE fittings with the ProSeries Advantage demonstrate strict adherence to the relevant code’s stringent requirements.

The recent drone attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais have caused the loss of 5.7 million barrel oil per day. Houthi rebels claimed responsability while Saudi Arabia and the US are investigating who caused the damage.

The german association MWV, short for Mineralöl Wirtschafts Verband (mineral oil economic association), welcomes VARO Energy Refining and several other companies as new members.
VARO, a company from Switzerland, specialises in the downstream sector. The company is a major shareholder of the Bayernoil Raffinerie in Neustadt an der Donau with around 45%.

Transgaz, the Romanian gas transmission company and Black Sea Oil & Gas, together with its co-venture partners Petro Ventures Resources and Gas Plus International, have signed an agreement to build a 24.37 km pipeline that will feed gas from Black Sea wells into the national gas infrastructure system, the economy ministry said on Friday.

The consortium announced that they had approved the Final Investment Decision to proceed with the USD 400 million Midia Gas Development Project, offshore Black Sea.