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SoCalGas, a utility providing natural gas for home heating and other uses to nearly 22 million people across Southern and Central California with a checkered safety history in the state, is under scrutiny for a 2017 explosion caused by a gas leak, which affected a residential neighborhood in Ontario and caused “severe damages to nearby garages and injury to one person.”

The tragic incident in Mexico makes it clear that pipeline tapping is becoming an increasing problem. A problem that not only costs human lives and causes enormous material damage, but also a problem that undermines public confidence in the pipeline transport systems and their operators.

Unknown individuals tried to tap gasoline from a fuel pipeline. The attempt led to the explosion of the pipeline, killing at least 100 people and wounding many more.

Local media reported that several hundred people were in the vicinity of the pipeline at the time of the explosion. The pipeline in the city of Tlahuelilpan had previously leaked, and local residents were approaching it to take the gasoline with them in buckets or canisters.

The Pipeline Transport Institute and Transneft Diascan have signed contracts for diagnostics (inspection) with Sonatrach, an Algerian state oil and gas company. In December, the documents were signed in the city of Algiers within the framework of the development of the provisions of the memorandum of Cooperation signed between Transneft and Sonatrach. The Memorandum was signed in October 2017 during the meeting of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Algeria Ahmed Ouyahia.

The Science and Technical Centre of the Pipeline Transport Institute in Ufa has commissioned a thermohydraulic test bench for studying heavy and bituminous oils.

The test bench’s principle of operation is based on recording oil parameters (pressure, flow and temperature) and their changes in the measuring line. The measured data is used to assess changes in rheological parameters of oil at different temperatures.

Brazil’s state-controlled oil company Petróleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras, could introduce a new sale and purchase agreement (SPA) for the sale of the Transportadora Associada de Gás (TAG) pipeline, after a Brazilian Supreme Court injunction this past July stalled the sale.

Énergie Saguenay, a Quebec-based company, has announced plans to construct an underground natural gas pipeline that will run 750-km from northeastern Ontario to Saguenay.

Though the pipeline, coupled with a liquidification gas plant, would carry an impressive $14 billion price tag and provide the region with a needed economic boost, it has been derided by local newspapers and environmental groups who say "they have seen this movie before."

Dominion Energy has put a halt to construction of the 965-km multibillion dollar Atlantic Coast Pipeline, after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that more study is needed to properly evaluate the environmental impact of pipeline construction on four endangered species across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina.

Environmental groups claim the rusty patch bumble bee, the Indiana bat, the Madison cave isopod (a type of crustacean) and the clubshell mussel would all be adversely affected by the Atlantic pipeline, even threatening their very existence.

ILF Consulting Engineering GmbH Germany has a new Management: With immediate effect, Tobias Walk (47) and Fred Wendt (48) have taken over as the global engineering firm’s Managing Directors from Dr.-Ing. Stefan Bürkle and Stefan Beck. Their appointment is ILF’s commitment to continuity, as both new Managing Directors have been serving ILF in various positions for many years – Walk for 21 years and Wendt for 16 years.

Columbia's 780 - km Cano Limon – Covenas 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.