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Archive for the ‘pipelines’ Category

Nord Stream pipeline investigation

Posted in accidents, natural gas, Norway, pipelines, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on September 28, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The quote below is encouraging. Hopefully, the technical team will be able to function independently, and will have strong leadership. I would like to see participation by the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway.

“There are good teams in place to handle pipeline accidents, there are emergency pipe inventories and experts for onshore and offshore,” Jens Schumann, managing director of gas pipeline grid company Gasunie Deutschland, said.

Reuters

Meanwhile the seemingly straightforward Huntington Beach pipeline spill investigation drags on one year after the incident.

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Nord Stream pipeline leaks: The plot thickens as Norwegian operators report mysterious drone sightings

Posted in accidents, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2022| Leave a Comment »

This notice from the Petroleum Safety Authority of Norway adds yet another twist to the Nord Stream saga:

In recent times, Ptil has received several notices/messages from operator companies on the Norwegian continental shelf about observations of unidentified drones/aircraft in the vicinity of offshore facilities. We have called for increased vigilance from all operators and shipowners on the Norwegian continental shelf.

Here is Nord Stream’s update on their investigations into the pipeline leaks:

Nord Stream AG has started mobilization of all necessary resources for a survey campaign to assess the damages in cooperation exchange with relevant local authorities. Currently, it is not possible to estimate a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure. The causes of the incident will be clarified as a result of the investigation.

Meanwhile, Swedish seismologists have reported explosions near the leaks.

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Another new Aera era!

Posted in California, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , , , , , on September 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

A fresh start for Aera Energy with IKAV, a German asset management company that purchased Aera from Shell and ExxonMobil.

From 1997 to 2007, Aera operated the Beta Unit offshore Huntington Beach. Since selling those facilities, all Aera operations have been conducted onshore, primarily in Kern County, a historically important California oil production area. Aera will continue to operate these onshore properties for IKAV, which looks like an interesting company.

Platforms Ellen and Elly, Beta Unit

Meanwhile, the Beta Unit has been in the news because of the October 2021 spill from the pipeline transporting Beta Unit production from Platform Elly to shore.

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Still waiting for the investigation report on the Huntington Beach pipeline spill, but Amplify settles with State and County governments

Posted in California, oil spill response, pipelines, Regulation, tagged , , , , on September 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »

In addition to the settlement with the Dept. of Justice, the pipeline operator has reached settlements with the State and County. In addition to a $4.9 million fine, the company agreed to inspection and leak detection measures similar to those in the Federal settlement.

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Interesting commitments in the Amplify Energy Plea Agreement (Huntington Beach pipeline spill)

Posted in accidents, California, pipelines, Regulation, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 30, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Dept. of Justice announcement

In addition to the penalty and reimbursement elements of the plea agreement, there are two Amplify commitments that may be of particular interest to BOE readers:

  1. New leak detection system for the pipeline: More information on the leak detection improvements for this low pressure oil pipeline would be helpful.
  2. Notification to regulators of all leak detection alarms:
    • Which regulators? DOT? BSEE? State? All?
    • Real time reporting or periodic compilations? With real time reporting for every alarm, the distinction between the pipeline operator and regulator(s) would be blurred and new organizational and competence risks would be added. The probability of communications errors and delayed decisions would increase, and the operator would no longer be accountable for bad decisions.

Also, given that the investigating agencies have still not issued their report on the October 2021 spill and no action has yet been taken against the shipping companies that caused the pipeline rupture, the congratulatory Coast Guard, EPA, FBI, and DOT quotes in the announcement seem rather premature and self-serving.

Two final thoughts:

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Amplify Energy settles Huntington Beach pipeline spill litigation

Posted in accidents, California, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , on August 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Martyn Willsher, Amplify’s President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle regarding the civil litigation resulting from the Southern California Pipeline Incident last October. Although we are unable to provide additional detail at this time, we negotiated in good faith and believe we have come to a reasonable and fair resolution. We will continue to vigorously pursue our substantial claims for damages against the ships that struck our pipeline, and the Marine Exchange of Southern California that failed to notify us of the anchor strikes.”

Amplify Energy
Vehled

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Eastern Mediterranean continues to shine, but the end-game remains uncertain

Posted in energy policy, natural gas, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , , on August 23, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Eni announces another deepwater gas discovery:

  • Offshore Cyprus
  • Cronos-1 well; Block 6 on map
  • 2287m water depth
  • >2.5 tcf

The challenge is getting the 100+ trillion cubic feet of gas to European markets. The East Med Poseidon Gas Pipeline (map below) makes the most sense, but the current US administration inexplicably opposes this project. Other options include LNG via Egypt, a pipeline to Turkey, and a floating LNG facility.

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Got smart-pigged 😀

Posted in Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, Uncategorized, tagged , , on August 16, 2022| Leave a Comment »

The internal inspection of my pipeline (colon) went well. Dr. Axelrad is an excellent smart pig operator.

Crew preparing to conduct internal inspection of offshore pipeline 😀

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Shell restarts Mars pipeline

Posted in accidents, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , on August 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Assuming no significant tropical storm shutdowns this month, we should get a good read on the impact of the pipeline outage when the EIA production data for August are posted.

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Shell pipelines expected to be back in service today

Posted in accidents, Gulf of Mexico, Offshore Energy - General, pipelines, tagged , , , , , , on August 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

But late Thursday, a Shell spokesperson said that repairs were underway and that the company expected both pipelines to be back in service Friday.

CNN

This is a good example of the interconnectivity of deepwater projects with major Shell, Chevron, and Equinor facilities shut-in as a result of a relatively minor downstream pipeline incident.

Mars crude price appears to have reacted to the shut-in news:

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