News

Tallgrass Development has announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Rockies Express Holdings, LLC, has signed a purchase agreement with Sempra U.S. Gas & Power, to acquire Sempra's 25 percent interest in the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) for approximately $440 million in cash.

The Pipeline Research Council International (PRCI), of Falls Church, Virginia, has funded a project resulting in the successful testing of a drone equipped with a methane gas sensor able to detect methane gas with a greater sensitivity than previously available.

Georgia Oil and Gas Corporation (GOGC) which own the high-pressure gas pipeline network in Georgia, has announced a tender for construction-rehabilitation of DN 300 Telavi-Akhmenta 27 km section of the Kakheti main gas pipeline. The deadline, just over a week away, is 4 April 2016.

The Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) has refused a request made by Dakota Access, subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, to expedite the final permit to construct the 558 - km Iowa portion of the 1825-km, 30 inch diameter interstate Bakken crude oil pipeline.

In the wake of a number of recent high-profile pipeline gas leaks / explosions in the United States and resulting uncertainty among U.S.

TransCanada confirmed rumors reported in these pages last week that the company will acquire Houston-based Columbia Pipeline Group and its 24,000-km pipeline network for $13 billion, creating one of the largest regulated natural gas transmission businesses in North America.

Kinder Morgan, sponsor of the proposed 340 km Palmetto Petroleum Products Pipeline to be built from South Carolina through the eastern part of Georgia into Florida, suffered another legislative setback this past week when the Georgia Senate denied the company the power to condemn property along the pipeline right-of-way, otherwise known as the right of eminent domain.

The Pipeline Technology Journal (ptj) will be available as a Chinese edition from April 2016 on. This has been agreed between the ptj-publisher and a Chinese partner company associated with PetroChina, the country’s biggest oil and gas group.

TransCanada is reportedly in talks to acquire Columbia Pipeline Group in the United States in a deal worth $12 billion in total.

Israel Natural Gas Lines announced last week that a gas pipeline currently being constructed in the Dead Sea area will begin supplying gas from the Tamar reservoir in the Mediterranean to private customers in Jordan next year.

Coinciding with the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) awarding of contracts last week for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of approximately 760 km of cross-country onshore pipeline in Greece and Albania, the European Commission ruled that the Host Government Agreement between Greece and TAP conformed with EU state aid rules, opening the way for the new gas pipeline to enter Europ

The Kirkuk-Ceyhan Transnational Oil Pipeline was sabotaged last month in Turkey, halting the export of the commodity from Iraq's self-governing Kurdish region and placing the Barzani-led Kurdish Regional Government under considerable strain, struggling to meet its public payroll.

Anadarko has announced the sale of its majority stake in the Springfield Pipeline LLC to Western Gas Partners for $750 million.

With the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Gazprom, Edison SpA and DEPA SA for gas deliveries across the Black Sea from Russia to Greece and ultimately Italy, Russia has signaled its interest in keeping the southern gas route option alive.

Previous recent manifestations of this option, like South Stream and Turkish Stream, have all been discarded for various reasons.

Two ruptures in Petroperu's main oil pipeline have spilled some 3000 barrels of crude into the Chiriaco and Morona rivers in northwestern Peru, contaminating the water supply of at least eight native Achuar communities which rely on the rivers for this purpose.

The pipeline, which normally transports 5000 - 6000 bpd, has ceased operation.

Sixteen weeks after high levels of methane gas were detected leaking from a storage facility owned by Southern California Gas Company (SoCal Gas - the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility) in Aliso Canyon, the California Department of Conservation has declared that the leak has been permanent sealed with concrete.

The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has determined in its preliminary report issued this week that external pipeline corrosion was the root cause of the devastating 19 May 2015 Santa Barbara oil spill, spoiling miles of coastline more than 100 miles away on Los Angeles beaches.

In keeping with the current upswing in the European natural gas market, the Salzgitter Group has announced the award of three contracts by Open Grid Europe for approximately 70,000 tons of spirally-welded large-diameter pipes.

The pipes will be used in the extension of the natural gas grid in southern and western Germany, enhancing the security of supply.

Punj Lloyd has been selected by Oman Oil Refineries and Petroleum Industries Company (ORPIC) and Oman Gas Company (OGC) to construct a 300 km natural gas liquid (NGL) pipeline as well as a 301 km natural gas pipeline.

NDT Global, a leading supplier of ultrasonic pipeline inspection and integrity services, has announced that it has received a multi-million euro contract, on behalf of Gassco, from Statoil, Norway's leading gas and oil enterprise.

In a new effort to significantly expand the French gas pipeline network along the north - south axis, Max Streicher GmbH & Co. has been commissioned to execute several pipeline construction lots as part of the Haute de France II and Arc de Dierrey projects.

Williams Partners' Gulf Connector project, intending to connect two Gulf Coast liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities under construction in Corpus Christi and Freeport, also heralds continental U.S.'s first time export of this commodity.

Norway, Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas after Russia, is seeking a signal from the European Union regarding the future role of its gas within the European energy mix.

With no apparent stop to Third Party Intervention causing up to $12 billion a year in damages to the country's pipeline infrastructure in Nigeria, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) has established a 'Command and Control Center' to monitor the national grid in the South-South region and preempt vandals before they rupture the lines and steal the oil.

TransCanada, looking to begin construction on the additional 1600 km crude oil extension of the Energy East Pipeline, has signed a provisional multimillion - dollar order with ABB Canada for the development of 22 electrical houses (e-houses) along the pipeline route which would supply electricity to the pipeline's pumping stations.