Special Reports

A gas pipeline operated by Sinopec subsidiary Sinopec Sichuan-East Natural Gas Pipeline Company exploded recently in China's central Hubei province causing multiple casualties and damaging homes of nearly a hundred villagers. Gas transmission to Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai was also interrupted.

Federal prosecutors have dropped all but $6 million of a potential $562 million fine levied against Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) for safety violations related to the lethal explosion in San Bruno in 2010. The blast killed 8 people and destroyed 38 homes, triggering a massive fire that swept through this southern San Franciscan neighborhood..

NDT Global, a leading service provider of ultrasonic pipeline inspection and data analysis, has conducted a detailed and accurate baseline survey of Statoil’s Polarled gas pipeline. NDT Global used its ultrasonic technology to get highly accurate results for Polarled pipeline, a pipeline with varied wall thickness.

The workers at a Peruvian gas pipeline unit recently welcomed a new crewmember. Surprisingly, the new unofficial recruit to join the workforce is a sloth who was seen making an effort to turn a valve. The workers at the unit captured a video of the sloth in action during late June.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) has shut down a pipeline section in the central region of the country after the area was hit by landslide and fire.

An oil pipeline operated by Crimson Pipeline LLC in Ventura County, southern California has leaked an estimated 29, 400 gallons of crude oil in the surrounding hills. None of the oil has reached the Pacific Ocean, as an early warning from a local Ventura Country resident allowed officials to intercept the oil in a drainage basin a few miles inland.

A total of 540 participants from 52 different countries convened in Berlin to share expert knowledge within the framework of the 11th Pipeline Technology Conference (ptc). The event took place from 23 to 25 May 2016 and was held this year, for the first time, together with the inaugural Pipe and Sewer Conference (PASC).

The protracted low oil price environment is forcing changes in the United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) infrastructure, as more oil and gas companies divest pipeline assets to rationalize their portfolios.

During the concluding session of the 11th Pipeline Technology Conference entitled "What’s next? Current Challenges and Future Fields for the Global Pipeline Industry" held in Berlin from 23-25 May, the ROSEN Group presented the results of the its 3rd ROSEN Energy & Innovation Forum (REIF).

Last week Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu, bemoaned growing pipeline vandalism in the country resuling in losses of some 800,000 barrels of oil per day. Nigeria’s crude oil production had declined from 2.2 million barrels per day to 1.4 million barrels per day due to pipeline vandalism.

The 3rd ROSEN Energy & Innovation Forum took place at ROSEN Technology & Research Center in Lingen from 10-12 May 2016. This year's topic was "Pipeline Integrity 2030 - Ensuring Future Performance". The results of the event will be presented by Hermann Rosen at ptc 2016 in Berlin on 25 May.

The upcoming Pipeline Technology Journal China (ptj China) will be available for the first time during the 11th Pipeline Technology Conference in Berlin, Germany (23-25 May 2016).

"It all started out as a joke in 2010," says Xavier Vanneste, heir to a dynasty of beer brewers in the ancient city of Bruges, Belgium.

With delegates from 50 different nations, with over 600 participants including staff and management of 53 international pipeline operators, 85 speakers and 12 poster sessions the 11th Pipeline Technology Conference (23-25 May, Berlin) is shaping up to be a pivotal event for the global pipeline community with the following 3 Panel Discussions:

H.E. Dr. Ali Majedi was Deputy Oil Minister for Foreign Affairs in Iran from 2013-2014. He is Iranian Ambassador to Germany in Berlin since October 2014.