Pipeline & Gas Journal July 2018 Volume No.

245 Number 7
looking ahead.
We plan for the future. More than one-third of ROSEN
employees work in research and development,
creating innovative products needed by the industry.
An investment we are proud of.

www.rosen-group.com
Contents
TABLE OF

July 2018 • Vol. 245 • No. 7 Since 1859, the worldwide authority in pipeline operations.

16 | Memphis Utility Makes Big Inroads in 87 | Egypt: The Next Natural Gas Hotspot
30-Year Replacement Plan
88 | Closer Look at Flammability, Inerting of
18 | What a Gas Measurement Technician
Needs to Know for Success Complex Hydrocarbon Mixtures

22 | Nigeria Makes Progress on Delayed Gas Pipeline Project 112 | A Conversation with Kinder Morgan’s Tom Martin

24 | Innovation, Technology Reshape North Dakota’s Bakken Shale

28 | New Day for Pipeline Tolls

30 | Designing of Skin Effect Current

Traced Cross-Country Pipelines

34 | Mobile Technology Takes Pipeline Data to the Cloud

36 | Northeast Looking at Record Natural Gas

Pipeline Buildout in 2018

38 | Getting into the Pig Launcher Groove

39 | Real-Time Views of Measurement for

Performing Data Analytics

44 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
The P&GJ Capabilities Guide is an annual special section that serves as a
marketplace for suppliers of products and services to the pipeline and gas
utility industry. Display advertisers in this section receive complimentary
matching space to present capabilities and key benefits in greater depth
through advertorials, case studies or other brand promotion.
30
DEPARTMENTS

02 I Guest Commentary

04 I Global News

08 I Government

10 I Projects

14 I Legal Perspectives

92 I Meetings

93 I What’s New

94 I Tech Notes
ON THE COVER NEXT MONTH
96 I Business About 180 miles of 42-inch greenfield August’s issue of P&GJ will put the spotlight on Mexico’s expanding energy
pipe is being installed in Pennsylvania infrastructure, such as this natural gas pipeline running from Texas into the
98 I Business Card Directory as part of Williams’ $3 billion Atlantic Nuevo Leon state.
Sunrise project, which will add 1.7
110 I Sales Reps MMcfd of capacity to the Transco
system. Mechanical completion is
110 I Advertiser’s Index expected later this summer. www.pgjonline.com
www.pgjonline.com
|1
 GUEST COMMENTARY P.O. Box 2608
Jeff Lee, Kronas Management Houston, TX 77252-2608, USA
Phone: (713) 529-4301
www.pgjonline.com

EDITORIAL
Why Canadians Should do the World a Publisher: Brian Nessen
Favor and Build More Pipelines Brian.Nessen@GulfEnergyInfo.com
The Canadian federal government just lent its full Editor Joe Hollier
force behind Kinder Morgan’s TransMountain pipeline Joe.Hollier@PGJonline.com
by taking a stake in the project, promising to push Executive Editor Jeff Awalt
through construction despite fierce provincial resistance Jeff.Awalt@GulfEnergyInfo.com
from British Columbia. Activists and politicians in BC Managing Editor Michael Reed
did not waste time condemning the move. Michael.Reed@PGJonline.com
To be sure, pipeline projects put a disproportionate Contributing Editors Stephen Barlas
burden on certain First Nations and municipalities. But Richard Nemec
Jeff Lee
from a national interest, economic, humanitarian, and Nicholas Newman
even environmental standpoint, there is a strong case for Canadian pipelines. Mauro Nogarin
This includes establishing a natural-gas export corridor from Prince George to Consultant Oliver C. Klinger III
Prince Rupert, completing the Trans Mountain loop and Keystone expansion,
and freezing future pipeline development. The world will thank Canada for it. MAGAZINE PRODUCTION (713) 525-4604
Two billion people from mostly developing countries will be added to the Vice President Production Sheryl Stone
global population in the coming decades. Access to cheap and reliable energy Sheryl.Stone@GulfEnergyInfo.com
sources will raise their quality of life. To demand nothing but clean renew- Art Director Sheri Biscardi
able energy is impractical and disingenuous, even cruel. Consider also the Sheri.Biscardi@GulfEnergyInfo.com
global environmental footprint. Canada has among the highest environmental Advertising Manager Cheryl Willis
standards for oil and gas development. When a big consumer like China buys Cheryl.Willis@GulfEnergyInfo.com
from Canada, it takes demand away from dirtier coal and reduces the net car-
bon footprint. A hypothetical 800-kilometer, multiple-pipeline corridor would EVENTS
require about 400 square kilometers of restorable land. Contrast that to the Convention Director Karen Francis
nearly 9,000 square kilometers (22 times) of land consumed in a single forest- Karen.Francis@GulfEnergyInfo.com
fire season in British Columbia last year.
ADVERTISING SALES
The world is rapidly moving toward cleaner and renewable-energy sources
For complete list of sales representatives please refer to page .
due to falling costs and advancements in solar, battery technologies and demo-
graphic trends. Canada should bank the money while it can. In 20 years, there CIRCULATION (713) 520-4468
may no longer be talk about new fossil-fuel investments. Customer Service circulation@GulfPub.com
Currently, constrained export pipelines are causing Canadians to subsidize
American shale producers by selling at a consistent discount. Canadian produc- SUBSCRIPTIONS
ers have had to load more oil on railcars, which are less safe and more energy Pipeline & Gas Journal (USPS 040-970) (ISSN 32-0188) is published
intensive. “Turning off” oil and gas will have huge repercussions. Job losses monthly by Gulf Publishing Company, 2 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1020, Hous-
and reduced social benefits will hurt the lives of millions of lower-income ton, TX 77046. Circulation Department: PO Box 2608, Houston, TX 77252-
2608. © Copyright 2018 by Gulf Publishing Holdings LLC. All rights reserved.
Canadians. Moreover, by developing policies unpredictably and discrediting
No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form or
decisions by legitimate institutions such as the National Energy Board, the by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any
governments risk destroying Canada’s credibility to investors in all industries information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
and undermining rules-based democracy in favor of populism. In the age of Publisher. Subscription rates are: one year $199, two years $340, 3 years $440.
protectionism, Canada should secure all its revenue streams. Natural resources One year airmail is $175. Current year single issue copies (pre-paid only): $25
must be strategically managed. Good fortune has been squandered for too long plus postage. Back issues one year old or more: $25 plus postage. Novem-
and Canada needs to build a Norwegian-style sovereign wealth fund. This fund ber Annual 500 Report $50 plus postage. Cumulative editions of this publi-
can be used for research, prize programs for innovations, sustainable social cation are available in microfilm from University Microfilms Inc., N. Zeeb Rd,
Ann Arbor, MI 48106. Ph: (313) 761-4700. Periodical class postage paid in
welfare and job-training programs to prepare Canadians for the future.
Houston, TX and additional mailing offices. Postmaster and address changes
There is nothing hypocritical about denying resource revenues from illiberal to: Pipeline & Gas Journal, PO Box 2608, Houston, TX 77252-2608.
countries. Canada can accelerate meaningful reforms while pursuing worthy
causes in many places. For too long Canada has punched below its weight on REPRINTS & E-PRINT PRODUCTS
international affairs. By supplying more energy, Canada can support its peace- Foster Printing at Mossberg & Co.
ful projection of power, forge closer ties with its trading partners and reduce Jill Kaletha JKaletha@MossbergCo.com
everyone’s reliance on corrupt regimes. 574-289-9253 x149 or 800-428-3340 x149
To paraphrase a former Saudi oil minister, “The Stone Age did not end
because of a lack of stones.” The demise of fossil fuel will come from better
technologies and economics, and it will be a gradual process. The notion that
stopping resource development now would force us into renewable energies is
a myth. Many people have been lured into ideological purity, false expectations President/CEO John T. Royall
of a quick solution, or worse, activism for activism’s sake. Discussions should CFO Alan Millis
instead be directed at the responsible use of oil revenues and ways to enhance Vice President Andy McDowell
Canadians’ quality of life. Vice President, Finance & Operations Pamela Harvey
Canadians should be proud to provide the world with a reliable and cleaner Vice President, Production Sheryl Stone
source of energy. By the same token, Canadians should be embarrassed that, Publication Agreements Number 40034765 Printed in U.S.A.
after decades of oil and gas production, no lasting legacy is visible from this Other Gulf Energy Information titles include:
one-time gain. Opportunities were squandered, but aren’t lost forever. Now is Pipeline News, Underground Construction, Gas Processing,
the time to step up and do us all a favor, Canada. Hydrocarbon Processing, World Oil and Petroleum Economist.

2 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

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 GLOBAL NEWS

EPIC Secures Strategic

Report: Produced Water Creates Growing Risk to Permian Growth Partnerships for
Permian tight oil cost curve comparison: two water scenarios Crude Oil Pipeline
Apache Corporation and Noble Energy
committed to anchor the EPIC Crude Oil
Pipeline, which will run side-by-side with
the EPIC NGL Pipeline for 730 miles from
southeastern New Mexico to Corpus Christi,
Texas. The pipeline will have an initial total
capacity of 590,000 bpd, including 440,000
bpd from the Permian Basin and 150,000
bpd from the Eagle Ford shale. Apache and
Noble Energy have secured 75,000 bpd and
100 bpd of firm capacity, respectively.
As part of their strategic partnerships,
Apache will have an option to acquire a 15%
interest in the pipeline, with Noble having an
option to acquire a 30% interest, as well as a
Water cuts – the ratio of water vs. liquids volumes produced – typically increase as oilfields 15% interest in the EPIC NGL Pipeline. All
mature. Pipeline infrastructure can reduce costs in formations like Wolfcamp, which starts at a
options expire in the first quarter of 2019.
high base of about 70-80%. Graphic: Wood Mackenzie
The EPIC Crude Oil Pipeline will extend
As operators continue ramping up Permian Basin activity and takeaway demand, from Orla, Texas, to the Port of Corpus
operational water challenges are emerging as a growing material risk to future upstream Christi, Texas. The project includes termi-
profitability and production, according to a new Wood Mackenzie study. nals in Orla, Pecos, Saragosa, Crane, Wink,
Ryan Duman, principal analyst with Wood Mackenzie’s Lower 48 upstream team, Midland, Helena and Gardendale, with Port
said the firm expects more than 2 MMbpd of oil supply growth in the next five years. of Corpus Christi connectivity and export
“While attainable, the list of operational risks grows too, and the least appreciated of these is access. Right-of-way is 100% secured for the
produced water,” Duman said. “The combination of rising volumes and higher disposal costs first two phases of the system, and construc-
threaten to shift cost curves and pose a growing risk to oil production growth in the Permian.” tion is expected to commence in the fourth
The study, Permian produced water: slowly extinguishing a roaring basin?, mod- quarter of 2018. The pipeline expected to be
eled various scenarios of rising water cuts and growing water management costs. In in service in the second half of 2019.
its “aggressive” future cost scenario, breakeven costs in the Midland and Delaware
sub-plays could increase by $3-$6 per barrel, potentially curbing the growth of future Nord Stream 2
Permian oil supply by 400,000 bpd by 2025. Gains Swedish Approval
“Water risks to date have largely been described as a cost issue, but as projects con- Russia’s Gazprom’s proposed Nord
tinue to build scale, the risks become more serious,” Duman said. Stream 2 natural gas pipeline from Russia
Unlike some of the other subsurface constraints and risks facing the Permian, there to Germany received construction approval
are ways operators can mitigate risks from produced water. “One of the best opportuni- from Sweden and Russia, leaving only
ties for operators to reduce water costs is by investing in pipeline infrastructure, limiting Denmark as the sole nation remaining yet
the amount of trucking and collaborating with offset operators,” Duman said. n to decide on the project.
Nord Stream 2 has already obtained per-
Devon Energy Sells EnLink Solaris Water Midstream Starts mits for construction and operation of the
pipeline system in Germany and Finland,
Midstream Stakes for $3.1 Billion Pecos Star Operations
Devon Energy agreed to sell its own- Solaris Water Midstream began opera- and Gazprom has vowed that a rejection by
ership interests in EnLink Midstream tions on the first phase of its 300-mile Pecos Denmark would not stop it from completing
Partners and Enlink Midstream to an affil- Star water system, which is designed to the 1,230-km (764-mile) pipeline, but could
iate of fund manager Global Infrastructure serve oil and gas producers in the Delaware delay the project. The permit from Sweden’s
Partners (GIP) for $3.1 billion. Basin of West Texas and New Mexico. Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation cov-
As part of this transaction, Devon will Phase One of Solaris Water’s Pecos Star ers an about 510-km route section in the
extend its fixed-fee gathering and processing System comprises 50 miles of 12- and 16-inch Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone.
contracts with respect to the Bridgeport and produced-water pipelines, multiple disposal- The controversial Gazprom project has
Cana plants with EnLink through 2029. The well connections, the ability to supply recycled been opposed by the United States on the
company’s minimum volume commitments for water and freshwater wells and ponds. basis of “European energy security” and by
these agreements will expire at the end of 2018. The build-out of additional phases is under- European nations concerned over growing
EnLink said it will continue to maintain a way, with continuous construction expected over reliance on Russian gas and the financial
strong commercial relationship with Devon the course of the coming year. Upon comple- impact on Ukraine, which will lose income
through long-term contracts as the compa- tion, the Pecos Star System will include an as natural gas deliveries shift to Nord Stream
nies work alongside each other to maxi- extensive integrated network of more than 300 2 and bypass its pipelines.
mize returns in the STACK, redevelop the miles of high-capacity gathering and distribution Poland’s prime minister has been increas-
Barnett Shale and team up on new potential pipelines ranging from 12 to 16 inches in diam- ingly vocal about the project, calling it a “new
opportunities, such as crude gathering in the eter, dozens of disposal wells, storage ponds, hybrid weapon” that Moscow will use it to
Delaware Basin. aboveground storage and recycling facilities. undermine NATO and the European Union.

4 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

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 GLOBAL NEWS

Rover Pipeline’s Full Mainline B

Trans Mountain Pipeline, Expansion Selling for C$4.5 Billion Goes into Full Service
Energy Transfer Partners’ Rover Pipeline
received approval from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin
service of the Supply Connector B and full
Mainline B pipeline segments.
Service to the Market Zone north seg-
ment of the pipeline, with deliveries into the
Union Gas Dawn Storage Hub in Ontario,
Canada, will begin by way of the Vector
Pipeline Connection in Michigan.
This latest approval allows for 100% of
Rover’s mainline capacity, 3.25 Bcf/d of
natural gas, to be placed into service.
The FERC decision, however, did not
allow gas to flow on two key laterals – the
A tanker prepares for departure from the Westridge Marine Terminal with oil from the Trans Burgettstown and the Majorsville – con-
Mountain Pipeline, a scene that will become more common after the system expansion. Photo: necting to supply areas.
Kinder Morgan Canada Rover transports natural gas from the
Marcellus and Utica Shale production areas
Kinder Morgan said that Kinder Morgan Canada Limited agreed to the purchase of to markets across the United States, as well
the Trans Mountain Pipeline system and the expansion project (TMEP) by the Canada as into the Union Gas Dawn Storage Hub.
government for C$4.5 billion (US$3.46 billion).
As part of the agreement, the government will fund the resumption of TMEP plan- GITA, Pipeline & Gas Journal
ning and construction work by guaranteeing TMEP’s advances under a separate federal Launch Technology Conference
recourse credit facility until the transaction closes. The Geospatial Information and Technology
“The outcome reached represents the best opportunity to complete TMEP and thereby Association (GITA) and Pipeline & Gas
realize the great economic benefits promised by that project,” said KMI CEO and KML Journal have agreed to produce the annual
Chairman and CEO Steve Kean. Earlier, Kinder Morgan halted essential spending on the Pipeline Technology Forum, including the 27th
project and said it would cancel it altogether if the national and provincial governments GITA Oil and Gas Pipeline Conference.
could not guarantee it. The Pipeline Technology Forum will be held
Canada has the world’s third-largest oil reserves, but 99% of its exports go to refiners Oct. 16-17 in Houston and replace a former
in the U.S., where Canadian oil sells at a discount. n GITA annual event known as Pipeline Week,
according to GITA President Mark Limbruner.
“The GITA board and I are extremely
First LNG Shipment SoCalGas Warns happy to have engaged with Gulf Energy
Leaves Cameroon Plant Built on Supply Could Fall Short Information to produce our 27th annual pipe-
Old Tanker Southern California Gas (SoCalGas) has line event. Our members and attendees should
Golar LNG has started commercial oper- cautioned that pipeline outages and restric- look forward to a refreshed and exciting con-
ations at its pioneering floating liquefied tions on the Aliso Canyon gas storage ference,” Limbruner said. “Gulf’s ability to
natural gas (FLNG) production platform facility could reduce its ability to deliver co-brand our event with the leading trade jour-
in Cameroon, $70 million under budget, natural gas this year to a level even lower nal in the market, Pipeline & Gas Journal,
Reuters reported. than California state regulators and others and its data for the pipeline industry, make it
The first of its kind, the Hilli Episeyo have predicted. an ideal partner for GITA and for a vibrant and
vessel was converted from an aging LNG Regulators, power companies and grid growing industry segment. The combination
tanker for $1.2 billion. The successful start- operators issued a technical report in May will also significantly increase the educational
up removes uncertainty about the risks warning of a “moderate threat” to gas and value of our annual conference.”
associated with squeezing a liquefaction electric reliability this summer and a “more More than 100 exhibitors and over 500
plant typically spanning hundreds of acres attendees are expected at the event, which
serious threat” next winter.
on land into a single, 1970s-built ship with will include general sessions and two tracks
“We remain concerned that some of
four liquefaction units bolted onto its sides. of technical presentations on the use of geo-
It produced the first LNG on March 12 the assumptions made in the techni-
spatial technologies, pipeline software and
but only exported its first cargo in May, cal assessment are overly optimistic,” other applied technologies for the pipeline
to China, after technical issues delayed SoCalGas spokesman Chris Gilbride industry. GITA also will hold its board and
a ramp-up in production. After continu- said. association meetings during the event.
ously producing LNG for 16 more days, The SoCalGas system has been oper- “We are thrilled to be working with
Golar’s clients have contractually accepted ating at less than full capacity because GITA to put on the annual conference and to
the facility, marking its commercial start, of the pipeline outages and restrictions further learning and best practices for geo-
Golar said in a statement. Golar is in talks on the use of Aliso Canyon, the utility’s spatial and pipeline technology profession-
to develop similar projects in Senegal- biggest storage field, which suffered a als,” said Brian Nessen, group publisher for
Mauritania with BP and with Ophir Energy devastating leak between October 2015 Pipeline & Gas Journal and Underground
in Equatorial Guinea. and February 2016. Construction. P&GJ

6 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

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 GOVERNMENT
Pipeline MLPs
Fighting FERC Tax Moves
Pipeline master limited partnerships
(MLPs) want the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC) to reverse a March
2018 revised policy statement (RPS) that
has dramatically hurt their financial con-
ditions. The elimination of an MLP tax
allowance would be exacerbated by a sec-
ond March FERC proposal, which would
significantly and negatively affect the rates
they charge shippers. It allows pipelines to
voluntarily file rate reductions to reflect the
decrease in their federal corporate income
tax, thanks to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
(TCJA) signed by President Trump last
December, or explain why no action is
needed or take no action other than filing
the informational filing.
It is the RPS which is creating havoc with
the financial health of MLPs. Dominion
Energy, Inc. has lost nearly $7 billion
of market capitalization between March
15 and early May 2018 while Dominion
Energy Midstream Partners, LP, owner of
several interstate natural gas pipelines, lost
approximately $730 million of market capi-
talization, or nearly 43 percent, during the
same period, according to the company.
In its first quarter 2018 financial state-
ment, Enbridge, Inc., a Canadian com-
pany which owns U.S. pipelines such as
Spectra Energy, said, “Many MLPs, includ-
ing Spectra Energy Partners LP (SEP) and
Enbridge Energy Partners, L.P. (EEP) both
of which Enbridge sponsors and retains an
equity interest in, have responded to the
FERC announcement regarding tax allow-
ance, both directly and through industry
associations, objecting to the change in
FERC policy and requesting a re-hearing.”
Shippers, the Natural Gas Supply
Association and others are pushing the FERC
to act, because they believe the TCJA and the
RPS have made the currently effective income
tax allowance set forth in a pipeline’s cost
of service overstated. The pipelines argue
that, even if current rates are higher than they
would be, the shippers agreed to those rates
and the resulting contracts should be sacro-
sanct unless a shipper can cite a “public inter-
est” argument for revising rates mid-contract.
“Absent extraordinary circumstances –
which do not exist here – shippers cannot
now seek to revise their contractually-binding
arrangements, relied upon by natural gas
pipelines to support important infrastructure
development, simply because a foresee-
able change in the corporate income tax rate
has now come to fruition,” wrote Matthew
Eggerding, senior counsel, Midstream EQT
Midstream Partners, LP, in comments submit-
ted to the FERC in May. “In the event they
8 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Stephen Barlas, Contributing Editor, Washington, D.C.
believe that a pipeline has failed to make a
contractually-required adjustment, shippers
are free to avail themselves of the Natural Gas
Act’s Section 5 complaint procedures.”
Dominion argues that some shippers did
negotiate contract provisions to account for
a potential tax rate reduction nearly a year
ahead of the TCJA as they had similarly done
years ago in anticipation of the Tax Reform
Act of 1986. “Given this history, shippers’
pleas for contract abrogation ring hollow,”
wrote Margaret H. Peters, Managing General
Counsel, Dominion Energy Services.
The RPS piece of the proposed rule
is clearly the bigger of the two irritants.
The Interstate Natural Gas Association of
America said removing the MLP income tax
allowance issues from the proposed rule will
reduce the uncertainty associated with the
proposed rule and help allow pipelines and
their customers to focus on the potential rate
reductions resulting from the reduction of the
corporate income tax rate in the TCJA.
The proposed rule provides interstate natural
gas pipeline companies four options to consider
and address the reduced costs attributable to
the TCJA and the Revised Policy Statement:
1) Submit a limited NGA Section 4 filing to
reduce its rates by the percentage reduction in
its cost of service resulting from the [TCJA]
and the Revised Policy Statement, as calculated
in the FERC Form No. 501-G; 2) Commit to
file either a prepackaged uncontested settle-
ment or, if that is not possible, a general NGA
section 4 rate case by December 31, 2018; 3)
File a statement explaining why an adjustment
to rates is not needed; or, 4) Take no action.
Substantial Opposition to PJM
Push for Higher Pipeline Rates
PJM Interconnection, the largest region-
al transmission organization (RTO) in the
U.S., is taking a beating from interstate pipe-
lines, other RTOs and Independent System
Operators (ISOs) – and even its customers
– because of PJM’s proposal for the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to
require that RTOs and ISOs submit filings for
pipeline rate adjustments in the name of assur-
ing electric grid “resilience.” The backlash
relates to PJM’s request for near-term help
after FERC invited industry input on solutions
to the vulnerability of gas-dependent electric
generators to extreme weather events.
Electric generators in the Midwest, where
the electric power system is administered
by PJM, and the Northeast are increasingly
dependent on natural gas as coal- and nucle-
ar-fired power stations are retired. Current
supplies of natural gas to those areas, served
by PJM and ISO-New England, are to some
extent inadequate and further complicated
by the fact that generators mostly rely on
secondary gas supplies in an emergency –
that is, buying gas from local distribution
companies when a severe cold snap hits.
The generators rarely enter into firm con-
tracts with pipelines to guarantee supply.
Comments submitted to the FERC by the
California Independent System Operator
Corp.; ISO New England, Inc. (ISO-NE);
Midcontinent Independent System Operator,
Inc.; New York Independent System
Operator, Inc.; and Southwest Power Pool,
Inc. stated, “…the record in this proceeding
does not support any universal resilience
standard or tariff changes requirements.
The Commission should not impose on
other RTOs/ISOs the specific actions and
deadlines PJM requests, many of which
are based on reforms PJM is pursuing to
address issues specific to its region.”
Not only have other RTOs/ISOs ganged up
on PJM, but so have PJM’s industrial custom-
ers. Under the banner of the PJM Consumer
Representatives, they include groups such as
the American Forest and Paper Association, C
American Iron and Steel Institute, Delaware
Public Service Commission, Industrial M
Energy Users-Ohio and many others. They Y
argue that PJM was using the FERC effort to
improve power system “resilience” to force CM
the agency to adopt changes to transmis- MY
sion and infrastructure planning, operation
rules, and market rules. “Absent a com- CY
mon understanding and uniform definition, CMY
ensuring resilience is neither measurable
nor auditable,” they argued. “Consequently, K
calibrating any such investment to ensure
that consumers are not saddled with unnec-
essary costs, under the guise of ‘resilience,’
presents a significant challenge that must be
addressed to ensure that rate results comport
with the Federal Power Act.”
The Edison Electric Institute, which rep-
resents the electric generation industry, gave
no support to PJM’s request, either. Instead,
it said steps FERC has already made to
enhance the resilience of the bulk-power sys-
tem should be considered, such as its recent
conferences on electric-gas coordination and
efforts on price formation and transparency.
New England has been the region that has
arguably been most affected by extreme cold
weather events as its electric generators had
trouble getting U.S. gas last winter and had
to rely on foreign LNG, in some instances. In
February, Boston received LNG imports from
the $27 billion Yamal Peninsula project, a mas-
sive new LNG complex in northern Siberia.
An analysis by ISO-NE found that energy
shortfalls due to inadequate fuel supply
would occur in almost every fuel-mix sce-
nario in winter 2024-25, requiring frequent
use of emergency actions to fully meet
demand or protect the grid. P&GJ
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 PROJECTS

Targa to Expand Grand Prix NGL

Pipeline, Delaware Basin Capacity
Targa Resources has entered long-term,
fee-based agreements for natural gas gather-
ing and processing services in the Delaware
Basin and for downstream transportation,
fractionation and other related services.
Targa said it will construct 220 miles of
12 to 24-inch, high-pressure, rich gas gather-
ing pipelines across the Delaware Basin. The
Falcon Plant, a new 250 MMcf/d cryogenic
natural gas processing plant, is expected to
begin operations in the fourth quarter of 2019,
and the Peregrine Plant – a second 250 MMcf/d
cryogenic natural gas processing plant – should
be online in the second quarter of 2020.
Coastal GasLink Pipeline Construction Planned for 2019 The company also announced an exten-
A TransCanada official said the company will start building the Coastal GasLink sion of the Grand Prix NGL Pipeline, a
pipeline early next year, pending a positive final investment decision (FID) on the linked new common carrier NGL pipeline currently
LNG Canada project. under construction, into southern Oklahoma.
“We would be looking at constructing in the early part of 2019,” Coastal Gaslink Once completed, Grand Prix will run from
President Richard Gateman told Reuters, after the head of LNG Canada said construc- North Texas, where Permian and Oklahoma
tion of its $31 billion (C$40 billion) LNG export terminal should begin this year. “We volumes will be connected to a 30-inch seg-
could be doing a little bit of field work in the fall (of 2018), if there’s an FID decision.” ment, to Mont Belvieu, Texas.
LNG Canada is a joint venture among Royal Dutch Shell, PetroChina Co, Mitsubishi Initially, the pipeline it will be able to trans-
and Korea Gas. An FID is expected from the project partners this year. port 450,000 bpd, with the ability to expand to
The $3.75 billion (C$4.8 billion) Coastal GasLink is a 670-km (415-mile) pipe- 950,000 bpd. Capacity on the 24-inch pipeline
line that would cross two mountain ranges to connect rich shale fields in Alberta and from the Permian Basin to North Texas will be
northeast British Columbia with the proposed LNG Canada export terminal on British about 300,000 bpd, with the ability to expand
Columbia’s Northwest Coast. to 950,000 bpd. The capacity from southern
TransCanada, which will own and operate the pipeline, expects to award contracts for Oklahoma to North Texas will vary based on
the construction to four consortiums within the next two months, Gateman said. Those telescoping pipe size.
contractors will be a mix of local and international players with experience building in
mountainous terrain, he said. n
Outrigger II Enters DJ Basin
with Gathering System
Outrigger Energy II began development
Kingfisher, Ergon to Build TransCanada Places Section of of a tri-stream system in Weld County,
Cimarron Express Pipeline NGTL Program into Service Colo., that will include wellhead natural gas
Kingfisher Midstream, Blueknight TransCanada placed its Northwest gathering, a 60 MMcf/d cryogenic process-
Energy Partners and affiliates of Ergon Mainline Loop-Boundary Lake pipeline in ing plant, field compressor stations, crude
have executed definitive agreements to service, completing the final section of its oil gathering and produced water gathering.
form Cimarron Express Pipeline. The joint 2017 Expansion Program on the NOVA Gas Outrigger will construct and operate the
venture will include the construction and Transmission (NGTL) System. The natu- system, which is anchored by long-term acre-
operation of a new crude oil pipeline serv- ral gas pipeline system in Western Canada age dedications from Mallard Exploration.
ing STACK producers in central Oklahoma. includes 15,110 miles (24,320 km) of pipeline Outrigger said it is also in advanced discus-
The 65-mile, 16-inch pipeline, which will and associated facilities. sions with several other area producers and has
extend from northeastern Kingfisher County, With the completion of winter construction formulated plans to expand the initial system.
Okla., to Blueknight’s crude oil terminal in activities, the expansion program represents The company has purchased a new cryo-
Cushing, will provide direct market access for a $1.7 billion investment in Canadian natural genic plant and has begun the permitting
producers and will have an initial capacity of gas infrastructure and connects natural gas process with Weld County and the state of
90,000 bpd, expandable to over 175,000 bpd. production from northwest Alberta and north- Colorado, with an in-service date targeted for
It is expected to be completed in mid-2019. east British Columbia to the NGTL System. early 2019. The processing plant will deliver
Under the terms of the agreement, The expansion added 143 miles (230 km) of residue gas to Cheyenne Plains Pipeline, a
Blueknight will construct and operate the new pipeline and additional compression facili- 36-inch line that offers abundant access to
pipeline, which will connect to Kingfisher’s ties, increasing NGTL System capacity by 500 both the Cheyenne Hub and to Mid-Continent
crude oil gathering system in northeastern MMcf/d. The project generated about $800 markets, providing price and delivery advan-
Kingfisher County. million in labor income during its construction tages over other pipeline choices.
Kingfisher and Ergon will each own 50% phase and will add an estimated $1.2 billion in NGLs will be delivered to the Overland
of Cimarron Express Pipeline. Concurrent gross domestic product in Canada. Pass Pipeline operated by the Williams
with the formation of the joint venture, Alta The 2017 expansion program is part of Companies and co-owned by ONEOK,
Mesa executed a long-term acreage dedica- TransCanada’s commitment of more than Inc. Multiple outlet opportunities exist for
tion and transportation agreement which $7 billion in near-term growth capital to add crude oil delivery, including Tallgrass’ Pony
incorporates about 120,000 net acres in 2.5 Bcf/d in delivery capacity to the NGTL Express Pipeline system and NGL Energy’s
Kingfisher and Garfield counties. System by 2021. Grand Mesa Pipeline system.

10 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

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 PROJECTS
Portion of White Cliffs Converting to LNG
SemGroup Corporation will convert
a portion of the White Cliffs Pipeline
system to NGL service and expand the
system to reach markets in Texas. The
project is supported by 10-year agree-
ments with DCP Midstream and its
affiliate, DCP Southern Hills Pipeline.
“We are excited to execute this
opportunity with DCP and provide a
much-needed market solution to the DJ
Basin, while at the same time optimiz-
ing White Cliffs to include both crude
and NGL capabilities,” said David
Minielly, Vice President of SemGroup’s
crude operations. “This project provides producers and natural gas processors with a cost-
effective and reliable solution to move valuable NGLs from Colorado to Mont Belvieu via
Southern Hills Pipeline for processing and sale into the Gulf Coast marketplace.”
SemGroup will convert one of White Cliffs’ 12-inch pipelines from crude service to
NGL Y-grade service. The pipeline will have an initial capacity of 90,000 bpd and be
expandable up to 120,000 bpd. It will be taken out of service late in the first quarter of
2019 and is expected to resume operations by the end of the year.
In addition, the company will construct a 12-mile extension south of Cushing to
interconnect with DCP’s Southern Hills Pipeline and move NGLs to Mont Belvieu. The
project is expected to cost between $60 million and $66 million. n
Centennial Plant Expanding to Lilis Energy, Salt Creek Midstream
Accommodate Producers Enter into Gathering Agreement
Sterling Energy Investments will expand Lilis Energy, an exploration and develop-
the processing capacity and associated natu- ment company operating in the Permian
ral gas gathering pipeline infrastructure of Basin, entered into a crude oil gathering
its Centennial System in the northeastern agreement with Salt Creek Midstream.
DJ Basin to 220 MMcf/d to accommodate The agreement supports Lilis’ efforts to
growing producer demand. secure long-term infrastructure solutions to
In addition, the company said it will move its oil production out of the Delaware
expand the capacity at its existing Centennial Basin. Construction of the project is expect-
Gas Processing Plant by up to 120 MMcf/d. ed to commence immediately with service to
The permitting process is under way, and begin in 2019.
the project is expected begin service in the Salt Creek is building a new regional pipe-
second half of 2019. line system and will provide gathering and
transportation service for Lilis’ oil production
Sterling’s Centennial System consists
of more than 450 miles of low-pres- in Texas and New Mexico to the terminal in
Winkler County, Texas. The Winkler terminal
sure gathering pipeline, spanning Weld,
will allow Lilis to directly access long-haul
Morgan, and Logan Counties in Colorado
downstream pipelines that are connected to
and Cheyenne County in Nebraska. It
Midland, Texas, and the Gulf Coast region.
includes three interconnected natural gas
The project is supported by all of Lilis’ cur-
processing plants, with each plant con-
rent acreage in Lea County, N.M., and Winkler
nected to a different downstream residue and Loving counties in Texas. Lilis will pro-
gas market to provide flow assurance for vide its acreage dedication with no volume
area producers. Residue gas takeaway is or capex commitments and Salt Creek will
provided by Cheyenne Plains, Tallgrass provide all capital for the oil gathering system.
Interstate Gas Transmission and Southern In addition to the crude oil gathering
Star pipelines. NGL takeaway is provided agreement, Lilis and Salt Creek also entered
by Overland Pass Pipeline. into an agreement whereby Lilis received
As part of its investment in natural gas cash consideration in exchange for grant-
gathering and processing infrastructure in ing Salt Creek options to provide certain
the DJ Basin, Sterling also recently com- natural gas midstream services for Lilis’ gas
pleted the first phase of its Jackson Lake produced within an area of mutual interest.
Processing Plant expansion and expects to Salt Creek’s system will be constructed,
complete the entire project during the fourth managed and operated by ARM Midstream
quarter of 2018. Management, an affiliate of ARM Energy.
12 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Enterprise, ETP Form JV to
Restore Old Ocean Service
Enterprise Products Partners and Energy
Transfer Partners (ETP) formed a 50/50 joint
venture to resume service on the Old Ocean
natural gas pipeline. The 24-inch pipeline,
which has been idled since 2012, origi-
nates at Maypearl, Texas, and extends south
approximately 240 miles to Sweeny, Texas.
Service is expected to resume in the second
quarter of 2018 with ETP as the operator.
Additionally, both parties are in the process
of expanding their jointly owned North Texas
36-inch pipeline to increase capacity from
West Texas for deliveries into the Old Ocean
pipeline. The North Texas pipeline expansion is
expected to be completed near the end of 2018.
Nord Stream 2 Prep Begins
Along German Coast
A consortium of western companies and
Russia’s Gazprom said it has started prepara-
tory work in Greifswald Bay off Germany’s
Baltic coast for construction of the subsea
Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany.
“Five dredgers are now working on the
trench for the two pipeline strings,” the con-
sortium, based in Switzerland’s Zug, said in
a news release. “Preparatory works are in
accordance with the Stralsund mining author-
ity’s planning approval.”
The regulatory authority granted the con-
sortium a permit in January to build the pipe-
line in German territorial waters. Gazprom’s
Western partners are energy companies
Uniper, Wintershall, Engie, Austria’s OMV,
and Anglo-Dutch group Shell.
The Nord Stream 2 project has said it will
tap banks for financing in the fourth quarter
of 2018 or early next year.
Apache, Salt Creek to Build
SCM Alpine Header System
Apache Midstream and Salt Creek
Midstream, an affiliate of ARM Energy, are
developing SCM Alpine, a 445,000 bpd header
system comprised of two pipeline segments
originating at the companies’ processing facili-
ties in Reeves County, Texas. SCM Alpine will
transport NGLs to Waha, Texas, where the sys-
tem will interconnect to downstream pipelines
providing access to fractionation facilities at
Mont Belvieu and Corpus Christi, Texas.
Construction has begun, and the system is
expected to be operational in first quarter of
2019, according to the companies. In addi-
tion, Apache Midstream has signed an option
to acquire a 50% stake in the $100 million
project, which is supported by 10-year com-
mitments from both Salt Creek and Apache.
ARM Midstream, an affiliate of ARM
Energy, will construct, manage and operate
the system. P&GJ
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 LEGAL PERSPECTIVES
Lines Between Regulators Still
Blurry for Midstream Processors
By Robert Nichols and Kevin Ewing, Bracewell LLP, Houston and Washington
T
he Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration (PHMSA)
began an effort in 2014 to help busi-
nesses engaged in midstream oil
and gas processing operations determine
where the lines fall between applicability
of PHMSA safety rules and Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
regulation, particularly OSHA’s process
safety management (PSM) standard.
As a result, a working group of PHMSA
and industry representatives offered pro-
posed guidance in August 2015 in the form
of FAQs. Although PHMSA has never
published the guidance as official agency
policy, while cautioning it does not carry
the force of law, its staff has confirmed that
both of the agencies are referencing that
working group’s guidance when questions
of coverage arise.
Further, PHMSA is considering how to
publicize that guidance to industry and oth-
ers through its agency website. Accordingly,
companies conducting midstream process-
ing operations should regard that guidance
as important to understanding when PSM
applies, and does not apply, to their assets.
Background on
Jurisdictional Scope
The Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS) was
created by Congress in September 1968
and housed within the U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT), to administer the
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, which had
been enacted that same year. Under that law,
the agency was given authority to regulate
pipeline transportation of natural (flamma-
ble, toxic, or corrosive) gas and other gases.
Nine years later, with the enactment of
the Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Act
of 1979, Congress conferred jurisdiction on
the OPS with regard to pipelines carrying
hazardous liquids such as crude oil.
As part of a 2004 reorganization of pipe-
line safety regulation, PHMSA was created
by Congress to regulate both pipeline safety
and the safe transportation of hazardous
materials by other modes. Importantly,
PHMSA is not tasked generally with safe-
guarding occupational safety, but with pub-
lic safety and health, as well as environmen-
tal concerns associated with transportation
14 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
of hazardous materials.
Congress did not pass legislation intend-
ed to broadly regulate occupational safe-
ty and health until the enactment of the
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act
of 1970. Along with that act, Congress also
created OSHA to set standards and pursue
enforcement. Unlike PHMSA’s narrower
scope, OSHA has broad authority for safety
and health in industry, construction and
other sectors. It focuses primarily on safety
measures related to activities, such as pro-
tective equipment for welding, rather than
on business sectors.
Despite its broad mandate, Congress did not
intend OSHA to supplant safety jurisdiction of
other agencies with more specific author-
ity over particular industries. Accordingly,
Congress provided in Section 4(b)(1) of the
OSH Act that nothing in that law would
“apply to working conditions of employees
with respect to which other Federal agencies
. . . exercise statutory authority to prescribe
or enforce standards or regulations affecting
occupational safety or health.”
In the first years of case law develop-
ment under the OSH Act, some federal
courts suggested that the Section 4(b)(1)
preemption provision meant that the pipe-
line industry and others enjoyed broad
preemption of OSHA jurisdiction because
of more specific safety regulation conferred
on DOT agencies. In 2002, however, the
U.S. Supreme Court in Chao v. Mallard Bay
Drilling adopted a relatively narrow view of
that provision, and there was no longer any
argument to be made that oil and gas pipe-
line and related operations enjoyed any gen-
eral preemption from OSHA jurisdiction.
The federal agencies involved had long
been aware that Section 4(b)(1) would cre-
ate questions about the delineation between
OSHA and DOT jurisdictions. Soon after
its creation in 1972, OSHA began commu-
nicating with the DOT about Section 4(b)
(1) preemption issues and, since then, has
sought to coordinate with other agencies
about when particular OSHA regulations
are preempted in the pipeline industry or
other DOT-regulated businesses.
Midstream Issues
One particularly important jurisdiction-
Nichols Ewing
al question that arose in the 1990s was
when (OSHA’s PSM standard) codified
at 29 C.F.R. Section 1910.119 was appli-
cable to midstream operations. PSM is a
complex performance-based standard that
generally applies to facilities conduct-
ing a process that uses a highly hazard-
ous chemical in quantities over specified
threshold amounts. PSM regulation is
aimed at preventing releases of hazardous
chemicals creating fire, explosion, toxic-
ity or other hazards.
Regarding midstream oil and gas indus-
try, OSHA concluded in 1992 after com-
munications with DOT that PSM regula-
tion was not applicable to “natural gas
distribution and transportation facilities.”
In that interpretation, OSHA explained
that the inapplicability of PSM to those
activities was justified because “OPS regu-
lations address[ed] the hazards of fire
and explosion in the gas distribution and
transmission process.” This interpretation
anticipated the ruling in Mallard Bay ten
years later.
With respect to gas processing opera-
tions, as opposed to transportation, OSHA,
with the agreement of PHMSA, adopted
a different view as to PSM coverage.
Specifically, in a February 2005 interpre-
tation letter, OSHA rejected the view that
“gas processing should be excluded from
[PSM] coverage.” In the letter, OSHA
instructed that the agency “believes that
gas plants are appropriately covered by the
process safety management standard.”
Despite this guidance, where the precise
lines fall with regard to PSM applicabil-
ity to midstream assets has remained a
concern because the exact demarcation
between processing and transportation
operations is often unclear.
FAQ Guidelines
In August 2015, PHMSA’s work-
ing group proposed seven questions and
answers intended to offer guidance on these
coverage questions. The following excerpts
provide a view of this guidance:
How does one delineate the boundary
between pipeline transportation and a pro-
cessing facility?
“PHMSA Policy indicates that it will not
provide regulatory oversight under PHMSA
Part 192 and 195 for pipelines downstream
of the first pressure control device entering
the processing facility, and upstream of the
last pressure control device leaving the pro-
cessing facility...”
How does PHMSA Policy apply regu-
latory oversight to piping that bypasses
processing downstream of the first pressure
control device?
“Piping that is downstream of the first
pressure control device that is occasionally
used to bypass processing is subject to regu-
latory oversight under OSHA PSM. Piping
that is downstream of the first pressure
control device that is predominantly used to
bypass processing is subject to regulatory
oversight under PHMSA Part 192 or 195.”
On the issue of regulatory coverage of
a pipeline entering a processing facility
that bypasses a pressure control device.
With respect to that issue, the FAQ
explained that:
“A pipeline that predominantly bypasses
a pressure control device is subject to the
regulatory oversight under PHMSA Part
192 or 195. Similarly, if a pipeline bypasses
a facility that is no longer in service, the
pipeline would be subject to regulatory
oversight under PHMSA Part 192 or 195.”
Notably, the proposed guidance consid-
ered another difficult question related to
midstream facilities—specifically, PSM
coverage of underground storage and asso-
ciated piping. With respect to that issue, the
proposed guidance explains:
“Piping associated with underground
storage used for the ‘purpose of managing
processing facility inventory’ is subject to
regulatory oversight under OSHA PSM.
Piping associated with storage caverns used
for transportation is subject to regulatory
oversight under PHMSA Part 192 or 195.
States with underground storage laws regu-
late the underground storage.”
As evidenced by the questions and
answers considered above, this proposed
2015 FAQ included valuable informa-
tion concerning delineation of PHMSA
vs. OSHA/PSM coverage. However,
the subcommittee was careful to frame
this draft guidance as only a “proposal”
to be submitted to the Joint Advisory
Committees for consideration. It was
further emphasized during a 2015 meeting
of the PHMSA Joint Advisory Committee
that this guidance, even if adopted, would
not have the force of law.
Conclusion
The uncertainties as to when OSHA’s
PSM standard, as opposed to PHMSA reg-
ulations, apply to midstream processing
operations, has not been resolved through
notice-and-comment regulations or other
binding legal authority. Nonetheless, the
policy guidance that PHMSA and OSHA
are currently utilizing offers industry some
meaningful, albeit nonbinding, instruction
into where the lines fall. P&GJ
Authors: Robert “Bob” Nichols is a part-
ner in Bracewell’s Houston office, repre-
sents employers in litigation, administrative
investigations and inspections, and other
actions concerning alleged occupational
safety and health violations, discrimina-
tion, retaliation, harassment, wrongful dis-
charge, and other employment concerns
Kevin Ewing is a partner in the
Washington office of Bracewell. He advis-
es energy and infrastructure companies
pursuing development projects, federal
authorizations, or changes in agency pol-
icy, or responding to Executive Branch
inquiries and enforcement.

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| 15
Memphis Utility Makes Big
Inroads in 30-Year Replacement Plan
By Michael Reed, Managing Editor
A
s the largest three-service munici-
pal utility in the United States,
Memphis Light, Gas and Water
(MLGW) faces a myriad of com-
plicated decisions concerning the repair and
maintenance of infrastructure throughout
Shelby County, Tenn.
An MLGW worker
operates a jack
hammer in Shelby
County, Tenn
Founded in 1939, among the company’s
chief concerns is the safety of its gas dis-
tribution system, particularly the 330 miles
of cast-iron gas mains it began replacing
in 1992 as part of a $100 million program.
“Basically, we are removing pipe and any
services that we came across that required
replacement,” said Alonzo Weaver, vice
president of MLGW’s Engineering and
Operations Department. “There are some
coupling issues, but overall, eliminating the
cast-iron is the main focus.”
The overall effort calls for all cast-iron to
be eliminated from the system by 2021. With
about 10 miles of replacement work left to do
on 10- and 16-inch pipes, this puts the com-
pany right on schedule.
Along with cast-iron replacement the
company plans to eliminate all the wrought
iron and PVC gas pipes from its gas dis-
tribution systems. This effort will be com-
pleted by 2021 as well. The wrought-iron
still remaining in the system covers about 2
miles and consists of 2- and 4-inch mains.
“MLGW eliminated all of its standard
pressure system this fall, which was mainly
16 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
cast-iron mains,” Weaver said.
The first cast-iron mains addressed were in
the company’s high-pressure system, which
operates between 61 and 99 psig, and the medi-
um-pressure system, which operates between
31 and 60 psig. These two systems were
deemed to have the higher possibility of leaks.
Next, MLGW focused on intermediate-pres-
sure lines, which operate between 15 and 30
psig, and the company’s standard-pressure sys-
tem, which operates at about one-quarter psig.
As with other utilities in major cities, the
company’s replacement and maintenance
efforts require negotiating areas of con-
gestion both above-ground (schools, three
hospitals and a zoo, among them), and
below-ground, within street rights-of-ways.
“The bigger challenge
is wiThin The
neighborhoods Themselves ...
These are preTTy much
one-lane, one-way sTreeTs
ThaT are made inaccessible.”
— alonzo weaver, memphis lighT,
gas and waTer
“The bigger challenge is within the
neighborhoods themselves,” Weaver said.
“Some of these are older communities, and
you have to open up a series of holes out in
the streets. These are pretty much one-lane,
one-way streets that are made inaccessible.”
Some of these streets, where there were
pockets of cast iron infrastructure dating back
to 1956, were deemed to be among the highest
priorities for the program. To avoid as much
inconvenience as possible, the corporate com-
munications department had to be proactive.
“It takes a lot of communications, and we
put out letters on the timing of street closures,
sometimes a month or two in advance,”
Weaver said. “The work is very weather-
driven, though. You can put out information a
month in advance, but still have to follow up
and deal with possible changes.”
When possible, if the work includes dis-
connecting services, MLGW tries to notify
the customer through a letter to their home or
business 14 days in advance. When that’s not
possible at least seven days notice is given.
For road closures, the company notifies
the local media and distributes the informa-
tion through MLGW social media platforms.
In emergency situations, an auto-dialer
sends a recorded message to the customer’s
on-file phone number. In some cases, notic-
es are distributed door-to-door.
In order to limit the amount of digging
required, MLGW uses horizontal direction-
al drilling whenever possible. Additionally,
guided-wave (GW) technology is used to
detect anomalies and potential leaks within
the transmission system.
The company also relies on steel service
taps to integrate a transition from steel to
polyethylene (PE), and uses excess flow
valves into the tapping tees for new con-
struction of services and gas distribution
mains that have been replaced with steel.
“This fitting reduces the number of cou-
plings needed to transfer the service to the new
gas main. Only one coupling is needed to con-
nect the service pipe to the tee,” Weaver said.
Some of the cast-iron replacement will rely
on coated welded steel instead of PE, he added.
Weaver, who graduated high school in
1979, discovered his future career path in
energy at a relatively young age. He worked
as an intern in construction and maintenance
at MLGW during the summer break while in
college at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,
in Troy, N.Y., where he earned a bachelor’s
degree in mechanical engineering.
“I pretty much interviewed with utilities
from that point going forward,” he said. “I
found out there was a lot involved in getting
electric, gas and water to the customers, and
that it was pretty interesting work.”
MLGW, which employs about 2,600 peo-
ple, has remained active in offering intern-
ships and maintaining a co-op program over
the years, which Weaver said “has paid off
very well for both us and for the students.”
Weaver joined MLGW in 1983 as an
engineering assistant in Electric Operations
and was promoted to operations assistant in
that department in 1987. He completed the
MLGW Executive Development Program has been in exis-
in 1988 and received an MBA from the tence since 1939,
University of Memphis in 1997. its parent companies
In his current position, Weaver is responsible started well over 100
for managing and coordinating all engineering years ago, getting its
functions, including commercial and residential start not long after
engineering, as well as electric, gas and water the Civil War.
operations. He is also responsible for water Memphis’ first
quality assurance and systems operations. utility company was
Weaver said the work has remained the Memphis Gas
rewarding throughout his career, but that Light Company,
doesn’t mean his job doesn’t come with formed in 1852 and
some stressful moments. In addition to gas serving about 10,000
operations, he is the “crisis management people in only a
guy” on the electric side. That entails dealing three-square-mile
with situations such as customer service out- area. The “electric
ages and restoration efforts following storms. age” began at about
“As far as gas is concerned, making sure that same time, ush-
Replacing older gas mains, a process that began in 1992.
we are on top of all the regulations and that ering in the use of
we keep a safe system is my top concern,” powered light, appli-
he said. “Our gas operations have a tremen- ance and other home and business conve- eventually becoming Memphis Power
dous safety record, but all it takes is one or niences. To serve that need, Memphis Light and Light.
two incidents to tarnish that. We realize we and Power Company was formed. The city of Memphis bought privately
don’t have a lot of room for error on that.” In 1902, the company merged with owned Memphis Power and Light in 1939,
the city’s only natural gas distributor, and Memphis Light, Gas and Water was
A Little History and by 1917, the city’s two competing formed, creating what is now the largest three-
While Memphis Light, Gas and Water gas and electric companies consolidated, service public utility in the nation. P&GJ

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| 17
What a Gas Measurement Technician
Needs to Know for Success
By James N. Witte, Staff Engineer, Southwest Research Institute
T
he position of measurement techni-
cian is one of the most important
roles in the transmission pipeline
operation. The measurement tech-
nician is an operator that is assigned the
responsibility for the maintenance and oper-
ation of several gas metering and regulation
stations in a defined geographic region.
Usually, there are several requirements
that go along with this responsibility. This
article discusses those requirements and the
knowledge and skills that a measurement
technician must possess to be successful.
Unlike many pipeline jobs, the measure-
ment technician is required to work alone
with responsibility for large geographic
areas. Success in this role requires the focus
and self-motivation to perform quality work
and the expertise to maintain and safely
operate metering stations.
Because technicians are often the only
employees who interact regularly with cus-
tomers, they often serve as the de facto
company representative and must respond
promptly and courteously to any concerns.
As a result, the quality of a measure-
ment technician’s training, performance and
expressions of job satisfaction may influ-
ence how customers view the company and
18 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
directly affect its operational goals, profit-
ability and reputation.
The typical measurement technician is
assigned responsibility for 25-35 metering
stations in a service area and provided a
vehicle with all the tools necessary for the
job. The high-mileage associated with the
job requires vehicle replacement approxi-
mately every three years, but these intervals
can be shortened when corporate mergers
result in larger geographic areas.
The technician must conduct tests of the
meters on a scheduled basis. Often these
require notice to a witness from another
company in advance of the test. Everything
that is done to affect the performance of a gas
meter station must be documented and com-
municated to the main office on a timely basis.
Commercial transactions in the natural
gas industry require a monthly accounting
close, and the results of the meter tests and
verifications must be reported with suffi-
cient time to accommodate closing in order
to avoid prior period adjustments (PPA).
PPAs require corrections to financial trans-
actions between two or more commercial
entities and must be minimized, because
these transactions must precisely equate to
a pre-scheduled value.
Some company structures will differenti-
ate the technician duties by making some
responsible for only regulators and control
valves. Also, there may be a separation of
duties related to communications because
that job may require special communica-
tions licensing and qualification.
In addition to maintaining the metering
stations, the technician is also responsible
for gas quality enforcement. Gas sampling
to determine the composition of the gas
and the concentrations of contaminants,
such as hydrogen sulfide, water vapor, and
other objectionable materials, is required to
comply with applicable gas transportation
tariffs. The technician must not only have
knowledge of the gas quality test methods,
but must also know the gas quality require-
ments in the tariff and gas contract.
Analysis and troubleshooting is impor-
tant in this role, so a successful technician
will have multi-disciplinary skills in elec-
tronics, mechanical engineering technol-
ogy, mathematics and basic chemistry, as
well as the ability to use computers, read
schematics and engineering drawings, and
comprehend technical manuals. The techni-
cian also is usually required to understand
closed-loop control theory and how to tune
the control loops for optimum performance.
Work Force Changes
The industry is presently going through a
significant amount of knowledge change as
technicians with 20-30 years of experience
are retiring and being replaced by inexpe-
rienced new hires. This poses a challenge
for pipeline companies, because problem-
solving ability is essential to a measure-
ment technician’s success, and this type
of knowledge is typically gained through
on-the-job experience.
Sometimes, the job transition to the new
hire is done without a full transference of
knowledge from the retiring technician. It is
clear that results will vary depending on the
focus of management to allow transition time
for the on-boarding of the new technician
and the beginning aptitude of the candidate
technician. A suggested allowance for the
transition is one year, with a lot of daily inter-
face time with the experienced technician.
In addition to formal training, new mea-
surement technicians must be willing to
engage the seasoned technicians and learn
from their experience. Of course, no techni-
cian will ever know it all, and it is important
to learn through individual study and expe-
rience. But engaging senior technicians,
engineers, software programmers and ven-
dor technical representatives can accelerate
applied knowledge.
best practice is to capture screen shots and
assemble a step-by-step description of how
to accomplish different tasks. This may
speed up the recognition of items that have
changed by software version.
Technician Training
In 2010, the Transmission Measurement
Committee of the American Gas Association
produced a white paper, “Natural Gas
Measurement Technician Training and
Development Guidelines.” This document
attempted to capture the body of knowledge
necessary to define a path to competency.
It also presented an estimate of the num-
ber of hours required for training to occur

The Equipment
When today’s retirees first entered the
workforce, technicians needed a strong
knowledge of mechanical and pneumatic
devices, and their most commonly used tools
might have been an adjustable wrench or a
screwdriver for making fine adjustments at
metering and regulating stations. Today, the
most used tool by a measurement technician is
a laptop computer, as current pipeline opera-
tions incorporate a higher degree of electronic
and computer-based field equipment.
Today’s technician typically relies on cor-
porate support groups, such as Supervisory
Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA)
and Corporate Measurement. They require
custom analytical tools for data analy-
sis, data archival, process trending, and
application-specific software. Many of the
newer technologies, such as ultrasonic flow
meters, provide the opportunity to assess
the operational health of the meter and
produce custom reports. Interpretation of
those reports is a very important skill for the
technician to master.
The technology transition has been a
constant challenge for the baby boomers.
The older technicians might have often
been intimidated by microprocessor-based
equipment or might not have possessed
good computer skills. In this regard, there
is a great deal of contrast between the mil-
lennials’ willing acceptance of new tech-
nologies and that of the outgoing class of
technicians.
The technician will have several metering
stations with the newer technologies and
several with some of the older technolo-
gies. This makes the job more challenging,
since the technician will have to know how
to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot both
old and new equipment. The older equip-
ment may require service parts that are no
longer available, and it may be challenging
for a new technician to determine where a
predecessor stored the surplus parts.
Another challenge the new measurement
technician must face is to learn and mas-
ter operator interface software changes and
flow computer software changes. Often, the
software changes are made by a programmer
who does not have to use the software or
operate the equipment to which it interfaces.
An oldfashioned solution to this concern
is to keep a notebook handy for reference; a

www.pgjonline.com
| 19

expressed on a task basis. The information
was presented in this manner to allow the
path to competency to be customized based
on the equipment that a technician would
have to operate and maintain.
The basic knowledge level items were
described as operate, maintain, or install.
The advanced level items were described
using the terms troubleshoot and repair. The
requirements for complete competency, on
the basis of the white paper, projected that
some three to five years would be required
to reach full competency. Competency was
judged as the ability of the technician to
execute the various tasks by himself without
oversight by a supervisor or trainer.
Many companies are now requiring an asso-
ciate degree in electrical technology or mechan-
ical technology. Unfortunately, as already
noted, the rest of the knowledge requirements
for the job are just not taught in colleges. The
additional knowledge allows the technician
to understand how the meter station operates
and to understand when problems might affect
measurement accuracy. To a certain degree, the
technician develops a deductive intuition when
a problem is developing.
Other than task-oriented knowledge, the
technician must also know and understand
the requirements of all applicable industry
metering standards and recommended prac-
tices. Many of these documents are named
in contracts between the parties and gas
transportation tariffs. The technician needs
to read and understand these industry meter-
ing standards.
Every year, there are several regional
schools in the United States that offer techni-
cal courses on a variety of gas measurement
topics and hands-on training specific to equip-
ment that the technician operates, including:
the International School of Hydrocarbon
Measurement, American School of Gas
Measurement Technology, Appalachian Gas
Measurement Short Course, Acadiana Gas
Measurement Short Course and Western Gas
Measurement Short Course.
The measurement equipment manufac-
turers also have some very good training
classes in which they provide very detailed
instructions on equipment operation, trou-
bleshooting and repair.
Communications
The technician must communicate effec-
20 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
tively with a number of people who have
varying responsibilities and information
needs. Internally, these include meter ana-
lysts, system balance analysts, corporate
measurement engineers, gas control and proj-
ect managers. It is important that the techni-
cian be able to describe through detailed
written communication what an observed
problem was, what actions were taken and
what was the outcome of those actions.
Because measurement is the transactional
basis, the technician cannot simply fix a prob-
lem without communicating the fact. All of
the reporting must be complete and factual.
Through effective communication, litigation
between the companies may be avoided.
It is important that the technician com-
municate schedule changes to test witnesses
when trouble happens. Otherwise, the wit-
nesses will be needlessly wasting time
waiting for a test that may not happen that
day. This communication is appreciated by
measurement technicians of all companies,
and usually because of this, opportunities
for learning occur through these verbal
communications.
Recordkeeping
The measurement technician is involved
with every aspect of recordkeeping as long
as he has responsibility for the metering or
regulating asset. The technician requests a
meter number assignment prior to commis-
sioning any new facility.
Upon station startup, his documentation
is used to configure the new meter in the
gas measurement system. He must fill out a
report for any and all changes to the meter
station, meter verifications, and customer-
requested special tests.
The technician is also responsible for
all of the documentation to support the
required U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) verifications of gas regulators, over-
pressure protection devices and gas control
system pressure measurement point-to-
point readings.
The technician must be certain to be cur-
rent with the necessary documentation. The
current best practice is to use smart elec-
tronic forms that prompt the technician for
the data input. Regardless of what activities
are happening, the technician still has the
obligation to complete the DOT inspections
as scheduled.
Other Considerations
Industry associates were polled in prepa-
ration of this paper and provided quite a
few opinions on the topic of what a gas
measurement technician needs to know to
be successful. Here are a few of the com-
ments that were received:
The technicians need to take pride in
their work.
The technician must stay current on new
metering technologies. This is often done
through attendance at any of the several
industry gas measurement schools offered
across the nation.
They must read, read, read, and learn
as much as they can. “The answer is in
the manual.”
Technicians will never know it all, so ask
for training when needed.
The measurement technician might be
unrecognized in the company until trouble
happens, but then becomes well-known
throughout the company.
When trouble happens, the technician is
always the first to arrive at the meter station
and the last to leave.
Conclusions
The gas measurement technician job is
arguably the most important job on the
pipeline. Through the technician’s efforts,
the gas measurement is safe and accu-
rate, system lost-and-unaccounted-for gas is
minimal, and transactions occur daily with a
high confidence in their integrity.
The knowledge base required for the
measurement technician is very broad and
challenging. Every day is a new learning
opportunity for the technician, and no one C
is going to know it all.
To be successful, technicians must be M
honest, possess good analytical skills, learn Y
how to troubleshoot, communicate com-
pletely and factually, and have a desire to CM
be continually improving. They also need MY
to seek out opportunities to learn more
about the measurement technologies and CY
processes of their company. CMY
Acknowledgements: The author would
like to recognize the knowledgeable and
K
insightful contributions of the following
individuals toward the preparation of this
paper. These contributors are listed as
follows: Phil Martin, Kinder Morgan; Joe
North, Kinder Morgan; and David Woods,
Southwestern Gas. P&GJ
Author: James N.
Witte is a gradu-
ate engineer with
30 years of natural
gas and petroleum
product measure-
ment experience.
He has been active-
ly in the advance-
ment of natural gas
measurement prac-
tices through his leadership roles in the
American Gas Association Transmission
Measurement Committee and the
Pipeline Research Council International
Measurement Technical Committee.
Witte currently serves as staff engineer
for the Southwest Research Institute’s
Fluids and Machinery Engineering
Department, Mechanical Engineering
Division, in San Antonio.
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 Nigeria Makes Progress on
Oirere
Delayed Gas Pipeline Project
By Shem Oirere
N
igeria has announced progress on a
key gas pipeline project that is seen
as part of the country’s difficult bal-
ancing act between increasing natu-
ral gas production to 11,000 MMcf/d by the
end of 2018 and creating adequate domestic
demand to consume the increased volumes.
Nigeria, which has the largest proven
natural gas reserves in Africa estimated
at 187 Tcf and a possible but yet undis-
covered potential for 600 Tcf, has picked
two consortia as preferred engineering,
procurement and construction (EPC) con-
tractors for two sections of the 382-mile
(614-km) Ajaokuta-Kaduna-Kano (AKK)
gas pipeline to link the country’s gas-rich
region to the populated, industrialized but
22 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
electricity-starved northern part.
The country’s oil and gas operator
Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(NNPC) has awarded the two-party con-
sortium of Nigerian-based Oando Plc
and United Arab Emirates-headquartered
Oilserv Limited the EPC contract for the
first phase of the $2.8 billion AKK pipe-
line system, involving the 134-mile (215-
km) pipeline stretching from Ajaokuta to
Abuja, which includes a terminal gas sta-
tion, metering, pigging and block valve
provisions. The 100% contractor financing
modeled tender is worth $727 million.
A similar EPC contract for the third phase
of the 40-inch pipeline project involving the
137-mile (221-km) section linking Kaduna
and Kano terminal gas stations has been
awarded to another two-party consortium
– Nigeria’s Brentex Petroleum Services
Limited and Chinese energy contractor
China Petroleum Pipeline Bureaux – at a
cost of $1.2 billion. NNPC has deferred the
award of Lot 2 of the contract covering 120
miles (193 km) of the AKK pipeline to be
confirmed later.
Like in other previous Nigerian gas
pipeline projects, the two consortia are
expected to carry out contract speci-
fied engineering design of the pipeline,
the right-of-way survey with the support
of the government, right-of-way acqui-
sition, pigging, trenching and drilling
hole works, delivery and stringing of
pipes, welding of line pipes and coating,
lowering of welded pipes into prepared
trenches, and back-filling.
However, both NNPC and parties of
the two consortia could not immediately
confirm timelines for achieving these
tasks and other details such as possible
sub-contractors, material and equipment
supply and anticipated number of jobs to
be created during the construction, opera-
tion and maintenance phases.
Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Petroleum
Resources listed the project as one of the
nine critical gas infrastructure initiatives
that the government has given priority
under country’s national gas policy that was
released last year.
The other eight gas transmission proj-
ects are the Aba-Owerri-Nnewi-Onitsha,
Calabar-Ajaokuta, ELP-Ibadan-Jebba,
Obiafu-Obrikom-Oben, expansion of ELP
Phase 2, Oso Platform to QIT, Erha/Bosi
and the Trans Sahara Gas Pipeline.
The award of AKK’s Lot 1 and Lot 3 con-
tracts is not only a key phase in the imple-
mentation of the 2008-approved Nigerian
gas master plan, which partly targets reduc-
tion of the current flaring levels estimated
at 50% of the natural gas and the nearly
12% of it that is injected to facilitate crude
oil recovery, but also a link the nation’s gas
pipeline to the rest of Africa and Europe.
The plan is part of Nigeria’s 30-year
Nigerian Integrated Infrastructure Master
Plan to support infrastructure development
in specific economic sectors, such as the oil
and gas, for the 2013-2043 period.
Lack of reliable gas transmission pipe-
lines has been blamed for Nigeria’s low-
capacity electricity generation despite more
than 80% of the country’s power generation
plants being gas-fired.
Nigeria’s natural gas-fired power
plants have a nameplate capacity of more
than 11,600 MW but only 7,445 MW are
either operational or partially operational
with an estimated 4,990 MW being avail-
able according to government statistics.
Actual electricity available from these
gas-fired plants at times goes below
3,900 MW.
Nigeria, which produces a mere 25%
of its proven natural gas reserves, has
about 23 gas-fired electricity generation
plants of which three are fully opera-
tional, five are not in operation and 15
are operating partially due to a lack of
infrastructure maintenance and adequate
gas supply.
The country’s latest national gas policy
document said Nigeria failed to achieve “a
full-blown domestic market by 2015” as
envisaged in the gas master plan.
The document added the “Plan has not
delivered on all its set targets” and that the
country “still lacks critical gas infrastruc-
ture and continues to fall short of domestic
gas supply obligations.”
“Nigeria is experiencing a full-blown
energy crisis in spite of its abundant gas
resources (and) a new gas policy that is
more effective and adjusted for the much
harsher international business environ-
ment for gas is required to drive the
reforms necessary to attract investment
into the sector,” according to the national
gas policy document.
With the government estimating electric-
ity demand at 12,800 MW and financing
being sought for the biggest gas-fired power
plant project, Azuri Thermal power station,
which is projected to have capacity of 1500
MW when fully complete, additional pipe-
line infrastructure is critical in Nigeria.
“For so long, NNPC had activated
an aggressive gas reforms and imple-
mentation drive, requiring accelerated
implementation of gas pipeline infra-
structure development with specific
focus on critical pipeline infrastructure
to power plants and industries,” said
Ndu Ughamadu, NNPC’s Group General
Manager, Group Public Affairs Division,
in early April.
Currently, NNPC’s affiliate Nigeria Gas
Company Ltd, owns and operates nearly
777 miles (1250 km) of gas pipeline with
the rest being operated by Shell Nigeria Gas
and Gaslink Nigeria Ltd, which are units of
Shell Petroleum Development Company
Ltd and Oando Nigeria Ltd., respectively.
Existing key gas pipeline network in
Nigeria include the Escravos-Lagos link to
the West, Oben-Ajaokuta to the North and
Alakiri-Obigbo-Ikot-Abasi to the East.
NNPC said AKK is key “in forming
the primary foundation for the planned
Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline project.” This
transcontinental project is being developed
by Nigeria, Niger and Algeria, and will ter-
minate in Spain.
It involves construction of 2,736 miles
(4,401 km) of gas pipeline through
Nigeria, Niger and Algeria to Spain. The
pipeline will include 644 miles (1,037
km) in Nigeria, 523 miles (841 km) in
Niger, 1,430 miles (2,302 km) in Algeria
and 137 miles (220 km) in Spain, and
transport an estimated 30 billion cubic
liters of natural gas.
Initially, the plan called for the pipe-
line to be online this year under a part-
nership of NNPC, Algeria’s Sonatrach
and Niger’s National Oil Company. The
deadline now looks unlikely to be met.
The plan is to have the gas pipeline com-
mence in Nigeria’s Warri region and lay it
north via Niger to Hassi R’Mel in Algeria
before connecting it with the existing
Trans-Mediterranean, Maghreb-Europe,
Medgaz and Galsi pipelines.
Nigeria had earlier said it allocated
$400 million for the project in addition to
the $450 million raised more than three
years ago through Euro-bonds. The pipe-
line, which is expected to be 48 inches
on some sections and 56 inches in others,
was previously estimated to cost more
than $23.7 million.
For Nigeria to achieve the 30,000
MMcf/d natural gas production by 2043
and meet the national electricity demand
of more than 12,800 MW, a sustainable
gas infrastructure, particularly qual-
ity gas transmission systems, is almost
mandatory.
Author: Shem Oirere is a freelance jour-
nalist based in Nairobi, Kenya. He holds
advance diplomats in journalism from
London School of Journalism and in Human
Resource Management in International
Relations and Diplomacy from the
University of South Africa. P&GJ

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| 23
 DIGITAL OILFIELD
Innovation, Technology Reshape
Nemec North Dakota’s Bakken Shale
By Richard Nemec, Contributing Editor           
W
hile North Dakota was riding
out the most recent boom-bust
cycle in the oil patch, energy
industry officials in the state
were learning on the job, trying to figure
out ways to work smarter as margins and
cash flows were dissipating for everyone.
Before the turnaround developed this year,
the oilfield was strewn with casualties.
Nevertheless, billionaire oil pioneer Harold
Hamm and his teams at Continental Energy
Resources Corp. looked around and saw
opportunities to create better mousetraps in
exploring and producing oil and natural gas.
That’s why as prices continued to turn
upward in 2018, by nearly mid-year the
outlook in the Bakken Shale smelled like
growth. The average drilling rig was doing
the equivalent work of three before the
price downturn in 2014-16. Drilling times
from spud to completion of new wells were
slashed to less than two weeks. Hydraulic
fracturing has become faster and more
productive.
“The price crash was probably the best
thing for the industry; we never would
have gained the efficiencies that we have
today without it,” Hamm, who has sepa-
rate engineering and geology departments
named for him at two state universities
in North Dakota, told the Williston Basin
Petroleum Conference (WBPC) in late May
in Bismarck. “We decided we would keep
our teams together, not lay anyone off, and
we didn’t. We kept it together and gained
efficiencies you would not believe.
“We brought the cost of producing a
barrel of Bakken crude down to a break-
even price of $26/bbl,” says Hamm while
reminiscing about his early days in the
Bakken as an Oklahoma-nurtured young
entrepreneur in the oil patch. He noted that
the Bakken Shale is a good place to be an
“explorationist.”
Other speakers at the North Dakota con-
ference underscored the growing bullish-
ness among industry leaders as the nation-
al head of the U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA) Linda Capuano
reported that she expects continued record
natural gas production, further moderat-
ing U.S. gas prices. The EIA administrator
sees oil production worldwide increasing
by 2.4 million b/d this year and 2.2 million
24 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
b/d next year. Correspondingly, U.S. net
oil imports will continue to decrease while
exports keep rising, Capuano says.
At the state level, Lynn Helms, oil/gas
supervisor and director of the Department
of Mineral Resources, carried out discus-
sions with many of the key producers to
shape the basics of his outlook, calling for
moderate rig count growth into 2020 and
“innovaTion, noT regulaTions”
is how we choose To see our
governmenT’s role, and we Try
To narrow down whaT we’re
all abouT inTo six words:
empower people, improve lives
and inspire success.
— North Dakota
GoverNor DouG BurGum
then an acceleration after that. Helms esti-
mates that $127 billion has been invested in
North Dakota oil and gas since early in the
20th Century. And he adds that Bakken well
productivity tops the nation.
A long-time player in North Dakota’s oil/
gas patch, which now stands as the nation’s
second biggest oil producer, Helms sat back
and grinned for much of the final morning
program at the WBPC confab, listening
to industry executives, CEOs and others,
predict great things for the Bakken, which
Helms described as only being in the end
of the first quarter as far as its full potential
is concerned. Three-quarters of the play’s
shelf life is still ahead.
Helms speaks in superlatives when it
comes to the Bakken potential for growth,
but he is realistic about the fact that its
current adequate takeaway capacity will
soon be full, and the state and industry at
this point are behind schedule for planning,
permitting and building all the infrastruc-
ture that will be needed. There is at least $3
billion in the pipeline for new gas gathering
and processing infrastructure through the
end of 2019, but there is a real need for
more gas transmission capacity and even-
tually another oil pipeline the equivalent
of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL),
which is operating at near-maximum capac-
ity while court challenges trying to stop its
operations are still active.
“One of the things we have to start
thinking about seriously is how our future
oil supplies are going to get out of North
Dakota,” Helms says. Noting that the state
in 2018 has excess pipeline and rail capac-
ity, he says that based on current production
growth projections, by 2020 there will be
no more excess. An expanded DAPL and
added refining capacity in the state won’t
meet the need lying ahead. “Either we
return to using a lot of rail cars, or we need
to begin two years ago planning the next
crude pipeline out of the basin. That means
the proposed Keystone XL or some other
options that industry has in mind.”
For Helms and other operators, such as
Jack Stark, president at Continental, the
recalibration driven by the commodity price
nosedive lives on. “The Bakken just keeps
getting better, better than ever,” says Stark,
calling the Williston Basin “America’s
quality oil play.”
For Stark, the storyline on the Bakken
is consistent and just keeps getting better,
chalking it up to what he calls the “tenacity
and ingenuity “ of the industry, consider-
ing the pressures applied from the falling
global prices in recent years. Stark sees
“step-changes” in recent months and years in
the Bakken, spurred from within among the
various operating companies that have held
and expanded their acreage in the play. Stark
speaks as the head of the top leaseholder and
producer in the Bakken. Sixty percent of
Continental’s capital investments for 2018
were slated for the Bakken ($1.2 billion).
Amid the growing success that is over-
hyped, according to some skeptics, all the
operators appear to be benefitting from
what Stark and others see as native intuition
and hard work. “The rock hasn’t changed”
he reminds his audience. “This all happened
through technology; it is what you do with
the rock that makes the difference, intercon-
necting with it, if you will. That is what has
manifested in step-changes in performance
[doubling of returns-per-average-well 2017
to 2018].”
For Continental, one of the operating
changes involves using more perforations/
feet of pipe in fracking jobs, Stark points
out. Along with the increased volumes
of proppant, density of perforation – one
every 10 yards rather than one every 60
yards – has been a game-changer for Stark.
As a result, Continental’s recovery factors
are off the charts, jumping from 3%-5% to
15%-20% of the oil in place, according to
company statistics. “That’s a huge number;
the ‘size of the prize’ is huge here,” he says.
“We’re doing a much better job of stimu-
lating the rock,” Stark says. On a more
macro basis, what the crews for all the oper-
ators are doing is taking the Bakken “to a
whole new level,” he says. “It is happening
across all of the companies.” To underscore
his point, Stark displays a chart showing an
array of new wells that have produced in
excess of 100,000 bbls their first 90 days.
“It is tending to push the economics up
across the whole basin,” Stark says.
Stark deconstructs Bakken crude oil in
comparison to the Permian Basin in west
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Texas and southeast New Mexico. There
is a much higher gas proportion among the
Permian oil volumes than in the Bakken,
says Stark, reminding his audience that
the Bakken is the most oil-rich play in the
United States. The Bakken average oil pro-
portion is 52%, while in the Permian the oil
proportion is about 32%, Stark says. “The
Bakken is just a lower cost barrel to pro-
duce, compared to the Permian,” he says,
adding that the Bakken production is much
more similar in its quality of composition,
and that makes it very attractive to refiners
internationally, particularly in Europe.
“At Continental we expect 2018 to be a
breakout year, and we think that will be true
for the Bakken overall,” Stark says.
Sharing Stark’s bullishness on the
Bakken were a host of other CEOs and
executives outlining their thoughts on what
several called a “transformation and resur-
gence” that has been fueled by technology
breakthroughs involving pipeline scanning
and use of drones that prompted some to
label the Bakken as the “digital oilfield.”
This is exemplified by a global giant like
Caterpillar which has more than 15,000
pieces of oil/gas equipment worldwide,
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and all of them are being equipped with
electronic monitoring and controls aimed at
having smarter, better operating machines,
many of which are monitored remotely
around the globe.
Saying there is no doubt that the
United States has achieved energy inde-
pendence, Marathon Oil Corp. executive
Mike Henderson singles out technology
as playing a significant role in the resur-
gence of the Bakken, which in the eyes
of Marathon’s executive team has become
the “benchmark” for America’s “high-tech
shale oilfield.” He classified the Bakken as
“evolving” and one of the top unconven-
tional basins in the United States, compet-
ing at a very high level.
After pulling back its activity in the
Bakken in 2014-16, Marathon has come
back with the attitude that it will “never
be satisfied with the status quo,” says
Henderson, vice president for reserve plays
in Oklahoma and North Dakota. When
the company was “downshifting” in the
Bakken, its operating teams became much
more focused on creating new ways to
improve their approach to the business. As
a result, Henderson says they found new
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| 25
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ways to maximize well productivity that are
paying big dividends in 2018.
Having produced more than 100 million
bbls over the years in the Bakken, Marathon
at one point of the price depression went
down to one rig in 2015-16, and Henderson
says “that is when the story got interesting
for us.” He says the company’s Bakken
teams really pushed the envelope, creating
some of the “best-in-basin” new wells in the
Bakken last year and in 2018.
In the midst of several thousand industry
attendees at the WBPC, Henderson laid
our Marathon’s recipe for success that has
exemplified the past two years. He called
out subsurface understanding, data sets, and
modeling as keys for the swing upward in
well productivity and profitability. “Quite
often we get asked what is the ‘secret
sauce’, and I can tell anyone that it is two
parts people [individual and team innova-
tiveness] and one part technology,” says
Henderson, adding that in the recent down
years he has witnessed the coming together
of people and technology.
Important to the people part of the equa-
tion is culture, Henderson opines, stressing
the need for a culture that encourages and
allows people to take ownership. Without
this internal environment, companies will
never realize the full potential of new tech-
nology. “[Marathon’s] Bakken team pushed
to the limits and did not hesitate to explore
new dimensions. That’s our secret sauce.”
New technology and the smart applica-
tion of it are essential for operators like
Marathon to move forward, Henderson
says. Workers have to think differently and
act differently to make the right moves for
achieving better results. “That is the driver
of better performance,” he says. “We have
to take advantage of the link between tech-
nology and operational excellence.”
Marathon has focused its innovation on
subsurface work because that is what makes
the E&P sector so unique and challenging.
But Henderson makes the case for putting
equal amounts of focus on data sets and
their better use. “We can answer the critical
questions with the data we have today, but
we need to look at that data differently; we
don’t suffer from a lack of data, so it is more
a question of how we take all of this data
and do something different with it.”
Other industries from health care to the
Internet have already figured out how to
manipulate their data sets, and the oil/gas
industry needs to do the same, Henderson
says. “We can use this data, coupled with
science and physics and be much more
accurate and efficient in finding and pro-
ducing oil and natural gas,” he says.
The future of the industry lies in the
digital oilfield, which Marathon and
other operators are already experiencing.
Marathon’s control center in the Bakken
sports dashboards and specialized data that
allow operators to quickly interpret masses
of information, according to Henderson.
“This real-time data is only as good as your
ability to tackle it,” he says.
ConocoPhillips’ Erec Isaacson, vice presi-
dent for the Rockies business unit, agrees that
the industry has made considerable progress
despite low commodity prices in technol-
ogy, innovation and optimization, and this
includes the effective use of what he calls
“big data analytics.” For Isaacson, interpret-
ing and applying these analytics have become
somewhat routine in the industry. “It was just
a talking point two or three years ago.”
He says the use of innovation and effi-
ciencies has make $65/bbl oil the equiva-
lent of $100/bbl oil in today’s environ-

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 PIPE GRAPPLES
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Isaacson’s one caveat, however, is “don’t let
up, keep innovating” because the world is
still oversupplied with oil in 2018.
The fact that North Dakota’s somewhat
remote pot of black gold is ever-more connect-
ed to the global oil/gas markets is both encour-
aging and daunting, and the many executives
and engineers who helped deconstruct the
Bakken at the three-day WBPC were bullish
but not brash. They tempered their enthusiasm
with doses of reality as well. They laid out vari-
ous recipes of success, all of which embody the
concept of a digital oilfield.
For the Bakken, Whiting Petroleum Corp.
CEO Brad Holly, a veteran in the E&P
world who joined Whiting within the past 12
months, stated one of the advantages of the
North Dakota play was “regulatory certainty”
that he sees as provided by state and local
officials who have created what Holly calls “a
very cooperative environment with sensible
rules.” Innovation and technology can make a
greater difference in such an environment, he brandt.ca 1-877-533-3133
and other speakers emphasize.
Over at one of the major long-time operators
in the Bakken, Houston-based Oasis Petroleum
Corp. CEO Tom Nusz says his firm’s 15-year
history of drilling in the Bakken from its emer-
gence as a major U.S. shale play has helped it
thrive even during some of the worst months of
the recent price crash. Today it has carved out
service and midstream units, taking the latter
public in 2017 as Oasis became the fourth larg-
est producer in the Bakken.
Oasis remained free-cash flow positive
during the commodity price downturn,
hedging much of its production in 2014-15,
Nusz says. While it was protecting its bal-
ance sheet, its operators were slashing well
costs by 30% and increasing well recoveries
up to 50% or more, he says. Costs for find-
ing new supplies are 50% less and recovery
margins are what Nusz calls “very attrac-
tive.” He says Oasis has about 15 years of
supply in the Bakken core, and up to 30
years in the noncore acreage.
“Since the downturn, what we have seen
is a lot of activity outside the core with some
pretty interesting results,” says Nusz, predict-
ing that both oil and gas volumes are going
to grow significantly in the future. And this
equates to expansion for Oasis Midstream
Partners, which is building a lot of gas pro-
cessing and pipelines in the Bakken.
All in all, oil and gas veterans are exhib-
iting a renewed confidence based on the
recognition that technology and innovation
now define the oilfields of the nation. And
just about anything is thought to be possible
in 2018 and beyond. The stakes and the pos-
sibilities are high. P&GJ

www.pgjonline.com
| 27
 Howell New Day for Pipeline Tolls
By David Howell, Pipeline Equities, Houston
I
t used to be simple. A company decided
to build a pipeline. They hired a right-
of-way agent, secured easements at
predictable rates, and the project began.
Ten lines crossing a channel.
In those days, routes were determined,
engineering was done, and the land
acquired. The pipeline company con-
trolled all of these facets, except for land
acquisition. Landowners would be paid
the going rate for right-of-way in the
area based on standard or historic meth-
ods and amounts.
If an appraisal was required, then a
reliable and economic approach was the
across-the-fence (ATF) method, which
determined the property value based on
whatever the property next door was
worth. If not the ATF method, then the
going historic rate would be the determin-
ing factor. If things got sticky or time con-
suming in negotiating with the landowner
in question, the agent could always play a
condemnation card and threaten to evoke
an eminent domain seizure.
Then the Information Age came along
and disrupted things. Previously, the best
way to find out what was happening with
other landowners was to visit the local Dairy
Queen. Suddenly, everyone’s information
was instantly available on the Internet. In
many cases of purchasing easements, the
going rate from pipeline companies is no
longer relevant to the landowner. The rate
in the landowner’s mind is calculated in a
different manner.
Our company, Pipeline Equities, has
bought and paid damages on millions of feet
of easement while installing and removing
pipeline over the past 30 years. We are
28 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
closely acquainted with the going rate/his-
torical rate paid for rights-of-way. However,
these old rates no longer apply, as more
enlightened landowners are rejecting the
old assumptions and are demanding and
getting more lucrative contracts.
Few Challenges
Most landowners have small tracts of
a few hundred feet and don’t have the
resources or inclination to fight or chal-
lenge a condemnation suit. Generally, they
accept what pipeline companies offer,
which has been very generous in many
cases. Those offers increased, in part, due
to the failure of many condemnation suits
and the length of time it takes to respond
and receive a judgment. In the end, delay-
ing a project for a condemnation suit can
be costly.
Right-of-way costs still hover at about
5-10% of the overall cost of the pipeline
project, and it doesn’t behoove a pipe-
line owner to delay things over a minor
cost problem on some easements. The
easement cost on the project as a whole
seems negligible, but some agents persist
in threats of condemnation, perhaps in
an effort to prevent a domino effect from
landowners.
Navajo Royalties
The first unusual easement valuation
happened several years ago in a court case
in which a pipeline company was sued by
the Navajos of Arizona, who sought an
annual royalty or fee based on a percentage
of the value of the product being transported
through the line. The case was settled out of
court and, as is usually the case, the terms of
their agreement were not disclosed.
At first, this seemed to be a potential situ-
ation due to the sovereignty of the Navajo
Nation, but the number of cases like this
one have increased where sovereignty was
not a factor.
Fee-Based on Value
Last fall, the asset manager for the city of
Los Angeles called to ask about appraising
the pipelines that were permitted by fee and
contract to run under the streets of the city.
There were 23 lines of various lengths
carrying crude oil, jet fuel, gasoline and
other products to a suburban refinery dis-
trict The city was charging annual fees
up to 2% of the value of the product in
the pipeline, which generated $16 million
to $25 million per year, but he wanted
to stabilize this income (at the higher
amount) and asked if an appraisal of the
lines was needed.
We were in the process of determining
the scope of work when he called back to
report the California Supreme Court had set
a precedent with its ruling in another case,
which would allow the city could charge up
to 10% of the value of the product.
Length of Pipe
Houston has always been a pro-business
town. It was a land developer’s city and
continues as an entrepreneurial hot spot.
The Houston Ship Channel connects inland
Houston to the Gulf of Mexico 60 miles
away. There are many refineries, as well as
plants and factories, along the way that use
oil and oil-derived products to build and
maintain thousands of products. Pipelines
crisscross the channel all along the route.
The fees charged by the Port Authority
and the Houston Ship Channel to cross their
jurisdictions are based on the diameter and
length of the pipe. For example, an 8- to
16-inch line would have a fee of $4.46
per linear foot, with an $1,831 minimum
assessment per line. A 32- to 48-inch line
would be assessed at $14.23 per foot, with
a $5,802 minimum per line, and so forth.
Based on Volume
Last year, while preparing for a sizable
water pipeline project in West Texas, a com-
pany leased an easement across University
Lands. The University Land Trust (UT
Lands) owns about 3 million acres in West
Texas. Its job is to generate as much cash
flow as possible, and its procedure is well
known in the right-of-way business.
UT Lands’ standard price for 10-year
easement is based on pipe diameter and a
damage fee when taken it up in 10 years,
unless the easement lease is renewed for
an additional 10 years. A surprise occurred
last year when the Trust decided to assess a
new pipeline based on volume of through-
put at $.10 per barrel, in addition to the
easement cost.
 With a capacity of 250,000 bpd, that rate
would flow $25,000 per day into university
coffers to help to educate students. So, the
company was left with either incorporating
the cost into their cost of operations or rais-
ing its tariffs.
Arbitrary Basis
In effect, almost all assessments are arbi-
trary in nature. It’s doubtful there was any
formula 150 years ago when someone paid
$.15 per rod for the first pipeline easement.
The city of Houston owns some property
on the east side of the city and assessed
a fee of $28,000 per year for one line to
cross the property. There was no mention
of the outside diameter or overall length of
the pipeline.
A land developer in Los Angeles County,
Calif., ceded the surface rights to the flood
control district for a drainage channel, but
continues to own the land below the channel
and the air rights above it.
Over the past 50 years, the land company
has given permits for various pipelines to
cross the property and currently receives an
average of $5,600 per year, per line to cross
their channel. The company
is not sure it wants the pipe-
lines crossing the channel at
any rate and is assessing its
position in that regard.
But, the pipeline has no
other place to go, as the
same company owns most
surrounding properties. Is
this a case for condemna- Pipelines crossing public drainage system.
tion? The considerations of $267 million to go an alternate route, after
21 crude and product pipeline crossing environmental considerations.
over a channel that empties into the While the cases cited in this article were
Pacific Ocean 2 miles away are huge. initially surprising, it’s clear that a trend of
What formula would determine the risk landowners determining the easement value
to pipeline owners in cases of vandalism, has begun. This trend is limited, however,
deterioration or accidental rupture? What to those with the resources and knowledge
amount is sufficient to mitigate risks and to challenge rather than accept the going
award adequate and just compensation? rates offered by pipeline companies.
A pipeline company in the Marcellus Still, with so much information readily
Shale determined it could save significant available to those willing to do the research,
time and expense by purchasing the rights for many that day is already here. P&GJ
to lay a pipeline on the property owned Author: David Howell leads Pipeline
by a toll road authority over a 200-mile Equities in pipeline removals and acquisi-
route. The cost of the transaction: a $178 tions in Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas New
million fee paid to the toll road owners vs. Mexico and California.

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www.pgjonline.com
| 29
Designing of Skin Effect Current
Traced Cross-Country Pipelines
By Tittu Alagu and Koya Venkata Reddy, FACT Engineering and Design Organization, Kerala, India
G
rowing energy demand, coupled
with the availability of sour and
heavy crude, and the more conscious
environmental regulations are driv-
ing refineries across the globe to enhance
their facilities to process sour and heavy
crude, and produce higher value middle
distillates and end products.
This spurs demand for greater storage
capacity for crude, as well as petroleum
products handling terminals and the need
for transportation of high viscous crude,
high pour fuel oils and molten sulfur in
liquid form. With this comes the necessity
of heat tracing system.
The term heat-tracing refers to the con-
tinuous or intermittent application of heat to
a pipeline or vessel in order to replace heat
loss.1 Two common uses of heat tracing are
preventing water pipes from freezing and
maintaining fuel oil pipes at high enough
temperatures that the viscosity of the fuel
oil will allow easy pumping.
Industrial heat tracing are of two types, fluid-
and electricity-based heat tracing systems:
Fluid-tracing involves strapping a small
3/8 to ½-inch pipe or tube called a tracer to the
pipeline or vessel to be traced and covered
by thermal insulation. The tracer pipe will
be supplied with a hot fluid, which transfers
its heat to the main pipeline or vessel by
conduction. Steam is by far the most com-
mon and preferred choice of tracing fluid
used in chemical process industry for its high
Figure 1: Typical steam tracing system
30 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
heat content, availability at low cost from
the waste heat recovery boilers and being
relatively safe compared to electric tracing.
Electric-tracing involves strapping an
electric heating cable to the pipeline or vessel
to be traced and cover by thermal insulation.
The supply of electricity to the heating cable
will generate heat, which will be transferred
to the main pipeline or vessel by conduction.
The majority of commercial electric-tracing
systems use the resistive type heater, wherein
the heat is produced in proportion to the
square of the current (I) and the resistance
(R) of the elements (I2R). Other specialized
electric tracing systems make use of imped-
ance, induction, and skin conduction effects
to generate and transfer heat.
Cross-Country Pipelines
Cross-country pipelines play a pivotal
role in the effective management of the
energy resources around the globe. It has
been recognized as the most efficient, safe
and eco-friendly mode of transportation of
petroleum products and crude oil from one
place to another.
Two probable scenarios in cross country
pipelines in which heat tracing will be the
only viable option:
n Pumping of waxy crude and high-pour
petroleum products: As the waxy crude
flows through a cold pipe (with a wall
temperature below the cloud point of
the crude) crystals of wax may be
formed on the wall. As the wax thick-
ness increases, pressure-drop across the
pipe increases and the pumping pres-
sure needs to be increased to maintain
a constant flow rate. As a result, the
power requirement for crude transport
will increase over a period of time.
Further the pipeline may require fre-
quent flushing/pigging in order to avoid
choked condition. This becomes a real
setback in the case of cross country
pipelines in which pumping/energy cost
is relatively high, in addition to the risk
of pipeline getting blocked completely.
n Pumping of molten sulfur via pipeline:
Refining of crude oil and treatment of
natural gas yields considerable amounts
of sulfur. The extracted liquid sulfur is
pelletized and transported by road vehi-
cle, rail or water. This sulfur, on reach-
ing its destination, has to be re-melted
for further processing. The whole pro-
cess incurs considerable energy cost
besides, the cost of handling and stor-
age of solid sulfur, which has its own
drawbacks. And that is how pumping
of molten sulfur via pipeline provided
with heat tracing is considered to be
economically viable alternate.
Generally, for tracing long or multiple
pipe runs electric tracing is preferred over
steam tracing, as steam tracing will be rela-
tively more expensive to install and main-
tain. The periodic leaks and failed steam
traps in a steam-traced system waste energy
and demand additional labor costs for repair
and replacement. Also, the electric tracing
systems provide better temperature con-
trol and much more efficient utilization of
energy than that of steam.
Types of Electric Tracing
Electric trace heating cable can be divid-
ed into four distinct product classifications:
n Series circuit, mineral insulated (mi)
cables (constant watt output)
n Parallel circuit heating cables (constant
watt output)
n Self-regulating heating cables (variable
watt output)
Skin effect heating
Each type caters to specific application
and has its own advantages and disadvan-
tages. A comparison of these electric heat
tracing methods is available in the pipeline
and piping book.

Skin Effect Current Tracing

Principle of operation – Skin-effect trac-
ing system (STS)/skin-effect current tracing
(SECT) is based on proximity effect, whereby
heat is generated on the inner surface of a fer-
romagnetic heat tube that is thermally coupled
(welded) to the pipe to be heat traced.
A non-magnetic conductor material (copper
or aluminum) is placed inside the heat tube and
connected to the tube at the far end. The tube
and conductor are then connected to an AC
Figure 2: A typical electric tracing systems
voltage source in a series connection. When
the voltage is applied in this manner, the current
will be “off.” When the pipe temperature is 1. 700-km, 24-inch, underground crude
flows in one direction and returns through the
below the set point, the system will be “on.” oil pipeline of Cairn India Limited
steel tube in the opposite direction.
The temperature controller has low temper- from Mangala Processing Terminal,
The full current flows in inner surface of
ature and high temperature alarm contacts. Barmer, Rajasthan to Salaya Terminal,
the steel tube and in its outer surface is virtu-
Skin effect current tracing for pipe- Gujarat.5(2010)
ally absent. This method of heating is called
lines – Skin effect heat tracing system is 2. 35-km, 12-inch, above-ground dual sul-
skin-effect heating because the return path
found most suitable for cross country pipe fur pipeline to transfer molten sulfur
of the circuit current is pulled to the inner
lines as per the feature listed below: from 11 producers to a sulfur pelletizer
surface (approximately 1 mm) of the heat
1. Most economical method for extremely facility, Ras Laffan, Qatar5. (2009)
tube by both the skin and the proximity effect
long pipe lengths (up to 25 km) can be However the application of SECT system
between the heat tube and the conductor.
traced with a single electric supply point. has its own limitations, they are:
Components – The SECT system consist
2. Because of the welded contact between n Involve considerable custom design
of the following components:
the tube and the pipe, higher heat n Do not lend easily to the production of
1. Heat/tracing tube
transfer rates are attained. uniform heating, and IEEE rates the
2. Heating cable/wire
3. Because of the skin and proximity effect, method as providing only moderate
3. Pull box/splice box for cable pulling
the outer surface of heat-producing ele- system efficiency
inside the tracing tube
ment (heat tube) has zero potential to n Installations cannot be modified, and
4. Power feed box for connecting the
ground. The tube is earthed and there are the complete system fails with a single
power supply
no electrical potentials, which make the line break
5. Termination box
system safe for maintenance staff. n Skin effect heat-tracing is generally not
6. Temperature sensors.
Applications – SECT system is widely cost-effective for pipelines shorter than
7. Control panel for controlling the heating
applied in transporting crude, petroleum 1.6 km
8. Custom built transformer for powering
products and molten sulfur. Its applications n Not practical for non-metallic or com-
the system
also include storage tank foundation heating plex piping
Control operation – The electrical con-
to prevent frost heave formation and subsea Capitalized cost or life time cost of pipe-
trols for the skin effect current tracing system
pipelines. References of application of SECT line: The design of a heat traced cross-
are designed to provide the desired control of
in cross-country pipelines are given below: country pipeline involves calculation of the
the heating system as well as provide func-
tional indications. The system is provided
with automatic and manual control modes.
The manual mode is intended for use only
during start up, maintenance checks and trou-
bleshooting of the electrical system. When
using the manual control mode, care must
be taken to continuously monitor the system
operation. In manual mode, the temperature
controller is bypassed and the system will
continue to heat as long as the manual mode
is maintained. The temperature indicator and
alarms are active in the manual mode.
The automatic mode provides closed
loop temperature control and indication.
The pipe temperature sensor provides a
continuous signal to the indicating tempera-
ture controller. The temperature controller
compares this signal to the reference signal
(set point temperature). When the pipe tem-
perature is above the set point, the system
Figure 3: Skin effect current tracing system components.

www.pgjonline.com
| 31
economic pipeline size. The most economi-
cal pipeline size is arrived at by comparing
the lifetime cost of two or more pipeline
sizes, considering the pipeline size, which
provides the least lifetime cost. The lifetime
cost involves computation of capitalized cost
of pipeline, heat tracing system and electric-
ity for pumping and pipeline temperature
maintenance over its useful service life.
The following are the stepwise procedures
to compute the lifetime cost of the pipeline:
1. Choose a line size – Calculate pressure
drop and ascertain the pumping power
requirement
2. Estimate the pipeline investment cost
3. Choose a heat tracing system (skin
effect current tracing)
4. Calculate the maximum heat loss
across the pipeline and ascertain the
power requirement
5. Define the no. of heat tubes required
and the power feeding and distribution
system
6. Estimate the investment cost of the
heat tracing system
7. Estimate the lifetime cost of the entire
system
Repeat the procedures by choosing dif-
ferent line sizes and compare the com-
puted lifetime cost of all line sizes chosen to
arrive at the economic pipeline size:
Surge analysis of the proposed system is
to be carried out to find the maximum surge
pressure developed in the system. A surge
relief system shall be installed, if required
to protect the pipeline or the pipeline is
designed for the maximum surge pressure.
The constructability of the pipeline along
the right-of-way (ROW) minimizing the
obstruction/hindrance to traffic and public is
planned. The above-ground or underground
portions are to be clearly demarcated.
In case of power failure, the pipeline tempera-
ture tends to decrease and to avoid congealing
in case of petroleum products and low tem-
perature solidifying substances, flushing of the
pipeline with a proper liquid is to be carried out.
However, calculations are to be performed to see
that temperature drop in the pipeline is minimal spectrum for distributed temperature mea-
0-os Pulses of light
Laser
Back-Scattered Light
Brillouin
Analyzer
Antistokes
Raman
Band
Figure 4: Typical back-scattered light spectrum for distributed tempera-
ture measurement.
32 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
and while flushing the line average bulk temper-
ature inside the pipeline fluid doesn’t drop below
the solidification point of the mixture of the
flushing fluid and original fluid in the pipeline.
The skin effect system operates as series
resistance circuit having a single-phase
power source. The source of power can be
either from one or both ends or from middle
of the pipeline depending upon the length of
pipeline and effective use of power system.
Each heat tube has got the capac-
ity to impart certain heat to the main pipe.
According to the heat loss calculations, the
required no of heat tubes are calculated.
Total or 50% redundancy is provided for
heat tubes to take care of the malfunctioning
of heat tube circuit. The redundancy comes
at a cost but makes the system more reliable.
The consequences of power failure and
mitigation measures of it’s effects is to be
clearly thought off at the time of basic design
as prolonged power supply failure will defeat
the purpose of heat tracing. Product solidi-
fication inside the pipeline will make the
whole design intention defeated.
Other Design Aspects
1. Hazardous area classification – All elec-
tric components and instruments used
in the SECT system have to comply
with the Hazardous Area Classification
of the product being handled.
2. Optical fiber-based temperature moni-
toring system – Provides continuous
monitoring of the temperature profile of
the pipeline and helps to find any cold
spots. In addition, fiber-optic monitoring
facilitates the measurement of average
temperatures at 1-meter intervals over
the length of the fiber along the entire
length of the pipeline. This substantially
reduces the potential effect of localized
temperature variations in the pipeline.
Fiber-optic temperature monitoring has
particular advantages over thermister
and thermocouple-based systems, as
fiber-optic systems are very robust and
unaffected by electrical noise.
Figure 4 shows the back-scattered light
surement, a pulse
laser is coupled
to an optical fiber
through a direction-
al coupler.
3. Current
Incident protection system
Raleigh – Over-current or
Light differential current
protection may be
Stokes provided on the
Raman Band skin effect current
tracing system.
Over-current pro-
tection senses a
Wavelength current above cold
starting current. If
the skin effect cur-
rent tracing system current rises to the
set value, the system will shut down
and resetting of the system is required
to restart. Differential current protec-
tion senses the difference in current
of two sections. If the current in
one section rises over or falls below
the other section, annunciation and
system shut down will occur. After
the cause of shut down is found and
repaired, manually reset to “start” the
system heating.
4. Cathodic protection – Normally SECT
based pipeline will have PUF insula-
tion for heat conservation of the fluid
wrapped inside the HDPE jacket for pre-
venting any chance of water ingress and
there by protects the pipe line from cor-
rosion under insulation. Hence cathodic
protection is not required for corrosion
control. However, all carrier pipes and
heat tubes shall be sand blasted to a
surface finish of SA 2.5 and applied with
high build epoxy paint of 400 microns
suitable for 1,500 degree C as an addi-
tional protection to avoid corrosion.
Since the pipeline systems have zero
potential, skin effect heat tracing will
have no effect on the cathodic protection
of the adjacent lines.
references
K. Henry, Introduction to Heat Tracing, Cold Regions
Research and Engineering Lab, Report no. CRREL-
TD-86-1, June 1986, p. 1.
Perry’s Chemical Engineers’ Handbook, Eighth Edition,
Section 10, Process Plant Piping, p. 10-135, Heat
Tracing Of Piping Systems.
Fluid Heat Tracing, Steam by Chet Sandberg, P.E.,
Joseph T. Lonsdale, & J. Erickson, P.E., Chapter B6
Heat-Tracing Of Piping Systems, p. B.242.
Authors: Tittu Alagu
is assistant process man-
ager working in FACT
Engineering and Design
Organ-isation, Cochin,
Kerala, India. He has
eight years experience
in process engineering
and has specialization
in Process simulation.
Tittu graduated in with a bachelor’s degree in
Petrochemical Engineering from Bharathidasan
University, Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India.
Koya Venkata
Reddy is assistant gen-
eral manager, process
engineering, at FACT
Engineering & Design
Organization (FEDO),
a division of Fertilizers
and Chemicals
Travancore Ltd. He has
26 years of experience
in chemical plant operations. Reddy holds a
bachelor’s of technology degree from Andhra
University (Visakhapatnam) and a master’s of
technology degree in project management from
Cochin University of Science and Technology.
 PGJ Exclusive
Mobile Technology Takes
Fugate Pipeline Data to the Cloud
By Lance Fugate, Vice President of Operations, Enmapp Pipeline Data
O
ne of the biggest challenges fac-
ing the construction of pipeline
projects is that they operate in
a dynamic, complex environment
where external bottlenecks and stake-
holders can introduce excessive delays
and costs.
To meet those changes, contractors
and pipeline managers are increasingly
being asked for data to support regulatory
compliance, cost management, safety and
maintenance objectives — the meat and
potatoes of the industry.
Such data is fast becoming what Forbes
magazine called “the oil of the digital era”
— there to be used in new ways to gener-
ate products and services in fast-growing
markets that can be only peripherally
aligned with pipeline building itself.
Increased information offers new ways
to evaluate contractors, determine the
advantage one pipeline route over anoth-
er, or provide metrics to monitor the
pipeline construction itself.
For decades, collecting, evaluating and
maintaining data has been done with old-
school surveying devices, pencil-and-
paper, cumbersome and error-generating
transcription techniques and space-eating
storage facilities. The process makes data
acquisition expensive.
But does it have to be? Thanks to smart-
phones, tablets and the cloud, some pipe-
line services companies are saying that
the answer is “no.” They are using appli-
cations that leverage a Global Network
Services Solution (GNSS) receiver teth-
ered by Bluetooth to a smartphone, which
enables the collection of sub-meter accu-
rate pipeline data in the field to automati-
cally update databases over-the-air.
Taking this field data concept a step
further, Enmapp built a mobile application
using a platform called TerraGo Magic.
This approach allows customization of
field data collection software for custom-
ers without writing a single line of code.
This platform allows apps to be designed
that are tailored to a customer, a pipeline or
34 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
even a project. All the forms, reports and
workflows can be built without the time
or expense of software development and
without the limitations of a commercial
data collector app. The customer gets
a data package with all the information,
fields, photos and videos needed.
The data package is transmitted digi-
tally to the cloud or directly to head-
quarters. There data can be analyzed and
evaluated, used to monitor construction
progress or maintenance needs, extracted
for regulatory reports.
progressive pipeline
services companies should
view Their value as being
enhanced by digiTal
TransformaTion programs ,
noT lessened by Them .
going digiTal allows a
company To leverage iTs
experTise and unlock
greaTer value wiTh Trace -
able , verifiable and
inTelligenT daTa analyTics .
Responsibility for welds, status and
incident reports, and quality and perfor-
mance evaluation metrics can be inte-
grated into a narrative as the pipeline is
built. Repair rates on welds and other
inspectors’ findings can be woven into
that narrative in real time, with trends
established and addressed before their
damage is compounded.
If there is an issue – a faulty weld, a
pipeline fissure that becomes an oil leak
– responsibility can be tracked. Quality
evaluations are quantified, and regulatory
bodies’ queries can be addressed with easily
retrievable digital facts, not buried paper.
Data becomes Big Data, collected with
smartphones or tablet computers to keep
costs down – turning pen-and-paper tech-
niques into the dinosaurs that formed the
petroleum in the first place. Construction
can be monitored in real or near real-time,
and mistakes can be remedied as they
occur. Duplicated effort, often an issue
on long pipeline projects, is eliminated
before it can occur. Decisions can be
made quickly. Downtime can be reduced
or eliminated completely. So can the
expense of dispatching crews to re-survey
areas in which data is incomplete.
The customer – in this case, the pipeline
contractor and those who keep watchful
eyes over it – gains some control over the
cost of this data acquisition, as well as
what can be done with its products. Return
on investment can be measured quickly.
Other stakeholders, such as govern-
ment regulatory agencies and certified
weld and coding inspectors, many of
which also use old-fashioned methods
to do their jobs, can be part of the digi-
tal migration, gaining speed and cutting
expense in checking data and analyz-
ing reports. Risk management firms can
enjoy those same advantages, determin-
ing and monitoring their exposure as
it evolves. Environmentalists gain new
metrics in ascertaining impact on nature.
Also of note, field workers do much
of the heavy lifting in collecting the data
with smartphones or tablet computers,
becoming empowered when they add data
collection to their resumes.
So what’s holding back the customized field
data collection software revolution? In essence,
there are a handful of issues to overcome:
n The pipeline industry’s reluctance
to embrace new methods in favor
of legacy procedures. Part of that
reluctance is an unwillingness to
change what has been demonstrated
to work “good enough.” Another
part is the fear of new technology.
Ironically, that fear isn’t shared
by the field force, which by and
large is comfortable with new
 smartphone- and tablet-based tools.
Bringing in a consultant to smooth
over transition to new technology is
a way of coping.
n The industry is wary of investing in
the IT infrastructure. The reality of
digital data collection is that compa-
nies traditionally had to invest in an
enterprise Geographic Information
System (GIS) to server as the back-
end platform, as well as GIS consul-
tants to build custom solutions and
GIS experts to manage it over time.
With cloud-based mobile applica-
tions, there is no infrastructure and a
developer isn’t needed to customize
the applications.
n There is a reluctance among many
pipeline services companies to dis-
turb the status quo. They see ceding
data collection to customers as cut-
ting their business’ throats.
Other companies, though, see the inevi-
tability of digital data collection as part of
the future of pipeline construction, and are
modifying business models to embrace it.
Progressive pipeline services compa-
nies should view their value as being
enhanced by digital transformation pro-
grams, not lessened by them. Going
digital allows a company to leverage its
expertise and unlock greater value with
traceable, verifiable and intelligent data
analytics.
By using mobile apps like Enmapp
Pipeline we have seen both the clear
reduction of customer data collection
costs and the dramatic increase in data
value. And unlike “old school” methods,
digital field data collection is scalable for
the most challenging projects.
As an example of the need for digital
data collection, consider that over $20
billion worth of pipeline projects, in
various stages of planning, all of which
will use multiple prime contractors with
diverse data collection and quality man-
agement systems and impact hundreds of
will be effecting extremely diverse and
sensitive environmental areas. A host of
risk management stakeholders have a lot
at stake in these projects and are going
to want data-filled reports that address
concerns with hard facts.
Picture all the trucks on all the routes
of all those projects, with four out of five
filling out three-part forms by hand to build
the mountain of paper to satisfy all of those
customers. The figure, by the way, accu-
rately describes the number of companies
still doing old school data collection. Then
add all the back office time involved in tran-
scription and data entry of all those forms.
And, of course, the thousands of illegible
fields needing to be re-entered, along with the
data errors that require countless repeat visits
and inspections. Then, the printing of volumes
of reports to satisfy stakeholders in all the
agencies, businesses and communities.
Now instead, picture all the work-
ers at the construction sites capturing
photos and forms with a tap on their
smart phones, instantly available for on-
demand reports by any stakeholder.
The mobile digital revolution has arrived,
and the time for the oil pipeline industry to
join it has come. Game-changing tools are
there. So is the workforce with the skills to
use it. All that remains is for our industry
to let go of its paper past and embrace a
better, digital future. P&GJ
www.pgjonline.com
| 35
Northeast Looking at Record
Natural Gas Pipeline Buildout in 2018
By Katie Dyl and Jim O’Sullivan, U.S. Energy Information Administration
T
he U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA) expects con-
struction of new natural gas pipeline
capacity in the United States to
continue in 2018, in particular in the north-
eastern United States.
By the end of 2018, if all projects come
online by their scheduled service dates,
more than 23 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity
will be online out of the Northeast, up from
an estimated 16.7 Bcf/d at the end of 2017
and more than three times the takeaway
capacity at the end of 2014.
The growth of natural gas production
in the Marcellus and Utica basins in
Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia
is constrained by the lack of available
takeaway pipeline capacity to move it to
new markets. As new pipeline projects
come online, they will create an outlet for
increased production, providing natural
gas to demand markets in the Midwest,
the Southeast, eastern Canada, and the
Gulf Coast.
Currently, no major pipeline capacity
expansions in advanced development are
slated to come online in New England
because of stakeholder concerns raised in
the development process.
Of the projects scheduled to be in ser-
vice by the end of 2018, most are associ-
ated with four major interstate pipelines:
Columbia Pipeline Group (TCO), which
includes both Columbia Gas and Columbia
Gulf Transmission; Transcontinental Gas
Pipeline (Transco); Rover Pipeline; and
36 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
NEXUS Pipeline.
The Columbia Pipeline Group (TCO)
has two expansion projects intended
to add 4.2 Bcf/d of takeaway capacity
out of the Northeast: Leach Xpress and
Mountaineer Xpress. The Leach Xpress
project, which entered service on Jan
1, supplies an additional 1.5 Bcf/d of
capacity out of West Virginia and Ohio,
and the Mountaineer Xpress project,
which is scheduled to enter service in late
2018, will increase takeaway out of West
Virginia by an additional 2.7 Bcf/d.
As much as 2 Bcf/d of the natural gas
from these two pipelines can be sent
directly to the Gulf Coast via expan-
sion projects on TCO’s Columbia Gulf
pipeline, and the remainder will enter the
TCO pool in Boyd County, Ky. Another
TCO expansion project, the WB Xpress
project, will increase mainline capacity
to both the east (500 MMcf/d) and west
(800 MMcf/d) when it is completed in
late 2018.
Three projects associated with the
Transcontinental Gas Pipeline are intended
to add more than 3 Bcf/d of capacity out of
Pennsylvania and West Virginia: Atlantic
Sunrise, Mountain Valley Pipeline, and
Equitrans Expansion. Atlantic Sunrise, the
first phase of which was completed in
2017, is a nearly $3 billion project that will
provide 1.7 Bcf/d of bidirectional capacity
on the Transco System.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline (2 Bcf/d),
a new pipeline from West Virginia to
Existing and planned natural gas pipelines in the northern United States
the Transco system in southern Virginia,
and the Equitrans Expansion Project
(0.600000 MMcF/d), which brings natu-
ral gas from northwest Pennsylvania to an
interconnection with the Mountain Valley
Pipeline, are also scheduled to come
online in 2018.
The first phase of Rover Pipeline was
completed in late 2017, and Phase 2 is
expected to come online in mid-2018. Phase
2 includes 3.25 Bcf/d of new capacity into
Midwestern markets and the Dawn hub in
Ontario, Canada.
NEXUS Pipeline, which follows a simi-
lar route to Rover, will add 1.5 Bcf/d
of new capacity. Natural gas from the
Marcellus and Utica basins will be deliv-
ered to this pipeline by the 950 MMcf/d
Appalachian Lease Project, also scheduled
to come online in 2018.
Separately, nuclear, coal and older oil-
fired power plants are rapidly being shut
down and replaced by more-efficient and
cleaner-burning gas-fired facilitiess.
Con Edison, for example, said between
2012 and 2016, more than 5,000 large New
York City buildings switched from oil to natu-
ral gas for heating. Additionally, according to
RBN Energy, the Northeast Gas Association
(NGA) 2017 Regional Market report showed
natural gas heated homes in the Northeast
grew by more than 1million since 2008.
Three projects associated with the
Transcontinental Gas Pipeline are intended
to add more than 3 Bcf/d of capacity out of
Pennsylvania and West Virginia. P&GJ
`
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©2018 Wolseley Industrial Group 0218 740266

 Bozick Getting into the Pig Launcher Groove
By Adam Bozick, Regional Manager, Victaulic
P
ipeline pigging is an important part of
ensuring reliable pipelines and, when
done as part of a larger maintenance
program, can significantly reduce the
risk of line failure and downtime. Clearing
buildup or blockages from gas hydrates,
asphaltenes, iron oxides, scale or paraffin is
just one way in which pigging helps manage
line integrity. Pigging is also routinely used
to identify damage from corrosion before it
becomes a major issue.
This process, however, can be costly
and time consuming with traditional pig-
ging equipment.
Necessity of Pigging
In hydraulic fracturing operations, a site
may have low elevation areas in the gather-
ing system where liquids, chlorides, old
chemicals or proppants can accumulate.
Slugging from this can cause particular
challenges for pigging, restricting flow in
the pipeline and slowing production.
To avoid these issues, operators may utilize
lay flat hose, which offer advantages in trans-
port and storage volumes along with ease of
handling. These hoses, however, can still pres-
ent issues like ice and debris clogging them.
Any line, traditional or lay flat, that is
not pigged frequently can become a danger.
To avoid unplanned downtime for costly
repairs, inline inspection should be planned
and performed to ensure line integrity.
Routine pigging is just one part of this, but
helps ensure that lines are clear and leak-
free. In some projects, lines may need to
be pigged frequently. In those cases, and in
remote areas that are difficult to get pigging
equipment to and from, installing multiple
pig launchers in the system may be helpful.
When Pigs Y
Traditional pig launchers for lay flat
hoses in the field include a “farmer fitting”
(flanged Y lateral) and various flanged
valves. An 8-inch version of this system
weighs somewhere in the neighborhood
of 730 pounds. Go up another 2-inch for a
10-inch system, and that weight goes up to
over 1,100 pounds. In the field, we know
that weight (and space) equal money. Even
getting this hefty equipment onsite can be
a challenge; it requires additional coordi-
38 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
nation and cooperation with on-site and
off-site crews, and they must wait for the
appropriate weather conditions before ship-
ping the equipment. The challenges don’t
stop at logistical issues, either.
On the operations side, we know that
flanged valves can be difficult and time con-
suming to install. They can also make main-
tenance of the pig launchers more difficult,
as flanged valves are more difficult to disas-
semble and require a special tool. Cycling
these valves a few times each week also wears
away at the valve seat, incurring additional
maintenance costs to maintain the valves.
It can be difficult, also, to source parts
for pig launchers in remote locations. In a
desperate attempt to get back online, opera-
tors may unknowingly source parts from a
local supplier that is not CWS listed or that
does not pickle and passivate their welds to
prevent oxidation. This opens operators to
any number of risks if the valves, fittings or
pig launcher fail from not being welded to
the minimum pressure code.
So, What Do We Do?
By simply replacing the bulky flanged
connections of the traditional pig launcher
system with grooved assemblies, operators
can significantly reduce the weight of their
pig launcher systems. The same 8-inch sys-
tem is reduced to about 350 pounds, while
the 10-inch system comes in at 575 pounds.
For a site that needs ten pig launchers, this
means a savings of over 3,800 pounds (or
5,250 pounds for the 10-inch version).
This weight reduction makes transporting
the equipment easier and directly translates
into fuel savings for the operator.
Pig launchers with grooves instead of flang-
es are much easier to operate. The enormous
force that is required to open a flanged valve
is eliminated by the better breakaway torque of
grooved valves. The built-in “snipe” (a sort of
cheater bar) makes it much easier to open and
close these valves. The two bolts on a grooved
system are removed with a simple impact gun.
When not in use, the grooved couplings
can be used in other areas of the site – for
example, when connecting pumps, valves
and fittings to lay flat hoses during everyday
operations. Of course, this simple assembly
and disassembly makes pig launcher main-
tenance in grooved systems much easier as
well, and reduces safety concerns.
Case Study
An operator in northern Alberta and British
Columbia used a 10-inch, grooved pig launch-
er for a year. The older flanged system they
had been using took two hours to install, per
pig launcher. The new grooved system took
only 10 minutes. Because of the flexibility
and simplicity of the system, crews were able
to utilize the same components from the pig
launcher for lay flat assemblies and pump
bypasses when the launcher wasn’t in use.
These grooved valves could be operated
with much less torque and for longer periods
between maintenance than the traditional
flanged valves. When routine maintenance
was needed, the crews could quickly get
the system back online due to how easy the
grooved system was to repair in the field.
The ease of operability, functionality
and flexibility have led to the operator’s
decision to use the grooved pig launcher
assemblies at other sites.
Doing Things Differently
Operators are pushing, daily, to reduce
their costs in a market where oil prices can
vary widely. Without compromising safe-
ty, streamlined operations are a premium,
which is encouraging operators and builders
to improve asset efficiencies and invest in
technologies with a higher ROI than what
the status quo would provide. To do things
better, we need to do things more efficiently
– and that means doing things differently.
For the requisite pig launching systems
of many operations, this may mean utilizing
grooved assemblies instead of the traditional
flanged designs that, while they still get the job
done, do not offer the biggest bang-for-your-
buck. Design changes that can disrupt that sta-
tus quo are taking root, allowing engineers to
look at problems from a different point-of-view
to solve challenges more efficiently. P&GJ
Author: Adam Bozick is a regional manager
with Victaulic, a manufacturer of mechanical
pipe joining and fire protection systems, where
he works with customers in the upstream and
downstream markets. He is a member of both
the Construction Industry Institute and Rice’s
Engineering & Construction Forum.
Real-Time Views of Measurement for
Performing Data Analytics
By Russel Treat, CEO, EnerSys Corporation
A
s the CEO of a software company
that provides technology and tools
to support pipeline operators, I hear
a lot of chatter about data analytics.
Everyone wants access to the latest data at
their fingertips – to be more efficient, run
safely, save money, and remain compliant.
However, some operators are looking at
the chasm between data and analytics, and
are wondering how to build a bridge from
data to the effective use of analytics.
Real-time views create meaning and con-
text for the data, benefiting everyone in
your operation. Also, real-time views pro-
vide information about the process – or, said
another way – information about the quality
of the measurement.
You might be saying to yourself, “I
already collect data in my SCADA system,
so why would I need a real-time measure-
ment system?” The key in answering this
question is in understanding who is using
the data and for what purpose. While the
same data is going into the SCADA system,
the real value is the view for measurement.
SCADA is looking at how much flow
there is right now. However, measurement is
looking at how good and reliable the num-
bers are and will they line up at the end of
the day when I provide end-of-day reports?
Everyone is looking at the same data,
but everyone needs different information.
Ideally, data is contextualized for each
role in the operation such that the view
into the information supports their specific
decision-making.
The contextualization is how I look at the
information. When everyone in your opera-
tion has the data properly contextualized
for their role, there is a significant impact
on each person’s ability to determine what
actions are required. When the data is con-
textualized in real-time, decisions can be
made now vs. reactively making decisions
after events have passed.
Solving Real Problems
One of the best examples of the value of
real-time data in measurement is keeping a
history of real-time values such as temperature
and differential pressure on an orifice meter.
When you look at these values at the
one-minute level – or even more frequently
– you are provided with a
much different view than
what an hourly average
would typically provide.
For example, by trend-
ing real-time temperature
and differential pressure,
you can see a meter freeze
occur.
Ultimately, a real-time
view of values could be
the difference between
catching an issue or deal-
ing with it after the fact.
Summarized data just is not
enough for stakeholders to
make optimal decisions.
In the example, the
meter occurs and is clear
in less than an hour.
Typically, the measure-
ment back office is only
looking at hourly sum-
marized data. It would be
impossible to identify this
meter freeze using hourly
summary records as the
freeze would be buried in
the summary.
Here’s another example:
Flow computers typically
accumulated and summa-
rized measurement into
hourly records that are
moved back to the mea-
surement back office. This
hourly summarized data A view of rate, temperature, differential and pressure.
is critical to the measure-
ment back office function in that it allows pared to summarized data? Consider mea-
for editing and reporting while retaining a surement alarms tied to events in the system.
measurement audit trail. Again, referring back to the meter freeze,
However, it is not uncommon in some by creating an advanced algorithm using
operations for the measurement data to be advanced analytics, an algorithm can be
collected only once every four hours, or created that uses the complete meter condi-
even daily. By the time the measurement tion – temperature, differential pressure,
office gets that data, the back office could static pressure, composition and moisture
be a day behind in reacting to an alarm. content – to calculate when a hydrate would
Polling the measurement device for real- form. This makes a meter freeze notifica-
time data consumes much less bandwidth tion even more meaningful.
than the full hourly audit file and allows for Essentially, your operation needs to fol-
early identification of problems. low a six-step process to use data analytics
Where else can you find much more effectively:
meaning and context in real-time data com- 1. Collect the data in your system.
www.pgjonline.com
| 39
 2. Normalize the data in your
common structure.
3. Use real-time views to find the
meaning and context of to the data.
4. Perform manual analytics to
determine use cases.
5. Implement the algorithms to identify
abnormal conditions.
6. Create a procedure to address
the abnormal conditions.
Applying Analytics
Think about the importance of commu-
nication in the field. Is it productive for a
measurement technician to send an email
to the measurement office with his findings
on an orifice meter, wait two hours for a
response and then take action? Absolutely
not. That is entirely inefficient when there
are other technological options to speed up
the communication process.
Similarly, the key signals coming back
from a meter are much more meaningful if
both the field and back office can look at
them at the same time, discuss the trends
and respond accordingly.
For example, a meter freeze will display
a typical pattern in its relationship between
temperature and differential pressure. When
both the field technician and the back office
can look at the same pattern, they form a
common understanding and define a collab-
orative path forward to resolve the freeze.
Specifically, you should be able to identify
when the freeze began and ended. If you
are summarizing the data, it becomes much
more difficult to see the issue.
Additionally, if you are only seeing the
data from a meter freeze at the end of the
month, then you must go back through
the entire month to edit the data – and you
missed an opportunity to react to the meter
freeze in real-time.
Conversely, if you have the capability to
catch the meter freeze during the month,
then you can send a technician out to the
meter to clear the freeze, minimizing mea-
surement error and simplifying the end-of-
month closing process.
Time Savings
Once you develop and implement a con-
sistent process for using real-time data, you
can tap into more methods to use advanced
measurement capabilities in the field.
Fortunately, the latest technology available
for SCADA systems makes it easier to utilize
telemetry to perform real-time measurement
functions. A useful example is a gas stream
with multiple meters, where the chromato-
graph is located in such a location that it
cannot be shared in the local communications.
For example, at a plant site where inlet
meters are remote from the meters at a pro-
cess inlet, the chromatograph at the plant
inlet can be polled and written to the chro-
matograph at the process inlet. This process
eliminates the need to install additional
chromatographs, delivering tremendous
cost savings.
Consider this scenario:
n There are three gas processing trains at

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Across the global landscape, UniversalPegasus International delivers unsurpassed
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40 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

 PERFORMANCE
AT WORK
PL87
Lift Capacity
216, 000 lb.
Net Power Max
345 hp

PL83
Lift Capacity
170, 000 lb.
Net Power Max
345 hp

PL72
Lift Capacity
90, 000 lb.
Net Power Max
246 hp

71H
Lift Capacity
60, 000 lb.
Net Power Max
150 hp Your success is our commitment. This means providing maximum performance
through quality machinery, pipeline solutions and knowledgeable people. At
PL61 PipeLine Machinery International (PLM) we deliver on this commitment by
presenting the Cat® Pipelayer line-up, purpose-built to provide increased
Lift Capacity
lift-capacity, ease of operation and greater stability. The Cat ACERT™ engines
40, 000 lb. meet global emission standards and like all Cat machines, are designed for long
Net Power Max life and serviceability to help keep your operating costs low. Let’s work together.
125 hp
USA: +1-713-939-0007
Canada: +1-780-377-0336
www.plmcat.com China: +1-86-10-5960-1510
Netherlands: +1-31-70-353-8279
Australia: +1-61-423-394-730 Your Global Partner for Pipeline Solutions
www.pgjonline.com
©2018 Caterpillar. All rights reserved. CAT, CATERPILLAR, BUILT FOR IT, their perspective logos, “Caterpillar Yellow”, the “Power Edge” trade dress as well as corporate and product identity used herein, are trademarks of Caterpillar
| 41
and may not be used without permission.
 the same facility (process inlets), and three different customers
making deliveries to the facility (plant inlet).
n Each of the three plant inlets delivers to each of the three train inlets.
n Only the plant inlet meters have an online gas chromatograph
(GC), so the plant takes a chromatographic reading at the
source and communicates the data to the train inlets.
n Instead of purchasing 12 GCs for each of the train inlets (3-by-
4), the plant just needs three GCs at the points of delivery.

Real-Time Views as seen on the EnerSys POEMS IOC.

Real-time telemetry helps facilitate the plant’s ability to perform

accurate measurement. Then, once the data is gathered in real-time,
stakeholders in the plant can perform data analytics.
A software tool can help you manage the process of obtaining real-
time data, viewing the data and taking action. And, because there is so
much measurement data coming into your operation, you also need
a tool that can help simplify the process to provide accurate, timely
data for operational decision-making.
One such tool is the EnerSys IOC intelligent operator con-
sole (IOC) for measurement from my company’s POEMS
software suite. This tool provides users with real-time access
to data from flow computers, PLCs and gas chromatographs.
Using a communication server, the appropriate measurement
device is regularly polled to provide operators with real-time
data. You can also create a demand poll of a specific device at
any time to gather data.
The software is set up to provide multiple views for each
stakeholder in the operation. This allows users to perform tasks
such as viewing live gas quality from all GCs and reading/writ-
ing configurations back to the GC.
We understand the importance of having a central location to
collect, view and store the data collected from your measurement
devices. That is why our company continues to talk to operators to
understand the challenges of moving to real-time data views.
Remember, if the conversation in your pipeline operation is mov-
ing toward data analytics, you need to start with how to implement
a process for real-time views in metering and measurement. Taking
this step will set you on the right path to achieve operational excel-
lence, become more efficient, operate safer, and remain compliant
with the latest pipeline regulations. P&GJ

42 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

 Liquefied Natural Gas

REAL-TIME LNG DATA

Any project. Any time. Any place.
Updated in real time, the Energy Web Atlas, a web-based platform,
enables users to access worldwide facility and project data.

Actionable Data
• Owner/Operator • LNG shipping/vessel
• Project status information

• Project storage and capacity • Global Shipping Ports

• Shareholder data • Global Natural Gas Pipelines

• Process method

Comprehensive
Functionality
• Import external data
• Custom annotation,
reporting and graphing
• Interactive data filtering
• Layer/attribute access
and modification
• Production quality maps,
PDF exports

• Data exports • Interactive charts/statistics

DISCOVER MORE AT ENERGYWEBATLAS.COM

 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
IT ALL STARTS WITH API 1169 PIPELINE
CONSTRUCTION INSPECTOR CERTIFICATION.
An energy revolution sparked by dramatic gains in crude oil and natu-
ral gas production in the U.S. and Western Canada, along with the aging
of the existing pipeline network, has produced a series of major pipeline
construction projects. This has led to a growing demand for skilled and
knowledgeable pipeline construction inspectors. API’s Pipeline Construc-
tion Inspector Certification Program provides the oil and natural gas
industry with a standardized and unbiased process for certifying quali-
fied individuals who perform pipeline construction inspection activities.
Through experience verification and testing, the certification 
process
identifies competent inspectors who possess the basic credentials required
to perform the duties to best industry practices and standards. With the hiring
process now simplified, pipeline operators can feel confident that an API-
certified inspector is capable of performing the work safely and efficiently.
ARE YOU QUALIFIED TO TAKE THE API 1169 EXAM?
API 1169 Pipeline Construction Inspector Certification requirements
are based on work experience acquired within the last 20 years. Education
and other certifications may also be needed.
Applicants can qualify in one or more of these categories.
• Pipeline Inspection Experience
• General Oil & Gas Industry Inspection Experience
• Non-Inspection Pipeline Experience
• Non-Inspection General Oil & Gas Industry Experience
• Other Heavy Industry Experience
44 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Determine which category applies to you and then provide the informa-
tion that is required.
• The minimum amount of experience/education needed to qualify
MUST be documented on your application and will be verified
after your application has been submitted.
• If you are using education or certification to help you qualify, then
official documentation (in the English language) will need to be
uploaded into your application.
Career advancement is spelled ICP. Whether you’re an experienced
inspector or just beginning on this exciting career path, becoming an
API-certified Pipeline Construction Inspector is your first step in career
advancement. Join over 4,000 certified 1169 inspectors and demon-
strate you have the knowledge, skills and professionalism required to get
the job done right. Sign up for the next available exam and prove your
knowledge.
For more information, visit www.API.org/PipelineInspector.
Individual Certification Programs: ICP
SPONSORED CONTENT
DO YOU QUALIFY FOR
API 1169 PIPELINE
INSPECTOR
CERTIFICATION?
If you meet rigorous experience, education, and in some
cases, certification levels, you just may be qualified to
apply for an API 1169 Pipeline Construction Inspector
Certification. Check to see if you meet the requirements
at API.org/ICPprograms, and select API 1169 –
Pipeline Construction Inspector from the drop-down
menu. Invest in yourself by applying for your API ICP
Certification today.

Career advancement
is spelled ICP. SM

Endorsed by
INGAA & CEPA

Copyright 2018 – American Petroleum Institute, all rights reserved. API, the API logo, and the “Career advancement”
tagline are either service marks, trademarks, or registered trademarks of API in the United States and/or other
countries.
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
A FULL-SERVICE SUPPLIER
DELIVERS PROJECT BENEFITS
When tackling the various tasks and requirements of a pipeline proj-
ect, multiple services integrated within a single, efficient project team
offer numerous advantages. A full-service pipeline service supplier can
provide the integration that can help you realize the following benefits:
• Shorter schedules
• Reduced owner risk
• Greater cost controls
• A single point of responsibility
• Increased cooperation
• Enhanced design and construction innovation
There is no question that pipeline projects are becoming more complex.
Among the reasons a full-service supplier makes sense:
1. Pipeline projects are going beyond engineering and construction.
Pipeline projects increasingly require efficient permitting pro-
cesses and effective community relations. To help a project be
successful, the project should incorporate the permitting process
and community relations from the beginning. Obtaining permits is
often in the project’s critical path, and early, open communication
is the best way to achieve community support.
2. Integrated services bring efficiencies.
Working with suppliers that deliver multiple services makes
it easier for the owner to manage the schedule and increase
cost-efficiency.
When a supplier is working on land acquisition as well as design,
the coordination to obtain survey permission from just one sup-
plier alleviates the chance of data getting lost or a task not being
completed as required. The supplier can manage these cross-
functional activities of the project internally and keep the client
informed. There is also a decrease in requests, and wait time is
46 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
A horizontal direction drill (HDD) crossing from a recent project that
benefitted from Burns & McDonnell’s multiple service capabilities.
reduced, because there is no need for a design firm to provide
permit material to another company.
3. Even supporting a full-service, broad experience strengthens
the overall project. A supplier that has the capability to deliver
multiple services understands more aspects of the overall project,
even those not in its scope. These firms can add value simply
because they are familiar with the scope that is being executed
either by another supplier or the owner directly.
ABOUT BURNS & MCDONNELL
With decades of experience serving the oil and gas industry, Burns
& McDonnell is uniquely positioned to provide a full range of services,
including environmental permitting, land acquisition, community rela-
tions, design, procurement and project controls. We have the capabil-
ity to perform or manage a combination of those services as a single,
integrated package or individually, depending on project requirements
and our clients’ needs. We do offer full EPC services to provide addi-
tional flexibility to our clients and our program management experience
includes small and mega-sized projects.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Dana Book
9400 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO 64114
(816) 823-7535
dbook@burnsmcd.com
www.burnsmcd.com/services/chemicals-oil-gas/pipeline-services
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Offices Worldwide
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

DENSO PROVIDES THE PIPELINE & TANK INDUSTRY Fast Cure, Low Temperature
Pipeline Coating

WITH A VARIETY OF ANTI-CORROSION PRODUCTS

PROTAL 7200 ™

Denso North America offers a wide variety of anti-corrosion and The petrolatum tape system consists of Densyl Tape, Denso Paste,
sealing products with a proven track record of solving problems in Denso Profiling Mastic and various outerwraps.
all kinds of challenging environments, above or below ground and Denso also offers a full line of SeaShield Marine Pile Protection Systems.
underwater. With manufacturing plants worldwide, Denso is recog- These products include fiberglass forms, petrolatum tape/wrap systems,
nized as the global leader in corrosion prevention. epoxy grouts, underwater grouts, etc.
Denso’s vast line of products include Protal Liquid Coatings, petro- Denso has expanded to provided their great tape and coating products for
latum tapes, mastics, primers, bitumen & butyl tapes, hot-applied tapes, tank protection with the Archco line and tank base chime protection system.
SeaShield Marine Systems and Tank Protection Systems. Denso North America’s products andFast Cure,
systems areHigh
backedBuild
by a team of
Pipeline Coating
Protal Liquid Coatings are used for girth welds, tie-ins, cadwelds, bor- qualified professionals and offer technical support and on-site guidance.
ing applications, repairs to FBE, fittings & fabrication, and rehabilitation With offices throughout the USA and Canada, Denso North America
of existing pipelines. Protal Liquid Coatings have become the choice of is a subsidiary of Winn & Coales International. URETHANE
Winn & Coales was origi-
many contractors, engineers and owners in the pipeline industry. nally established as a business in London, England, in 1883, and the first
TOPCOATS
PROTAL ARO ™
Denso Tape was developed over 80 years ago for the “Long Life Protec- petrolatum tape manufactured in the UK was Denso Tape, manufactured
Abrasion
tion” of buriedresistant pipeline
steel pipelines coating that protects FBEunder
against corrosion. mainline
license by Winn & Coales (Denso) Limited.
coatings from directional drilling, bores, river crossings and other
rough terrain applications.
Protal Liquid Coatings for girth Petrolatum Tape Systems for Tank Protection for internal and SeaShield Marine Pile Protec-
welds, tie-ins, cadwelds, boring above and below ground pipe, external protections of tanks with tion Systems for the corrosion
applications, repairs to FBE, fit- flanges and valves; underdecking liquid linings, tapes, epoxies and protection of concrete and steel
tings and fabrication, and rehabili- piping, hangers, tie rods and con- primers for a variety of tanks, piles; marine borer protection of
tation of existing pipelines. nections; cooling tower piping, drums and vessel types. timber piles; rehabilitation of exist-
tank bases and pipe under thermal ingAbove Ground
timber, steel UV
and concrete piles
insulation; cadwelds, cable splices Resistant Topcoat
& threaded connections; offshore
platform piping, conduit, and
structural steel

PROTAL 7900HT
Features ™
Easy to apply (brush, roller or spray)
Features
Fast dry and set times Features
A high
Fast cure temperature intermittent service temperature upflexibility
Good to 300°F (150°C).
and impact resistance Over 40 year history of proven
High
High build
build (up to(up toin 40
50 mils mils / 1016 microns in one coat).
one coat) High build up to 40 mils in one-coat applications
Does not shield cathodic protection Glass flake linings with low perme- Low cost rehabilitation
Complete line of liquid coating Features

LEADERS IN
ability Adds years of life to piles and piers
epoxies for temperatures up to Applied to marginally prepared Can be airless or plural spray Complete line pile protection sys-
250˚F (120˚C) and for damp / wet surfaces (SSPC SP2-3) applied tems, underwater epoxies, inject-

CORROSION PREVENTION
surfaces. History of proven applications Over 40 years of proven tank linings able epoxies, nylon fabric forms
since 1929 and fiberglass forms.
Can be applied to cold & wet sur- COMPANY LOGO
faces vector-based EPS, maximum space 3 in. x 1 in.

www.densona.com Easy application from arctic to

tropical temperatures
Call: +1 281-821-3355 E-mail: info@densona.com
Complete line of petrolatum prim-
ers, mastics, sealers, void fillers,
and outerwraps CONTACT INFORMATION
281-821-3355
info@densona.com
www.densona.com

48 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

 PROTAL™ 7125

Fast Cure, Low Temperature

Pipeline Coating

PROTAL™ 7200

Fast Cure, High Build

Pipeline Coating

URETHANE
TOPCOATS
PROTAL™ ARO
Abrasion resistant pipeline coating that protects FBE mainline
coatings from directional drilling, bores, river crossings and other
rough terrain applications.

Above Ground UV
Resistant Topcoat

PROTAL™ 7900HT
A high temperature intermittent service temperature up to 300°F (150°C).
High build (up to 40 mils / 1016 microns in one coat).

LEADERS IN
CORROSION PREVENTION
www.densona.com
Call: +1 281-821-3355 E-mail: info@densona.com
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

ENDURO PROVIDES “EXPERIENCED BASED”

SOLUTIONS FOR THE ENERGY INDUSTRY

Enduro Pipeline Services, Inc., from the beginning of this vertically

integrated company in 1988 to the present day, offers services and sales to
assist our Oil and Gas Industry clients with their pipeline problems. The
founders of Enduro believe in a hands-on approach to solving pipeline
challenges and providing optimum solutions through the design, manu-
facture, and supply of cost effective pigging products.
The first tool developed by Enduro was the analog Geometry Inspec-
tion Tool. This instrumented pig could detect dents, buckles, pipe wall
changes, along with welds and valves. A modification was later added to
the tool enabling bends to be detected along with the geometry.
In 1998, the Enduro DdL™ Integrity Survey tool was developed by
Enduro and replaced the standard analog inspection tool. The DdL™
incorporates geometry inspection, bend analysis and map production
into a single pass through the use of digital memory. The digital storage
ability also allowed the tool to be expanded into a multi-channel tool
capable of logging radius point and diametrical point data, also allowing
o’clock positioning of the anomalies being recorded. This first of a kind
geometry inspection tool, placed the Enduro DdL™ Integrity Survey Tool Enduro offers the industry a full line of pipeline cleaning pigs, real-
at the forefront of the industry and became the industry standard. The izing cleaning is an essential part of the internal integrity management of
DdL™ computer flash memory, with advanced software, enabled a long the pipeline. Enduro pipeline scraper products include - Uni-body ure-
line section to be measured with one pass, since the graph paper scale to thane pigs (UreCasttm), metal body pigs (Advantagetm, Bi-Directional,
pipe length was no longer the determining factor; line lengths of 300 miles and Profile), two and three section pig trains, dual and multiple diameter
can now be achieved. Since 1988 Enduro has been a leader in the North designs, plus we manufacture an intrusive pig passage indicator – Pig
American geometry inspection market. Poppertm.
In 2005 Enduro announced its Enduro DfL™ Magnetic Flux Leakage Custom design of pigs is a regular service offered by Enduro. As a
Survey tools - the latest development to become an integral part of day to manufacturer, we operate a modern polyurethane plant where we pour
day pipeline operational and maintenance activities. The Enduro DfLtm all urethane components using (MDI) composition polyurethane. The
tool simultaneously collects five (5) data sets – metal loss, deformation, result - providing our customers a superior, longer lasting product for
inertial, internal/external discrimination and residual field concurrently long and multiple pig runs.
to greatly simplify the process of identifying features and anomaly types. We increased the size of our facility in 2013 with new IT offices, train-
Enduro’s design team, with over 50 years combined experience in the ing facilities and an expanded production area. This means improved
development of pipeline inspection tools, regularly upgrades these state quality control, decreased turnaround times, and a new Enduro client
of the art tools with new innovative features. software training program.
Enduro Pipeline Services, Inc. offers In-line Inspection Services com- All Enduro Products and Services are ‘experienced based’ solutions to
prised of ILI surveys utilizing our fleet of high resolution MFL multiple meet and/or exceed our customers’ business requirements. We invite your
technology tools (DfLtm) currently available in pipe sizes 4-inch thru inquiries to learn details of your application.
36-inch, plus several dual diameter pipe sizes.
PigProg II Presentertm provides advanced analysis software to
visualize, analyze, and create interactive reports for each survey.
Our In-line Inspection services include Caliper/Geometry Surveys
for ‘new construction’ pipelines, plus ‘on-stream’ Caliper Surveys.
Enduro also features Weld Correlation Reporting to provide a com-
plete Pipeline Listing Report including; Customer Weld Numbers, CONTACT INFO:
Customer Stationing, applicable Field Notes, plus GPS Data to pro- P.O. Box 3489 • Tulsa, OK 74101
duce KMZ files. We also offer Pipe Dent Strain Analysis, Pipe Bend 5002 S. 45th W. Ave. • Tulsa, OK 74107
Strain Reporting, and Historical Data Comparisons in support of 800-752-1628 • 918-446-1934
customers’ ongoing IMP efforts. Additional services include: project Fax 918-446-8125
management, cleaning, AGM equipment/placement, and tracking info@ enduropls.com
equipment/services. www.enduropls.com

50 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
REFINED PRODUCT SAMPLING USING THE PASS
(PROGRAMMABLE AUTOMATIC SAMPLING SYSTEM)
MAKING AUTOMATIC SAMPLING MORE EFFICIENT
Inline sampling is essential for ensuring the overall quality of petro-
leum products and is used for monitoring crude oil, refined fuels and
other process fluids. Sampling provides important insight into process
variables such as water content and overall fluid quality. Sampling is
often required for custody transfer applications and is also valuable to
producers, refiners, and operators looking to keep their processes operat-
ing at optimal efficiency.
Oil & Gas Process Solutions (OAG-PS) PASS Refined Product Sam-
pler (patent pending) is built specifically for fast loop sampling of refined
products. However, with minor modifications, the sampler can also be
used for direct pipeline grabs for crude and LPG’s (Liquid Petroleum
Gasses) at a constant pressure.
OAG’s PASS is unique because it does not need a pneumatic system
to operate therefore decreasing the time and labor required to maintain the
pneumatic system. The patent-pending PASS runs with an electrically pow-
ered servo cylinder. The servo cylinder is adjustable for accurate control of
variable sample grabs ranging in size from 1 to 75 ccs.
Pictured above is a demo PASS sampling unit from the lab at OAG fea-
turing some of the options available
52 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
- Composition - Viscosity
- Quality -
The system is designed to extract a representative sample and installa-
tion typically takes place in a bypass sample loop (fast loop) where there
is a continuous flow of product. The valves and pumps are arranged so
the fast loop flow runs through the entire system (circulation mode) until
a sample grab is made, at which point, the main bypass valve is closed
bypassing the fast loop and sending the sample to the pump where it is
then commanded to inject the sample into the intended receiver. Once
this process is complete, the system returns to circulate mode until the
next sample grab is made.
The explosion-proof rating of the PASS allows for flexibility in instal-
lation location. The PASS can interface with a central PLC or control
system, however, if need be a PLC controller or remote I/O modules can
be provided.
Optional scales are available and are used to confirm the receiver
chamber is present, and the correct sample sizes are being delivered.
If desired, OAG can customize the PASS to include online instrumen-
tation such as densitometers, viscometers or water detectors allowing for
enhanced system performance and capability while providing continuous
analytical measurement and sampling.
In addition to refined Product Samplers, OAG-PS offers crude sam-
pling options.
LEARN MORE ABOUT
OUR SAMPLING CAPABILITIES.
www.oag-ps.com
P: +1.602.368.2010
E: sales@oag-ps.com
SPONSORED CONTENT
Wondering about Product
Quality
Quality and Composition? Composition

Oil and Gas Process Solutions Addresses your Sampling Issues..

Crude and Refined Sampling Systems to determine:

- Composition - Viscosity - Water Cut

- Quality - Vapor Pressure - Density
We offer both turnkey and customized systems with optional features available
to meet all of your sampling requirements.

Want more info on our sampling solutions?

www.oag-ps.com - sales@oag-ps.com - 602-368-2010
Infrastructure Engineering & Construction Contractor

1-888-HENKELS
marketing@henkels.com
www.henkels.com
H enkels & McCoy (H&M) is an industry-leading
contractor that provides infrastructure construction,
design, and engineering solutions to the pipeline industry.
H&M builds and maintains mainline transmission and
distribution pipelines and related facilities to meet its
customers’ needs for reliable services.

While H&M is recognized for building major mainline

pipelines, the company is also equally committed to
completing maintenance, repairs, and integrity maintenance
for customers throughout North America. Maintaining
a large national footprint allows H&M to mobilize
quickly and efficiently. From remote, rugged terrain
to congested metro areas, no project is too large for
the H&M pipeline team.

Pipeline and Facility Service Offerings

• Pipeline Construction
• Compressor/Pump/Metering Stations
• Facility Modifications
• Shop Fabrication
• Pipeline Integrity Management
• Construction Management

Mainline • Integrity Management

Oil & Gas Facilitiesment
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
WHEN FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION
WE HAVE THE DIRECT PIPE® SOLUTION
The Direct Pipe® Method combines the advantages of microtun-
nelling and HDD technology creating a single pass process that uses a
steerable tunnel boring machine-cutting head. The technology tunnels
and pushes the pipe into place at the same time, filling the void as it
progresses. Overall, the process greatly lowers annular pressure acting
on the surrounding subsurface formation and greatly reduces the risk
of inadvertent returns. This makes the method ideal for crossing under
levees and environmentally sensitive areas where failure is not an option.
With the Direct Pipe® method, the entire jobsite infrastructure, includ-
ing the prefabricated pipeline, is located on one side of the crossing. This
set-up results in using less labor and equipment, causes less disruption to the
environment, and can be implemented even in densely populated residential
areas. This also makes it ideal for constructing landfalls installations where
the pipeline is installed directly from the mainland out towards the open
water. These benefits have led to a number of upcoming Direct Pipe®
projects due to the high and continuously growing worldwide demand for
trenchless pipeline installations for the oil and gas industry, for freshwater
and sewage transportation as well as for supply and communication lines.
AUTHOR: MAUREEN CARLIN, PHD,
STRATEGIC MARKETING MANAGER
Laney Directional Drilling (Laney) is the only North American trench-
less company providing integrated Engineering, Procurement and Con-
struction (EPC) trenchless services for Horizontal Directional Drilling
(HDD) and the Direct Pipe® Method (Direct Pipe®). To date, Laney has
executed nearly 2,800 successful crossings in 29 years of business and
has completed some of the longest and most challenging HDD crossings
across the globe. In recent years, Laney has expanded their portfolio and
has become the North American leader in the Direct Pipe®. Of the nearly
100 Direct Pipe® crossings completed to date, Laney has completed 11
and has installed more than 23,000 feet of pipeline. This is more footage
than any other contractor in North America.
In November 2017, Laney set a new world-record in length for the
Direct Pipe®, which included a shore approach execution into the Gulf
of Mexico located in Cameron County, Texas. The total length of the
42-inch diameter installation was nearly 5,000 feet and an additional
1,350 feet of pipe pushed out to the offshore contractor. Laney utilized
a Herrenknecht HK750PT thruster and clamp with a Herrenknecht AVN
1000 TBM. In addition, Laney utilized a one-of-a-kind Derrick Direct
Pipe Cleaning System Set-up with 300-bbl Mixing Tank and Mammoth
Centrifuge. These systems were ideal for the execution offering full fluids
circulation and low pressure for minimal environmental risk. The project
was completed safely, on schedule and within budget marketing the 11th
successful installation in a row for Laney.
Numerous factors have led to this successful record. Primarily, Laney is
pushing industry safety standards by utilizing advanced technology around
communication and atmospheric monitoring during confined entry opera-
tions. Brian Carpenter, Corporate Director, HS&E notes that, “we are improv-
ing policy around, when entries are made, why entries are needed, number of
56 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
personnel and duration of entries. Also, we have initiated a formalized lessons
learned review process which is conducted on each project to ensure continu-
ous improvement of all safety procedures.” These initiatives have resulted in
zero lost time due to injury on all Direct Pipe® Projects.
Laney is the only company with the in-house expertise to both design
and construct a Direct Pipe® installation. “The process starts with our
team of geotechnical experts evaluating a potential installation site for
both geometric and geologic feasibility. The team selects subsurface
exploration locations based on geology, geometry, and site conditions to
evaluate the potential profile,” describes Andrew Sparks P.E., Principal
Geotechnical Engineer. Using the subsurface information, the engineering
team designs the most appropriate Direct Pipe® profile and calculates the
estimated thrust forces, installation and operating stresses, and hydraulic
fracture risk. At all stages of the Direct Pipe® engineering design process,
the construction team works with the engineering team to develop the
design with the highest likelihood of success to execute the construction
effectively, efficiently and safely.
Regarding construction, Drilling Fluids Engineer/Coordinator Tommy
LeBlanc Sr., considers, “what differentiates Laney’s Direct Pipe opera-
tional successes is a highly skilled and experienced construction team
consisting of a strong superintendent and his core crew that have a pro-
found understanding of the overall process. From the engineering aspect
to the actual field installation and rig-up of the thruster anchoring system
is probably the biggest difference maker. Once that’s well established
and the excavation and tunneling operations begin the crews monitor
and maintain good drilling practices which have proven to be very suc-
cessful to date.”
Overall, Laney’s Direct Pipe® success “in large part to our EPC
capabilities which, to date, has resulted in a 100% success rate having as
all of our Direct Pipe® projects have been completed safely, on schedule
and within budget. Laney is constantly on the forefront of the industry
by learning about new and improved equipment, installation techniques
and all around operating efficiencies. In addition, we are improving our
maintenance program, upgrading our umbilical components, upgrading
our communications system and staying on top of leading edge of tunnel-
ing equipment,” commented Project Manager Nick Michels.
Since 1989, Laney Directional Drilling has pushed the limits of
trenchless equipment and construction execution, which has resulted in
numerous project records. These records are the byproduct of our commit-
ment of excellence to our clients, to ourselves and to the overall promo-
tion of the trenchless industry. As Laney moves into the next generation
of trenchless innovation, we will continue to drive industry standards and
to provide our clients with safer, more effective and more responsible
solutions to the most complex and challenging pipeline installations.
CONTACT INFORMATION
831 Crossbridge DR, Spring, TX 77373
(281) 540-6615
info@laneydrilling.com
www.laneydrilling.com
SPONSORED CONTENT
#1 in Direct Pipe® in North America

N E W WO R L D R E C O R D
THE DIRECT PIPE METHOD®
 5,000’ of 42” Pipe
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 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

ADVANCED PIPELINE CLEANING SERVICES

ADVANCED PIPELINE CLEANING SERVICES

N-SPEC® Pipeline Services (dba of Coastal Chemical Co., LLC/
Brenntag NA) is the industry standard in pipeline cleaning services since
1995. N-SPEC® is the first of the pipeline services companies to do
online cleaning using its own application specific equipment, chemicals
and personnel.

ADVANCED PIPELINE CLEANING

The accumulation of deposits in all types of pipelines causes signifi-
cant declines in operating efficiencies and throughput. The N-SPEC®
Team specializes in removing wax and asphaltenes scales, black powder,
iron sulfide and many other solids that can cause flow restrictions and
corrosion failures in pipelines.

OFFLINE SERVICES
N-SPEC® offline services are performed on newly commissioned
pipelines as well as pipelines previously operating. N-SPEC® techni-
cians are highly trained and experienced in all aspects of offline services
including pipeline blow-downs, line pre-cleaning, pigging, hydro-testing,
drying and commissioning pipelines.
N-SPEC® Typical Separation Equipment Setup at Customer’s Re-
ELIMINATE PIPELINE DEBRIS ceiver Site for Cleaning Natural Gas Pipeline Online
For a myriad of applications N-SPEC® offers a complete line of
pipeline specific cleaners, specialty solvents and anti-foulants. N-SPEC® a broad range of technical services, including pipeline cleaning program
cleaning chemicals will penetrate, lift and disperse solids deposits into designs, solids monitoring during line cleaning, and laboratory services.
the liquid phase to allow easy removal. These cleaners are designed to N-SPEC® can also provide customers with all the equipment needed for
clean down to the pipe wall to cost effectively eliminate pipeline debris. any job, including our proprietary pipeline-cleaning separators and other
separation equipment. With our pipeline-cleaning separator, pipeline
LEADING WITH TECHNOLOGY operators can clean pipelines online or perform system improvements
N-SPEC® offers the patented FloClean™ product line for dissolving without ever shutting down operations.
elemental sulfur deposits and the patented PowderSolv™ product line for
dissolving Iron Sulfide in Black Powder. The FloClean™ products will RENTAL EQUIPMENT
effectively dissolve sulfur deposits in a pipeline at ambient temperatures. Added to our fleet of equipment are ANSI 600 and 900 rated separa-
The PowderSolv™ products are neutral pH Iron Sulfide dissolvers that tion equipment including filter-separators, coalescer units, knockout ves-
do not create H2S outgassing. sels, portable flares, pig launchers and receivers along with other various
associated accessories.
FLARE SERVICES
N-SPEC® flares are designed for quick set-up to get your project up
and running fast. Our 2-inch flare units are completely self-contained
and can handle both liquid products and gas. Both the 6 and 12-inch flare
units are designed to handle natural gas only. Combined with experienced
on-site flare supervisors and the N-SPEC® fleet of low and high-pressure
separation equipment, we can safely and reliably provide a 98% destruc-
tion rate during pipeline, plant cleaning and maintenance operations.
CONTACT INFORMATION
EXPERT SERVICES 6127 Hwy 90 East
Backing up the N-SPEC® product line is a team of highly trained Broussard, LA 70518
specialists experienced in all aspects of pipeline cleaning and pigging. 800.535.6182
With the aid of our sophisticated computer software products and in- CBomersbach@brenntag.com
house analytical capabilities these specialists can provide customers with coastalchem.com

58 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

EFFECTIVELY TREATS IRON SULFIDE IN BOTH GAS AND LIQUID APPLICATIONS

What is
PowderSolv ? ™

PowderSolv™ is an innovative line of patent protected water based

iron sulfide dissolvers. These unique products have a neutral pH that
Increase in reaction
will chelate iron compounds. The reactions of PowderSolv with iron
efficiency *
sulfide will not create toxic hydrogen sulfide gas.

The by-products of these reactions remain in the water phase and

are easily disposed of in a waste water system. N-SPEC’s PowderSolv Increase in
will safely and effectively treat iron sulfide by batching or continuous reaction rate *
injection in natural gas and liquid applications.
* WHEN COMPARED TO THE INDUSTRY STANDARD PRODUCTS.

*IN TRADITIONAL APPLICATIONS

Remediating Black Powder

Oil and Gas operators around the world cope with a wide
range of system fouling solids that can lead to production
loss, system plugging and corrosion failures.

One of the most common system fouling solids is Iron

Sulfide (FeS) also known as Black Powder. Black Powder has
been detected from Oil and Gas producing wells all the way
to refineries. N-SPEC Pipeline Services’ patented N-SPEC®
POWDERSOLV™ is an innovative solution for the remediation
of iron based Black Powder deposits in Oil & Gas systems.

coastalchem.com
800.535.6182
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

LET US HELP YOU PROTECT WHAT YOU BUILD

WITH PIPESAK FILLING SERVICES

SAVE TIME.
PipeSak offers professional filling services to meet any construc-
tion schedule. With experienced crews we can provide filled geotextile
pipeline weights for any number of spreads, in multiple locations,
24/7. PipeSak professional crews can often fill twice the number of
weights using the same equipment and labour as inexperienced crews
or third-party contractors, saving you time. We also provide a ROW
representative to inspect and train your stringing crew on proper han-
dling and installation procedures, making sure every weight is installed
quickly and easily.

SAVE MONEY.
Cost savings are important to our customers, and important to us.
PipeSak has warehouses across North America, strong relationships with
our aggregate, equipment and freight providers, and experienced filling
crews that help us offer our customers the most competitive filling rates
- through out North America. Take the financial risk out of your projects
and let PipeSak provide you with a finished filled geotextile pipeline
weight, ready for installation.

GUARANTEED QUALITY.
When you choose PipeSak to provide your filling services you get
guaranteed quality and service. PipeSak carefully selects the appropri-
ate aggregate to suit your climate and buoyancy design requirements.
We adhere to strict quality assurance guidelines to ensure all of our filled
pipeline weights meet your project specifications. We weigh each and
every bag and provide our customers with daily filling reports to keep
you up to date on our progress. We stand behind our products and will
do whatever it takes to keep our customers satisfied. Our crews are ISN
registered and in full compliance. Take the risk out of filling your weights
and let PipeSak take care of it.

PIPESAK FILLING PARTNERS –

ANYWHERE, ANY QUANTITY
Sometimes you only need a few weights. Sometimes you need them
yesterday. PipeSak has partnered with local filling companies to sup-
ply our customers with competitively priced, filled geotextile pipeline
weights, often next day. PipeSak filling partners stock filled weights and
can offer trucking direct to your project. They can also deploy filling
crews to fill, either in your yard or close to the ROW.

INDIGENOUS PEOPLES INVOLVEMENT

PipeSak Filling Services has partnered with Native American tribes
in the US and First Nation and Metis bands in Canada to provide our CONTACT INFORMATION:
customers with the option to include aboriginal content in their pipeline 2800 Post Oak Blvd., Houston, TX 77056
weighting. From sourcing aggregate, to trucking, to labour and equip- Tel: 1-866-PIPESAK
ment, PipeSak has successfully supplied large pipeline projects with our Email: info@pipesak.com
aboriginal partners for over 20 years. Website: www. pipesak.com

60 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

 FAST. SIMPLE.
COST EFFECTIVE.
GUARANTEED.

PipeSak®
Quick-Fill
PROFESSIONAL
FILLING SERVICES
PipeSak® deploys multiple crews to fill and stockpile any
quantity of weights required to meet your construction
schedule. Strict quality control ensures a properly filled,
accurately weighed PipeSak® using our specially designed
Quick-Fill and release system. GUARANTEED!
PipeSak®
Original
STRONG ECO-FRIENDLY

SAFE & DURABLE EASY INSTALL

WE PROTECT WHAT YOU BUILD.

ENGINEERED PIPELINE SOLUTIONS +1 866.PIPESAK (747.3725) PIPESAK.COM
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
HARPSTER-TO-LIMA PIPELINE PROJECT
ACHIEVES ALL MAJOR OBJECTIVES
Energy Services South (ESS), a PLH Group Company, played a
significant role in constructing Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s new
49-mile condensate pipeline in the Utica Shale region of Ohio. The com-
plex project was a marked success in terms of safety, on-time completion,
and quality of construction.
The Harpster-to-Lima pipeline was sought for efficient and safe deliv-
ery of liquid condensate to refineries for processing into gasoline and
diesel fuels.
CHALLENGING REQUIREMENTS
The project involved installing 49 miles of 12-inch steel pipeline
from the village of Harpster to the city of Lima. ESS also installed seven
block valve sites and three facility tie-ins, as well as more than 60 miles
of agricultural drain tile to ensure that the soil moisture for crops on the
right of way was comparable to the pre-construction state.
Southeast Directional Drilling, another PLH Group Company, com-
pleted fifteen horizontal directional drillings (HDD) spanning a total of
18,110 feet, passing under I-75 and other obstacles.
Engineered to support a maximum capacity of 50,000 barrels of
condensate per day, the pipeline will easily accommodate Marathon
Pipe Line’s projected daily shipping rate of approximately 25,000 to
37,000 barrels.
SAFE, ON TIME, ON BUDGET, AND HIGH QUALITY
Mainline construction began in January 2018 and the pipeline was
fully operational within six months – slightly ahead of Marathon’s target
completion date and also slightly under budget. The Utica build-out
project consumed an estimated one million working hours from more
than 450 contractors, and over 350 of them were ESS resources. Notably,
there were zero recordable injuries throughout the duration of project.
More than 5,300 welds were applied with a high degree of quality. To
optimize weld safety and performance, each connected section of the pipeline
was X-rayed, and then the full pipeline was tested with water at a pressure
much higher than normal operating conditions. The project’s low 0.71% weld
repair rate is evidence of the construction team’s high-quality workmanship.
62 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Additionally, a “smart” caliper tool was run through the completed
line to detect pipe damage. No problems were encountered, therefore zero
anomaly digs were required following the caliper tool run.
“Everything tested really well,” said Ryan Schroeder, business devel-
opment representative for Marathon Pipe Line. “We’re very happy with
the quality that we got.”
ESS President Paul Sparkman commented: “The Harpster-to-Lima
pipeline attests to the hard work of our employees and our commitment
to continually exceed our client’s expectations.”
IMMEDIATE AND LASTING BENEFITS
Pipeline connectivity of refineries offers reliability, efficiency, eco-
nomic, and safety advantages. One example beneficiary of the new
Harpster-to-Lima pipeline is Husky Lima Refinery. Jason Stechschulte,
a commercial development manager for Marathon Pipe Line, said that
trucks can only move about 190 barrels at a time, and it would take any-
where from three to four hours for the products to get to Lima. With the
new pipeline, 190 barrels can be moved in about five minutes.
WHY ENERGY SERVICES SOUTH?
Marathon Pipe Line is committed to earning the trust of the commu-
nities in which it operates, and the company chooses its service partners
accordingly. ESS is proud to have served as Marathon’s pipeline construc-
tion partner on the Harpster-to-Lima project.
ESS places the utmost value on employee health and safety, and
expects complete dedication to the elimination of unsafe practices and
conditions. It has extensive nationwide expertise in pipeline construc-
tion, station and facility construction, and Department of Transportation-
related services, as well as strong relationships with regulators.
Count on ESS and PLH Group’s other trusted entities for com-
prehensive expertise in pipeline construction, directional drilling,
and energy and other services. Call us now at 214-272-0500 or visit
www.plhgroupinc.com.
MARATHON PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS:
350+ ESS resources
49 miles of 12’’ steel installed
15 HDDs completed
7 block valve sites and 3 facility tie-ins installed
60+ miles of agricultural drain tile installed
0.71% weld repair rate for 5,300 welds
6 months to mechanically compete mainline construction
0 anomaly digs post-caliper tool run
0 recordable injuries throughout the project duration
SPONSORED CONTENT
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

Reliability in Flow Control

for Critical Applications
RELIABLE OPERATION
WHEN IT MATTERS
Rotork products provide assured reliability
for critical applications. Whether used 24/7
or once a year, Rotork products will operate
reliably and efficiently when called upon.

CUSTOMER FOCUSED MULTI-NATIONAL LOCAL PRESENCE

IT’S ALL ABOUT YOU
At Rotork, we focus on solving customer
challenges and thrive on developing new
and better solutions. This focus runs from
the initial inquiry through to long-term,
after-sales support.
QUALITY DRIVEN
TECHNICAL INNOVATOR
Rotork product design is the result of the
application knowledge accumulated in 60
years of experience. That knowledge,
coupled with our long-standing commit-
ment to research and development, ensures
cutting-edge products.
WITH AFTER SALES SUPPORT
We’re a global company with an emphasis
on local support. Rotork has a vast network
of strategically located automation centers,
manufacturing sites, and sales and service
offices to provide fast deliveries and an
unrivaled customer experience.
CREDIBILITY
AND HERE TO STAY
Rotork has been a recognized market
leader for 60 years. Our customers have
long relied upon us for innovative solutions
to safely manage flow. You can depend
upon us to be there when needed.

LOW COST RESPONSIBILITY

OF OWNERSHIP IN ALL ASPECTS
Long-term reliability prolongs service life We believe that being a responsible
thereby reducing the overall cost of business leads to being a great business
ownership. Rotork products outlast our and are committed to embedding this
competitors’ solutions and provide greater principle into every aspect of our
efficiency to process and plant. operations. We are environmentally,
ethically, and socially responsible.
MULTI-PRODUCT
MULTI-INDUSTRY
Rotork products and services are utilized in
oil and gas, water and wastewater, power,
marine, mining, food and beverage,
pharmaceutical, and chemical industries
around the world to improve efficiency,
assure safety, and protect the environment.

www.rotork.com

64 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

Keeping the World Flowing

Improving
efficiency &
minimising
downtime
It’s in our DNA

More than sixty years of innovative

and reliable flow control solutions.
A single source for:
Ÿ Electric and pneumatic valve actuation

Ÿ Isolating, modulating, and failsafe duties

Ÿ Industry-preferred network compatibility

Ÿ New installation or retrofit upgrade

Ÿ Efficient, energy-saving solutions

T 1 585 247 2304 E info@rotork.com W rotork.com

Others sell parts.
 We sell
suppOrt.

weldbend.com
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
NEW PRODUCTS FROM CDI
CDI, the world’s preeminent leader in pipeline pig detection,
recording, and locating technology, has been designing and manu-
facturing products for use on land, offshore platforms, and subsea
environments for 35 years. Known for their durability, reliability, and
ease of use, CDI equipment is in use on every continent.
Three years ago, their popular TRAXALL 720 and 770 hand-held
receivers were released. They not only track, locate, and pinpoint pigs and
MFL inline inspection tools, but have built-in GPS and Bluetooth. They
can even be operated remotely from the comfort of a pickup cab, and
fitted with a satellite radio to send passage notifications to a cell phone.
Now, three new models have been added to the TRAXALL lineup:
The TRAXALL 500, 501, and 620. Simpler, lighter, and less expensive,
these new models offer an alternative to those not needing the feature-
rich complexity of their “big brother” TRAXALL 720/770.
The TRAXALL 620 can monitor up to three transmitter frequen-
cies. Signal strength of each transmitter is intuitively indicated on
its own horizontal row of scrolling LEDs, while a single knob adjusts
the reception sensitivity of each frequency. (For operators deploying
traditional 22 Hz transmitters, the 500/501 models are an ideal alter-
native.) Eight sensitivity settings are neatly divided and labeled with
their recommended use: PINPOINTING (low sensitivity), WALKING
(medium sensitivity), and STATIONARY (high sensitivity).
68 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
This intuitive user interface means that the TRAXALL 500/501/620
receiver requires very little training and support, lowering the total
cost of system ownership. If you have had any experience at all track-
ing with a CDI system (or one of our competitor’s systems) you have
nothing more to learn. It’s that easy. The only other controls are LED
brightness and audio mute buttons, and, of course, an ON/OFF switch.
That’s it!
CDI handles all phases of their product line–from concept to
design, prototyping, and manufacturing–at their Broken Arrow loca-
tion. Everything is created on-site; electronic and mechanical devices,
software, and even firmware programming. Their Broken Arrow head-
quarters is augmented by a network of distributors on every continent.
Today, CDI products are in continual use above and below ground
worldwide–in nearly every country from Argentina to Zambia.
Their Broken Arrow headquarters is augmented by a branch office
in Houston, Texas as well as distributors on every continent.
CDI is an ISO 9001:2008 certified company and a member of the
Pigging Products and Services Association.
For more information about CDI’s products, visit their website
at www.pigging.com or email sales@pigging.com. CDI is an ISO
9001:2008 certified company and a member of the Pigging Products
and Services Association. n
SPONSORED CONTENT
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

YOUR SOURCE FOR INDUSTRY-

RECOMMENDED ELECTROFUSION WIPES
For nearly 50 years, FG Clean Wipes has been manufacturing special-
ized wipes for critical environments and processes.
Our Pipe Prep Wipes are the industry’s preferred and recommended
product. Pre-saturated with 96% Isopropyl alcohol, these lint-free wipes
are perfect for consistent, effective and safe electro-fusion and butt-
fusion welds.
Super high alcohol content ensures the joint is completely clean
and dry within seconds for enhanced weld integrity. Be safer and more
eco-friendly, use these wipes instead of bulk jugs of alcohol or other
cleaning agents.
Housed in compact foil packets or canisters, 96% alcohol cuts Lint free alcohol wipes made for cleaning the fusion zone for HDPE
through grime and dries in an instant while lint free fabric lifts away pipes used in the gas andpipeline industry.
debris and resists abrasion.
Improve your pipe fusion and performance with a product made CONTACT INFORMATION
in USA. FG Clean Wipes
FG Clean Wipes can help you cut prep time while improving the 2255 Westover Road, Chicopee, MA 01022
quality of your work. Visit us at FGCleanWipes.com/electrofusion today Phone: 1-800-628-8606
for free samples or for more information. Fax: 1-413-592-4112
Website: fgcleanwipes.com/efusion

ENHANCE
PIPELINE
INTEGRITY
WITH LINT FREE
ALCOHOL WIPES
96% alcohol wipes cut through dirt and dries
immediately. Eliminate bulk degreasing agents
while improving electro-fusion and butt-fusion
weld integrity.

Visit FGCleanWipes.com/efusion/ for free samples and additional information.

Cleaning critical environments for nearly 50 years | 1-800-628-8606

SPONSORED CONTENT www.pgjonline.com

| 69
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

HEADLINE, APROXIMATELY 70 CHARACTERS

(2 LINES) Built With COMTEL® Technology

BECAUSE TRACKING YOUR

lautecu sanihilicae nulpa se et il id quid utaeptios evelitio verum vol-

PIG MANUALLY CAN BE

oreroviti comnis dolorum liquam, ut aut ut quodici enimos cum que nate
molende rfereste natem sit vel eum voluptat eum faceria volest liscipicta
vendebis repudae volest, utatiis non rem eserumque dolut aut volorae cum

A CHALLENGE.
PHOTO OR GRAPHIC
et as sequasitior maximus et fuga. Ab ilis mil modio occ umet ulpa dolup- Acceptable file types include PSD or TIFF files (flattened,
tat. Agnit que dolorem nonsed quid enis et eatection resciet quam, velis CMYK, 300 dpi at actual size) or vector-based EPS files.
im excea cus mil imus, ommoluptae doloresed ulpa quisquia pe veliquis
inulluptur, occulpa vendae sequi id ute sim qui od et ullesti oreicturit ut
et deliti dignam, unti nusda que alistio et ut voluptatati idemolu ptistibeat
eture in resserum qui nobitibus expero est, sed ut et, int officiet quibuscid
elessequost, cusandaepero quis ea dolut disquia sperum aut as am nonse- Two line caption
quia abore volorita cus magnatquatin essunt, culpa volupta verferovidel Giatus quunt omnis re, ommoditet lab inihicae. Ximus, et quas debis
et alitae dolore velicient, nime nulparit latatur sequi blaccum eni dolo este
volupta spidunt estibus. CONTACT INFORMATION
as sus qui alignateni renitis di ant. Hitam hil ide di occabo. Faccus Address
corero ese mintion sendem veles molorata sapicimi, ipsa poreiur? Ur aut Phone
exceaquatur? Ulpa pratem et, odici nonessunt volorunt ipsapero exceribus Fax
281-407-8305 | 888-412-7286 | inlineservices.com
eos etus sinture ea consequ atiurecabo. Et restian iHitam hil ide di occabo.
Faccus as sus qui alignateni renitis di ant. Hitam hil ide di occabo. Faccus
Email
Website

PIPELINE PIGGING & MAINTENANCE

PIPELINE CLEANING CONSULTING / MANAGEMENT
● Poly Foam, Urethane, Mandrel Bodies ● Operational Support
● Electronic Tracking Equipment ● Commissioning
● Apache pigPRO detectors ● Data Collection & Analysis
● Dust Bags ● Cleaning Solutions
● Speed Control Pigs ● Budgeting, Planning & Design

BLACK POWDER - WAX - CORROSION - DEWATERING

281-407-8305 | 888-412-7286 www.inlineservices.com

70 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

HEADLINE, APROXIMATELY 70 CHARACTERS

(2 LINES)
CUSTOM-BUILT PIGS
lautecu sanihilicae nulpa se et il id quid utaeptios evelitio verum vol-
oreroviti comnis dolorum liquam, ut aut ut quodici enimos cum que nate
molende rfereste natem sit vel eum voluptat eum faceria volest liscipicta
vendebis repudae volest, utatiis non rem eserumque dolut aut volorae cum PHOTO OR GRAPHIC
et as sequasitior maximus et fuga. Ab ilis mil modio occ umet ulpa dolup- Acceptable file types include PSD or TIFF files (flattened,
tat. Agnit que dolorem nonsed quid enis et eatection resciet quam, velis CMYK, 300 dpi at actual size) or vector-based EPS files.
im excea cus mil imus, ommoluptae doloresed ulpa quisquia pe veliquis
inulluptur, occulpa vendae sequi id ute sim qui od et ullesti oreicturit ut
MULTI-DIMENSIONAL PIPING
et deliti dignam, unti nusda que alistio et ut voluptatati idemolu ptistibeat
PIGGABLE WYES
eture in resserum qui nobitibus expero est, sed ut et, int officiet quibuscid
elessequost, cusandaepero quis ea dolut disquia sperum aut as am nonse- Two line caption
quia abore volorita cus magnatquatin essunt, culpa volupta verferovidel Giatus quunt omnis re, ommoditet lab inihicae. Ximus, et quas debis
et alitae dolore velicient, nime nulparit latatur sequi blaccum eni dolo este
volupta spidunt estibus. CONTACT INFORMATION
as sus qui alignateni renitis di ant. Hitam hil ide di occabo. Faccus Address
corero ese mintion sendem veles molorata sapicimi, ipsa poreiur? Ur aut Phone
One-piece
exceaquatur? Ulpa pratem et, odici nonessunt volorunt ipsapero exceribus
eos etus sinture ea consequ atiurecabo. Et restian iHitam hil ide di occabo.
Fax
Email

Bi-directional
Faccus as sus qui alignateni renitis di ant. Hitam hil ide di occabo. Faccus
NOVA-CAST
Website
NOVA-CAST
No metal parts

ULTRA-SEAL LITE HAND-LAUNCH

ULTRA-SEAL NOVA-CAST
1209 Hardy Street
Houston, TX 77020
Tel: (713) 222-0146
Tel: (800) 231-7205
Copyright 2014 Fax: (713) 222-7403
Knapp Polly Pig, Inc.
Nova-Cast:US Patent 6,613,261/Ultra-Seal:US Patent 5,895,619/Hand-Launch:US Patent 6,145,150 knapp@pollypig.com
All rights reserved
Nova-Cast, Ultra-Seal and Hand-Launch are registered trademarks of Knapp Polly Pig www.pollypig.com
ww

SPONSORED CONTENT www.pgjonline.com

| 71
 now offering

Vacuum
Excavation

Test Station/Coupon Installations

Underground Foreign Bonds
Specialty CP Installations
Potholing and Daylighting

For more information, please contact

2018 MESA™ All Rights Reserved.

our partners
Bret Yount @ 816-401-0029

NATIONWIDE SERVICE
mesaproducts.com 1.888.800.MESA(6372)
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

Midwestern’s M220C and M170C sideboom attachments, designed specifically

for John Deere’s 1050K PL platforms, are at the head of the class.
Midwestern has been designing, manufacturing, and installing sideboom attachments on John Deere
Construction Equipment for over 50 years. The M220C and M170C attachments are our latest additions.
These fully integrated sidebooms deliver unsurpassed visibility, operating ease, and a low profile
design that provides balanced weight distribution for optimum lifting. The two sidebooms offer
maximum stability, low ground pressure, and lift capacities of 220,000 lb and 170,000 lb.

HigHLigHts
• Maximum operator visibility
• Multi-functional joystick controller
• High capacity pipelayer winch package
safety
• Oval-track platform for
maximum stability
• Electronic boom stop switch
• Emergency free fall function
• Load Indicator System

Midwestern is the industry leader in sideboom

attachments, accept no imitations.

M220C on JD1050K PL220

sidebooms.com

As the premier portable

two-in-one Hydrostatic Testing
Units in the pipeline industry,
Midwestern’s HTU-350/500
automatically fill and test pipelines
in one step. These units offer the
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 CAPABILITIES GUIDE
CAPABILITIES GUIDE

HEADLINE, APROXIMATELY 70 CHARACTERS

(2
WHAT
LINES)
DOES IT MEAN TO BE BEST-IN-CLASS?
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approach everything: worldwide job opportunities, dedication of time and resources to providing
access to standards, regular industry updates, and you with a quality education is an extension of
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– Manish Saini, 9001 certification, meaning we follow best prac-
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nace.org/career-development To be best in class, it means learning from a
Fax
best-in-class
Email program. It means there can be only
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74 |
SPONSORED CONTENT
Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT
www.pgjonline.com
| 74
 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

INTRODUCING OPTIMAINIM: INTEGRITY

MANAGEMENT FROM WELL TO BURNER TIP
For more than 25 years, Opvantek has
been digging deep to get real, meaningful
information from every imaginable source
of data. We deliver software solutions that
make best use of your data, with proven
results, and dedicated customer service. Our
highly configurable, best-in-class solutions
help to reduce risk, minimize your operat-
ing expenses, and improve public safety.
Opvantek is proud to announce the next gen-
Do you know what lies
eration of Integrity Management software:
OptimainIM. below the surface?
OptimainIM is a web-based software plat-
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Optimain product family. The data you need
to make well-informed integrity management
decisions flows from many different sources
with varying quality and reliability. Based
on nearly 30 years of industry experience,
Optimain IM automatically gathers the data,
filters out the noise, enriches it via intelli-
gent assumptions, and delivers a mathemat-
ically-sound, defensible evaluation of risk
across your system. Forge a more positive
relationship with your regulatory agencies by
instilling confidence in your approach to risk
mitigation. Use risk to justify and optimize
the use of available resources - from capital
investments to operating expenses to people
and time.
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by threat category, asset type, or any other avail- produce a single, consistent, mathematically sound risk evaluation.
able dimension.
OptimainIM offers a single, consistent risk Integrity Management and Pipeline Safety
model for DIMP, TIMP, and pipeline safety
management. Deploy it in the cloud or on- Evaluate risk for individual assets across every threat category

premise, with an architecture that scales to Prioritize risk mitigation actions

meet the needs of any size utility. Reduce operating expenses while mitigating risks
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SPONSORED CONTENT www.pgjonline.com

| 75
281-351-2749 distri
butors
800-578-7436 wante
Sales@pigsunlimited.com d
MEASUREMENT

“Providing quality equipment, every time”

 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

PIPE SPRING LLC PROVIDES PIPELINE INTEGRITY

ENHANCEMENT PRODUCTS
Pipe Spring LLC is a company “founded because integrity mat- Integrity Subject Matter Experts, trainers, and installers.
ters.” The company specializes in pipeline integrity enhancement Pipe Spring LLC:
products including those that structurally reinforce steel pipelines. n Expanded Capabilities
After two years of development, we are proud to announce commer- n Enhanced Integrity
cial deliveries will commence on July 1, 2018. Our staff has over 40 n People You Can Trust
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can trust Pipe Spring LLC to deliver products that protect your assets,
your people, the public, and the environment.
Pipe Spring LLC uses isotropic steel laminated sleeves and state
of the art adhesive to repair metal loss defects, augment long seams,
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Pipe Spring LLC’s patent pending technology out performs tradi- 281-900-7029
tional steel sleeves and composite repair products. technology@laughlincompanies.net
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78 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT

High-accuracy data
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SETTING THE STANDARD FOR ROBOTIC INLINE INSPECTION

 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

HEADLINE, APROXIMATELY 70 CHARACTERS

(2 LINES) WELDING & FABRICATION
PRECISION
lautecu sanihilicae nulpa se et il id quid utaeptios evelitio verum vol-
QUALITY
oreroviti • SERVICE
comnis •DEPENDABILITY
dolorum liquam, ut aut ut quodici enimos cum que nate
For allrfereste
molende your Pipe Fabrication,
natem Pipe
sit vel eum Support,
voluptat eumPipe Clamp,
faceria and
volest ASME
liscipicta
Pressure
vendebis Vessel
repudae needs.
volest, utatiis non rem eserumque dolut aut volorae cum PHOTO OR GRAPHIC
et as sequasitior maximus et fuga. Ab ilis mil modio occ umet ulpa dolup- Acceptable file types include PSD or TIFF files (flattened,
tat. Agnit que dolorem nonsed quid enis et eatection resciet quam, velis CMYK, 300 dpi at actual size) or vector-based EPS files.
im excea cus mil imus, ommoluptae doloresed ulpa quisquia pe veliquis
inulluptur, occulpa vendae sequi id ute sim qui od et ullesti oreicturit ut
et deliti dignam, unti nusda que alistio et ut voluptatati idemolu ptistibeat
eture in resserum qui nobitibus expero est, sed ut et, int officiet quibuscid
elessequost, cusandaepero quis ea dolut disquia sperum aut as am nonse- Two line caption
quia abore volorita cus magnatquatin essunt, culpa volupta verferovidel Giatus quunt omnis re, ommoditet lab inihicae. Ximus, et quas debis
et alitae dolore velicient, nime nulparit latatur sequi blaccum eni dolo este
volupta spidunt estibus. CONTACT INFORMATION
as sus qui alignateni renitis di ant. Hitam hil ide di occabo. Faccus Address INFORMATION
CONTACT
corero ese mintion sendem veles molorata sapicimi, ipsa poreiur? Ur aut 10002
Phone Sweetwater Lane, Houston, TX
exceaquatur? Ulpa pratem et, odici nonessunt volorunt ipsapero exceribus 281-252-0151,
Fax Toll free: 877-252-0152
eos etus sinture ea consequ atiurecabo. Et restian iHitam hil ide di occabo. Fax:
Email281-252-8151
Faccus as sus qui alignateni renitis di ant. Hitam hil ide di occabo. Faccus www.weweld.com
Website

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80 |Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

precision welding.indd 1
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 CAPABILITIES GUIDE

POLYGUARD UNROLLS LATEST INNOVATION:

RD-6® UVO OVERCOAT
With forward thinking at its core, Polyguard Products has announced
the introduction of RD-6® UVO overcoat. This is a single component, low
VOC UV resistant, water-based liquid coating that is highly resistant to
the damaging effects of harmful UV light rays.
This new overcoat is used to protect Polyguard’s highly effective and
popular RD-6® anti-corrosion coating from UV rays when it’s used for
above ground pipeline field joint girth welds, valves, fittings, and FBE
coated pipe. Polyguard conducted in-depth research and saw that direct
exposure to sunlight could result in degradation of the RD-6 product. The
result was adding this new product to ensure maximum stability.
This is an environmentally friendly, moisture resistant product that
has excellent adhesion characteristics resulting in fast touch, drying and
cure times. Although designed for RD-6 the RD-6 UVO overcoat can be
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substances. Polyguard is an industry leader in the production self-adhesive 469-867-0611
protective coatings for engineering and construction. Polyguard is also a JCody@polyguard.com
100% employee-owned ESOP with 25 consecutive years of sales growth. www.polyguard.com

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RD-6
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Coating System means superior soil stress resistance www.Polyguard.com

Polyguard’s RD-6 has been used in the North American rehab and girth weld market since 1988. The RD-6 differentiates itself through its speed, simplicity, and proven performance record.

SPONSORED CONTENT www.pgjonline.com

| 81
 Flow Assurance
Because the flow must go on
Maintaining production is crucial for the operators of oil and
gas pipelines. Over time, changes in composition can lead
to the build-up of water, gas condensate, waxes, paraffins,
asphaltines, scales, hydrates, black dust. As these liquids
and solids accumulate, they can reduce flow — and in the
worst cases block the pipeline. For efficiency and integrity
management, they must be removed. ROSEN has years of
experience in the development and deployment of tools that
help operators to effectively clean their pipelines. Our world-
leading Flow Assurance service focusses on operational
challenges. By modelling steady-state and dynamic flow
behaviour, we can predict the volume and distribution of
liquids and solids, design the appropriate tools to remove
these in a controlled manner, and model the performance of
the tools in the flow to ensure that the cleaning activity will
not result in production problems.
www.rosen-group.com
T
he primary objective of Flow
Assurance is to economically
optimize the transport of fluids
from the reservoir to the production
facility. In order to achieve this,
detailed and authentic inspection
data is essential — and inspection
success relies on analytical planning.
By drawing on existing tracking data,
ROSEN calculates the tool behavior that
can be expected in gas, liquid, slurry,
and multiphase lines. This allows for
recommendations on the optimization
of the tool velocity.
For a successful pipeline inspection,
cleaning is mandatory. ROSEN
determines accurate surge and liquid
volumes on the basis of data from
previous inspections so that a correct
and efficient tool operation is ensured
for future inspection and cleaning runs.
Furthermore, ROSEN gives advice
on adequate cleaning cycles to make
inspections and inventory runs as
smooth as possible.
One major cause for irregular flow is
corrosion. Therefore, effective corrosion
control and management is most vital
in order to maintain ideal transport
conditions within pipelines. ROSEN
applies industry-standard corrosion
models that are integrated in more
extensive flow calculations, such as
DeWaard, Milliams, NORSOK, and TOLC
IFE models. To keep future corrosion in
pipelines to a minimum, ROSEN assists
customers with prioritizing their need
of asset inspections and optimizing
inhibitor-injection rates and efficiency.
 STEP-KO PRODUCTS–
CAPABILITIES GUIDE

WHERE QUALITY AND AFFORDABILITY MEET

STEP-KO PRODUCTS LLC, - WHERE QUALITY
AND AFFORDABILITY MEET
For nearly two decades Step-Ko Products LLC, has become a leader
in the manufacturing of products for Cathodic Protection. Centrally
located in Broussard, Louisiana Step-Ko Products manufactures and
stocks many different styles of Flange Isolation Kits with most ready
for same day shipping. Our Flange Isolation Kits range from ½’’ to 144’’
that meets all ANSI and API specifications. Custom gaskets and special
sizing are available upon request. This includes our critical service gasket
called the Assureaseal™ SSC which is a perfect solution to your severe
service needs.
Here at Step-Ko we also stock a large inventory of AssureaKote™
Poly Coated U-bolts in sizes ½’’ through 48’’. These poly coated u-bolts
come bagged with four nuts, a neoprene support pad and are boxed up
ready for a speedy delivery. Paired with our AssureaPad™ a special
blended thermo plastic half round pad Step-Ko can get you moving.
At our warehouse in Broussard, Louisiana we also carry a new line of
Monolithic Insulating Joints that are now in stock from sizes 2’’ thru 24’’
ANSI 600#. The Assureastop™ is the way to go for a maintenance free,
money saving solution for all industries.
Step-Ko also offers a variety of tapes and liquid coatings as well as
other pipeline products. These include pipeline markers for oil and gas,
sewage and water lines as well as plastic pipe caps, plastic flange protec-
tors and stainless steel as well. Looking for a better priced alternative,
choose Step-Ko where quality and affordability meet.

STEP-KO PRODUCTS–
WHERE QUALITY AND AFFORDABILITY MEET
·PROTECT THE PIPELINE·
WITH THE LEADER IN CORROSION
PROTECTION

Flange Isolation Gasket Kits

Critical Service Gaskets
Monolithic Insulating Joints
Poly Coated U-Bolts and Thermo Pads
·PROTECT
Heat Shrink Sleeves and Liquid
THE Coatings
Various Pipeline Tapes and Fillers
PIPELINE·
WITH THE
IT ALL LEADER
STARTS @ IN CORROSION
P.O. Box 81396
Lafayette, Louisiana 70598
PROTECTION
WWW.STEPKO.COM Ph. 337.837.4141
Email: info@stepko.com

84 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018 SPONSORED CONTENT


Making P igs Squeal
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Our transmitters emit the strongest signal in
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www.pgjonline.com
| 85
 Tomorrow’s energy demand is driving pipeline installation across the world. From right-of-way land
clearing to open-cut and trenchless installation, Vermeer is there every step of the way, getting the job
done with our diverse range of equipment. Our lineup boasts forestry tractors and powerful horizontal and
tub grinders for land clearing, track trenchers for cutting through the toughest rock, and a variety of horizontal
directional drills for crossing rivers and environmentally sensitive areas, even with large-diameter line.
Visit vermeer.com to learn more.

Equipment shown is for illustrative purposes only and may display optional or global-region specific features, accessories or components. Please contact your local Vermeer dealer for more information on

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machine specwifications. Vermeer Corporation reserves the right to make changes in engineering, design and specifications; add improvements; or discontinue manufacturing or distribution at any time
86 Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
without notice or obligation. Vermeer, the Vermeer logo, and Navigator are trademarks of Vermeer Manufacturing Company in the U.S. and/or other countries. © 2018 Vermeer Corporation. All Rights
Reserved.
SPONSORED CONTENT
Egypt: The Next Natural Gas Hotspot
By Nick Cunningham

T
he Eastern Mediterranean is becom-
ing a major source of natural gas
production, and Egypt is at the cen-
ter of this emerging gas hub.
In February, Noble Energy and its
partners reached an agreement with the
Egyptian company Dolphinus Holdings to
sell gas from offshore Israel to Egypt, a deal
that could jumpstart a much wider cam-
paign to develop natural gas in the Eastern
Mediterranean. The deal is politically risky
for Egypt, where dealings with Israel have
historically been taboo. Nevertheless, after
years of halting progress, the agreement
is bolstering the region’s bid to transform
itself into a sizable source of gas produc-
tion, and potentially, exports.
Israel has been trying to develop the large
gas deposits in the Eastern Mediterranean
for more than a decade, with some success
and some setbacks. Noble Energy leads a
team that discovered two very large gas
fields is Israeli waters, bringing some pro-
duction online in recent years. But the com-
pany is still trying to scale up development.
Regulatory challenges from Israel forced
the consortium to sell off stakes in the fields
a few years ago over fears of concentrated
control in the hands of just a few compa- Egypt and Israel to help supply the export ing in Cypriot waters in February due to
nies. The uncertainty delayed development, facility, which Shell owns. No deal has been its non-recognition of the Greek Cypriot
although Noble is pressing on. announced yet, but the WSJ reports that government. Meanwhile territory disputes
Meanwhile, Eni fast-tracked the devel- Shell is considering a $30 billion 15-year between Israel and Lebanon could throw up
opment of the Zohr gas field in Egyptian plan to purchase gas from fields in Israeli new hurdles. But the thaw between Israel
waters, the largest discovery ever recorded and Cypriot waters, then liquefy the gas and and Egypt is hard to overstate.
in the Eastern Mediterranean. That field export it through its facility in Egypt. Still, the route for Israeli gas to Egypt is
came online late last year and Egyptian Shell and Eni sit on LNG export facilities,
unclear. The gas could be moved from Israel
officials believe it will be crucial to closing but gas production in Egypt went into steep
through Jordan to Egypt, although that route
the country’s energy gap. decline several years ago due to price controls
and lower investment from international com- has been subjected to attacks from militants in
But the more recent deal that will see
Noble ship gas to Egypt could spark more panies. Now, with gas supply on the rise, those the Sinai. The companies could also build an
aggressive development of gas in the region. facilities could be called upon once again. offshore pipeline that runs from the gas field
Wood Mackenzie said that the agreement Meanwhile, the region received another to Egypt, although that could also prove costly.
could be pivotal in paving the way for jolt when Eni and Total announced yet anoth- But with the proliferation of discoveries,
more deals. “An initial deal had to be done er gas discovery in the Eastern Mediterranean the increase in production from both Israel
to breathe confidence into the market,” in February, although this time it was located and Egypt, and an emerging export option
WoodMac analyst Bas Percival told the WSJ. off the coast of Cyprus. The “Calypso 1” in Egypt, the Eastern Mediterranean could
Egypt has some idled LNG export capac- well suggests an extension of the “Zohr like” develop into a significant gas hub and source
ity, and collecting gas from the Eastern play, Eni said in a statement, referring to its of gas exports. Wood Mackenzie estimates
Mediterranean – both in Egypt and in Israel enormous Egyptian gas field. Separately, Eni that the Eastern Mediterranean is home to
– and routing the gas through Egyptian signed deals with Lebanon to explore off the 125 tcf of natural gas. P&GJ
LNG export terminals could mean a new country’s coast.
source of LNG for the global market. Antipathy between governments in the Nick Cunningham is a freelance writer
The Wall Street Journal reports that Royal region could deter drilling. Turkish war- on oil and gas, renewable energy, climate
Dutch Shell is in talks with investors in both ships reportedly stopped Eni from drill- change, energy policy and geopolitics.

www.pgjonline.com
| 87
Closer Look at Flammability,
Inerting of Complex
Hydrocarbon Mixtures Husssein Maxa

By Tarig Hussein and Daniel Maxa, University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, and Martin Stukbauer, CEPS

I
n the lifetime of oil and gas pipelines [1-4] – and literature [5-7]. There is also a ture of nitrogen (79% vol.) and oxygen
there are numerous events that could property called “limiting air concentration” (21% vol.). Due to its availability and abun-
pose the potential of an explosion haz- (LAC), which expresses LOC as equivalent dance nitrogen is a commonly used inert
ard, with commissioning, maintenance, concentration of air in the mixture. gas, although other materials such as carbon
replacement, as well as decommission- To represent composition of fuel-oxidiz- dioxide or steam might also be used.
ing and abandonment serving as common er-inert gas mixtures as well as to assess Flammability parameters of pure hydro-
examples. In case of air purging, flammable purging scenarios a triangular diagram is carbons are well-documented in the
mixtures are created in pipelines in an commonly used. An example (Figure 1) respective standards [2-4] and literature5,6.
uncontrolled manner. for natural gas-oxygen-nitrogen mixtures. Nevertheless, in the oil and gas pipeline
The first part of this article is dedicated to Mixing air with natural gas yields mixtures industry the flammable substances are usu-
a revision of basic flammability and inerting represented by the “Air line.” Mixtures cre- ally natural gas, crude oil or petroleum prod-
principles. Based on this background, appli- ated by mixing air, natural gas and additional ucts – more or less complicated hydrocarbon
cations of mobile nitrogen unit technology nitrogen are on the right side of the air line. mixtures. This implies the published data on
are described in the second part. The technol- Flammability limits as well as LOC pure hydrocarbons are not directly applicable
ogy has been proven to increase safety com- depend on temperature, pressure and com- to assess the flammability of such mixtures
pared to air purging, while simultaneously position of the mixture constituents. With reliably. Experiments would be the most reli-
maintaining high operational flexibility. increasing temperature and pressure, the able way to obtain the flammability data, but
flammability region expands. LFL and LOC this approach is often time-taking and costly.
Flammability Limits decrease and UFL increases. The influence To perform simple estimations, mixing
Flammable gases and vapors can ignite of composition is, however, more complex, rule formulas based on known properties
and cause an explosion if mixed with ade- because composition of the fuel, oxidizer of pure hydrocarbon constituents have been
quate amounts of oxidizer, and a source and inert gas come into play. proposed by many authors [6, 8–10]. The
of sufficient ignition energy is present. A Air is, with some simplification, a mix- most commonly used formula is the Le
flammable mixture is formed when the com-
bustible substance concentration reaches
the interval between the lower flammability
limit (LFL) and the upper flammability limit
(UFL). Below LFL the mixture contains too
little fuel to ignite. It is too lean. Above UFL
the mixture contains too much fuel (too little
oxidizer) to ignite. It is too rich.
When inert gas is added, LFL slightly
increases and UFL decreases steeply. Thus,
the flammable range gets narrower due to
a (corresponding) decrease of the oxidizer
content. Ultimately, after reaching a certain
threshold oxidizer concentration, LFL and
UFL converge to a single point.
With the further addition of inert gas any
mixture is non-flammable after ignition,
independently of the combustible substance
concentration. The threshold oxidizer con-
centration is called “limiting oxygen con-
centration” (LOC), since oxygen (in air)
is the most commonly occurring oxidizer.
LOC refers to oxygen concentration in a
ternary mixture of a combustible substance,
inert gas and oxygen.
Values of LOC for multiple substances
are available in corresponding standards Figure 1: Triangular composition diagram includes flammability parameters.

88 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

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Figure 2: CEPS nitrogen unit set-up at a crude
oil pipeline terminal in Latvia
Figure 3: Transportation of CEPS nitrogen technology equipment to an off-road job site in Croatia
to purge a 36-inch (DN 900) crude oil pipeline.
Figure 4: CEPS nitrogen unit equipment at a job site in Slovakia during the purging of an 18-inch
(DN 450) crude oil pipeline.
Chatelier mixing rule for LFL estimation,
see equation (1) where ci is molar (or volu-
metric) concentration (% mol. or vol.) and
LFLi is a lower flammability limit (% mol.
or vol.) of an i-th flammable component in
the mixture.
When using literature data or theoretical
estimations, it is always important to compare
the experimental or design conditions to the
target process conditions. Neglecting this step
may result in dangerous misinterpretations.
90 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Air Purging
As a readily available and cheap material,
air is often used for pipeline purging. Air
purging can be illustrated (Figure 1) by fol-
lowing the air line from the top apex, repre-
senting a pure combustible substance, down
to the intersection with the oxygen axis,
representing air composition. Conversely,
air purging into service can be represented
by following the airline from the air point
up to the top apex. From the diagram, it
is obvious that in both cases formation of
flammable mixtures is inevitable.
This somewhat dangerous approach has
been improved by using a pig keeping air
and the combustible substance separated.
The pig is propelled by the purging gas
while displacing the original content of
the pipeline and eliminating mixing of air
and the combustible substance at the same
time. Even though this is a much safer
method, a few complications arise anyway.
First, the pig’s sealing discs are not entirely
tight at all times due to the over-pressure
of the propellant and the pipeline’s geom-
etry defects and deviations. In addition to
that, some propellant might pass around
the pig discs (loose) bolts. Therefore, mix-
ing zones with potentially flammable mix-
tures might still occur close to the pig.
Second, in the case of displacement of
flammable liquids or NGL-rich1 gas, resid-
ual liquid film remains on the pipe walls.
The liquid evaporates into the purging air,
forming potentially flammable mixtures
along the pipeline while phase equilibrium
is being established.
In the latter case, a water flush of the
pipeline can be performed prior to purging,
but it is associated with subsequent dis-
posal of large quantities of oil-contaminated
water. Hence, it is almost always impracti-
cal and inconvenient.
Inert Gas Purging
To mitigate the flammability hazard, air
is usually replaced with inert gas – typically
nitrogen. The idea behind this approach is to
eliminate the presence of oxygen such that no
flammable mixture can be created regardless
of the combustible substance concentration.
LOC is a key parameter to assess the
safety of inerting operations. However, for
practical application LOC value might not
always be convenient, since the composi-
tion in the pipe depends on the dynamics of
the non-ideal mixing during purging.
It is desirable to express this threshold in
terms of minimal purity of the purging inert
gas, which is unable to form ignitable mixture
with any amount the combustible substance.
This property is called “in-service-oxygen-
concentration (ISOC)” and is equivalent to
“limiting oxidizer fraction” (LOF) defined in
the ISO 10156: 2010 standard.
When flammable gases or vapors are
purged with a nitrogen-oxygen mixture with
oxygen content equal to ISOC, the resulting
composition changes along the yellow line
in Figure 1, which does not intersect the
flammable mixture region. This applies to
both purging in and out of service. ISOC
can be determined based on the known LOC
and LFL according to the equation2.
LFL slightly increases with the addition
of nitrogen. As noted by Figure 1, the most
accurate ISOC value would be obtained by
using the LFL determined at the LOC point
composition. However, this value is not
frequent in literature, especially for hydro-
carbon mixtures. Thus, value of LFL in air
might be used as a simplification while yield-
ing slightly more conservative ISOC results.
So, is it not possible to switch to using air
for purging out of service instead of purging
with inert gas or mixture the whole time?
The answer is potentially yes, but only for
gas pipelines. During purging, the flammable
region could be avoided in two steps, produc-
ing non-flammable fuel-inert mixture at first
and eventually purging the mixture with air.
The fuel concentration at which further
dilution with air would not produce flam-
mable mixtures is called “out-of-service fuel
concentration” (OSFC). However, the above
mentioned procedure cannot be applied to
pipelines carrying flammable liquids. The
residual film on the pipe walls after the dis-
placement of liquids is a source of flammable
hydrocarbons evaporating into the purging
gas over time. Hence, using air is not inher-
ently safe at any point of the operation.
The described purging parameters gener-
ally do not include any safety margins but
remain on the operator’s or the subcontractor’s
consideration. Recommended values can be
found in NFPA2 and AGA7 documents. The
purging expertise and safety is also included
in know-how and internal standards of many
responsible pipeline operators, consultants
or subcontractors such as CEPS a.s. Further
comprehensive information on pipeline purg-
ing can be found in the literature.7,9
Nitrogen Technology
For smaller scale operations compressed
nitrogen in steel cylinders is used. For larger
scale projects nitrogen is often transported
by tank trucks in a liquid state and needs to
be evaporated before used for purging. This
operation is expensive and complicated due
to logistics and supply chain continuity.
However, progress has been made in the
form of mobile units producing nitrogen-rich
gas from air directly on site. This solution
brings flexibility, especially concerning time,
off-road, and remote locations accessibility
and operation control. This ensures continuous
uninterrupted operation not limited by a size
of the nitrogen storage tank, since nitrogen is
produced from the surrounding air. Figure 2.
Company CEPS has developed and suc-
cessfully operates such mobile units.
The whole self-powered technology has
been fitted into a 20-foot ISO container
and can be transported by off-road trucks
(Figure 3, 4). The main operation param-
eters are summarized in Table 1. Optimal
operation parameters are generally set based
on working conditions; specifically, the
purity of produced nitrogen is adjusted
according to an ISOC assessment.
CEPS built a nitrogen unit prototype in
2011 and launched commercial purging ser-
vices in 2012. Since then the technology has
been successfully employed in many projects
in various kinds of environments. The projects
required safe purging in and out of service
of natural gas, diesel and crude oil pipelines
in the Czech Republic, Parameter
Slovakia, Lithuania,
Max. pressure (bar), (psig)
Latvia, Hungary,
Belarus, Croatia and Residual oxygen concentration (% vol.)
Poland (Figures 2-5). Nitrogen purity (% vol.)
With regard to safe- Max. production flowrate (Nm3/h), (scf/h)
ty and efficiency of Dew point (°C), (°F)
the purging activities,
a comprehensive set of Table 1: Main operation parameters of a mobile nitrogen unit
Figure 5: A CEPS nitrogen unit loaded on a trailer truck while purging a 40-inch (DN 1000) natural
gas pipeline in Poland.
guidelines based on research of has been
acquired over the years. The research activi-
ties were conducted in cooperation with the
Technical Institute of Fire Protection and
the Department of Petroleum Technology
and Alternative Fuels at the University of
Chemistry and Technology in Prague. The
acquired know-how contributes to safe, yet
cost-efficient settings of the mobile units.
Conclusion
With regard to the potential hazard of
pipeline purging, it is not inherently safe to
use air, especially when flammable liquids
are involved. Therefore, inert gas purging
solutions is preferred.
However, it is not always practical to
use tank trucks with liquid nitrogen (or
other inert gas). Mobile nitrogen units come
as a safe answer to the problem of off-
road accessibility and operational flexibility
whenever the demand comes. P&GJ
sources:
[1] National Fire Protection Association. NFPA 69:
Standard on Explosion Prevention Systems. Quincy,
Massachusetts: National Fire Protection Association. 2002
[2] National Fire Protection Association. NFPA 56:
Standard for Fire and Explosion Prevention During
Cleaning and Purging of Flammable Gas Piping
Systems. Quincy, Massachusetts: National Fire
Protection Association. 2012
[3] ISO. ISO 10156:2010 Gases and gas mixtures --
Determination of fire potential and oxidizing ability for
the selection of cylinder valve outlets. 2010
[4] Czech Office for Standards Metrology and
Testing. CSN EN 1839 ed. 2: Determination of explo-
sion limits and the limiting oxygen concentration (LOC)
for flammable gases and vapours.Prague: Czech Office
Value
25 (362.6)
1-10
90-99
1200 (44 797.8)
< -40 (-40); typically 65 (-85)
for Standards Metrology and Testing. 2017
[5] Molnarne, Maria, Thomas Schendler and
Volkmar Schröder. Safety Characteristic Data Vol.2:
Explosion Regions of Gas Mixtures. Germany: BAM
Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und-prüfung, 2008.
ISBN 978-3-86509-856-6.
[6] Zabetakis, Michael George. Flammability charac-
teristics of combustible gases and vapors. Washington:
U.S. Bureau of Mines. 1965.
[7] American Gas Association. Purging Principles &
Practice. 2001.
[8] Le Chatelier, Henri and O. Boudouard. On
the flammable limits of gas mixtures. Process Safety
Progress [online], 24(1), 3–5. Available at: doi:10.1002/
prs.10062
[9] Crowl, Daniel A. Understanding Explosions. New
York, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2010. ISBN 978-
0-470-92528-7.
[10] Zhao, Fuman. Inert Gas Dilution Effect on the
Flammability Limits of Hydrocarbon Mixtures. 2011.
Texas A&M University.
Authors: Tarig Hussein is a junior engi-
neer in oil and gas downstream EPC busi-
ness and holds a master’s degree in chem-
istry and technology of fuels and environ-
ment from the University of Chemistry and
Technology, Prague.
Daniel Maxa is a senior lecturer and
researcher at the University of Chemistry
and Technology in Prague. He holds a Ph.D.
degree in petroleum processing and fuels
production technologies.
Martin Stukbauer is a technology develop-
ment manager in CEPS a.s. with more than
15 years of experience in the pipeline indus-
try. He holds a master’s degree in chemistry
and gaseous fuels technology.
www.pgjonline.com
| 91
 P&GJ MEETINGS
JULY
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ter, Tampa, Fla.
SEPTEMBER
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Sept. 10-14 IPLOCA 2018 Convention,
Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, London
Sept. 24-28 IPE 2018 (International Pipe-
line Conference & Exposition), Calgary
TELUS Convention Centre
Sept. 25-29 IRPC Americas Houston,
Norris Conference Center, Houston
OCTOBER
Oct. 3 Mexico Energy Strategy Forum,
Mexico City
Oct. 16-17 Pipeline Technology, Forum
Hyatt Regency Hotel, downtown Houston
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Exhibition Russia 2018, Moscow, Russia.
Oct. 23-25 GDA International Down-
stream Conference & Exhibition, Kingdom
of Bahrain
Oct. 29-30 Women’s Global Leadership,
Royal Sonesta, Houston
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Norris Conference Centers, Houston
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 WHAT’S NEW
in Products & Services

Honeywell
Honeywell is offering hands-free, wear-
able connected plant technology that allows
workers to more efficiently accomplish
their tasks in the field. The Skills Insight
Intelligent Wearables feature a head-mount-
ed visual display that responds to voice
Siemens
Siemens has partnered with Newgate Instruments to
introduce the JT400 Multivariable Gas Transmitter
(MVG), an ultra-low power device. The ultra-low power
performance combined with accuracy delivers a product
custom-tailored for midstream and upstream gas produc-
tion. The JT400 MVG offers drop in compatibility via
BSAP, Enron Modbus and ROC compatible protocols.
It comes standard with Class I Division I, Group C, D,
explosion-proof UL/CUL as well as intuitive menu operation
with live trending in real time. Additionally, the JT400 offers DP
measurement accuracy of 0.035% or URL, and its sensors remain
accurate to 0.1% up to 133% of URL even when over-pressured.
Power consumption of the device is less than 4mW, with static pres-
sure reference accuracy of 0.035% of URL. www.usa.siemens.com

and brings live data, documents, work pro-
cedures and health and safety informa-
tion into view. It combines the RealWear
HMT-1Z1™ hands-free wearable computer
with Honeywell’s Movilizer platform, an
industry leading, cloud-based workflow
solution, to support field service operations
in hazardous locations. The wearables offer
operator task automation, video capture and
geo-localization, navigation and asset visu-
alization. www.honeywell.com
Polyguard Products
Polyguard Products introduced the
RD-6® UVO overcoat, a single component,
low VOC UV resistant, water-based liquid
coating that protects Polyguard’s RD-6®
anti-corrosion coating from damaging UV
light rays when used for above-ground
pipeline field joint girth welds, valves, fit-
tings, and FBE coated pipe. RD-6 UVO
is environmentally friendly and moisture-
resistant with excellent adhesion charac-
teristics, resulting in fast touch, drying and
cure times. Although designed for RD-6,
the overcoat also can be applied over mul-
tiple coating types, such as FBE or other
epoxies. www.polyguard.com
Larson Electronics
Larson Electronics released an explo-
sion-proof hydrocarbon gas sensor with
a Class I, Division 1 and 2 (Groups B,
C, D) rating for combustible environ-
ments. The device is used to test and
monitor levels of toxic gas in the air.
The EXP-SNR-TG-EC-ITS-ALG-HC200
is configured to uncover hydrocarbon
vapors with a detection range of 0-200
ppm. Equipped with a sensor, amplifier
and memory module, the compact unit
offers non-digital, analog output (4-20
mA output range). An integral sensor
holder keeps the device stable during
use. For seamless monitoring, the explo-
sion proof hydrocarbon sensor features
an LCD graphic display. In three-wire
mode, a backlight is available for view-
ing in low-light environments. The sensor
is cast aluminum and designed for flam-
mable environments with a temperature
range of -25º C to +55º C. www.larson-
electronics.com
Andax
Andax released the Xtreme Shell®
Pipe Flange Containment System, a pat-
ented, reusable, hard-containment shell
designed to enclose a pipe flange, mani-
fold or any other leak point. The drain
hose diverts the leak to a closed contain-
er, thereby reducing the potential danger
of accidents or injuries caused by spills
around equipment and walkways and
eliminates the mess and ground contami-
nation. A leak can be fixed on planned
maintenance schedules. The optional
Andax Remote Monitoring System can
save time by eliminating the need to visu-
ally monitor remote locations. Fluid lev-
els can be monitored 24/7 from a smart-
phone or computer, and instant alerts and
notifications can be delivered via text
message or e-mail. www.andax.com
Matrox
Matrox® Imaging is introducing series
of updates to the Matrox Supersight Solo
high-performance computing (HPC) platform,
including a new system host board (SHB)
that improves computing performance. The
platform was designed to simplify system
configuration, allowing original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs) and integrators to use
Matrox frame grabbers in a validated PC from
a single vendor. Within this lifecycle-managed
platform, components are selected to ensure
consistent long-term availability, so that OEMs
can maximize return on original investment
while delivering continuous product offerings.
Matrox Supersight Solo features a new chas-
sis to optimize compute density, with space
for up to 13 full-length, full-height PCIe® 2.0
boards to suit a wide range of image-acquisi-
tion requirements. www.matrox.com
Ardco
Ardco’s next-generation articulating multi-
purpose truck (AMT) features a modular
back-end platform that offers the flexibility
to customize the vehicle. The AMT accepts
a wide array of standard and customizable
attachments. Available configurations include
a bare chassis, dump bed, flatbed, water tank,
fuel tank, service and lube station, utility
bed, personnel carrier, pipe trailer, drill and
custom solutions. Multiple tire choices are
available – tractor, construction, terra or sand.
Powered by a 250-hp Cummins QSB6.7 Tier
4 Final diesel engine, the AMT 600 model
features selectable 4- or 6-wheel-drive and
offers a maximum payload of 45,000 pounds.
The AMT 400 model has a 200-hp Cummins
Tier 4 engine, offers 2- or 4-wheel drive, and
provides a max payload of 28,000 pounds for
hauling. www.ardcomfg.com
Liftomatic
Liftomatic Material Handling introduced
the Ergo-PWPL-750 powered drum handling
transport, a self-contained unit that engag-
es, lifts, lowers and moves all steel, plastic
and fiber drums. The equipment incorporates
power-drive forward and reverse, as well
as power-lift and -lower features for mov-
ing drums quickly. Varying weight capacities
are available between 650
and 1,000 pounds. As part
of Liftomatic’s Ergo-Matic
line, the unit is equipped
with programmable controls.
Additional features include
regenerative braking,
available in straddle leg
or fully counter-balanced
versions, as well as EE
and spark-resistant ratings.
www.liftomatic.com P&GJ

www.pgjonline.com
| 93
 TECHNOTES
Product Development
Chinese Pipeline Selects
Rotork ELB for Increased
Line Break Safety
The Rotork Electronic Line Break (ELB)
is a self-contained system that combines
pipeline pressure monitoring with intelli-
gent valve control. It continuously monitors
pipeline pressure dynamics to provide early
detection of pipeline breaks and initiate
automatic valve actuator movement to a
pre-selected emergency position.
In one recent contract, Rotork GO (gas-
over-oil) pipeline actuators have been fitted
with ELB units for line break monitoring
and protection on remotely installed valves
on a natural gas pipeline in China.
The ELBs allow the operator to monitor
the running condition of the gas pipeline
and the open/closed status of the valves.
The immediate reporting of a line break
by an ELB will enable the operator to
swiftly close the appropriate valves and
isolate the problem.
The ELB is contained in a compact,
environmentally sealed and explosion-proof
housing that can be mounted on the actuator
or remotely. Valve actuator control – select-
able as fail close, fail open or stay put – is
based on rate-of-drop (RoD) and rate-of-
rise (RoR) of the pipeline pressure as well
as high- and low-pressure limits.
A remote process shut down (PSD) input
with the option to override all functions is
also available to drive the valve to the pre-
determined fail position.
The ELB also provides an array of pro-
Platform Simulates Pipeline Network
Elsyca V-PIMS is a graphical simulation
platform for the integrity management of
pipeline networks with respect to external
corrosion. The platform simulates and visu-
alizes the CP health status of the entire net-
work based on known design information.
Correlating the simulation results with
measured field data at test stations allows
tracing anomalies in the CP operation,
adapting rectifier currents for optimum pro-
tection, as well as analyzing and monitoring
time-bound effects.
The platform supports pipeline operators
in complying with prescribed governmen-
tal requirements, such as the Dutch norm
NTA 8000 and US ASME B31.8S. , with
respect to integrity management and risk
management. Correlation between surveyed
“as-is” status and simulated “to-be” status
enables monitoring of the condition of the
pipeline network. The overall visualization
of the network’s CP performance allows
prioritization of preventive activities, while
94 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
grammable alarm and alert indications and
has an extensive range of features that
can be configured to meet end users’ spe-
cific requirements. These include up to six
remote inputs and four configurable sole-
noid outputs, partial stroke testing (PST)
and Modbus® network connectivity.
Setting menus displayed on the large
HMI window are the focus for non-intru-
sive programming and commissioning
using Rotork IQ intelligent electric actua-
tion technology. In normal mode the LCD
display indicates valve position. The same
window also displays visual indication of
status, alarms, event, trend and operation
logs and diagnostic data. P&GJ
modifications and extensions to the network
can be verified in advance.
Key features include links with existing
GIS databases and cartography systems,
graphical visualization of pipeline net-
work with color coding of CP health sta-
tus and a post-processing environment for
“what-if” analyses. P&GJ
New Frack Pump Reduces
Maintenance Costs
Texas-based Weir Oil & Gas said its
SPM® QEM 3000 Frac Pump continues
to yield unsurpassed results and savings
in the field as it looks and performs like
new after 3,200 hours of field-proven
use in extreme conditions in the winter
months in the Duvernay and Montney
Shale Play in Alberta, Canada.
The SPM® QEM 3000 is expected to
extend maintenance cycles by a factor of
three, the company said, as compared to
what operators are achieving in similar
service conditions currently. Weir said these
enhancements dramatically affect bottom
lines, expanding traditional pump lifespan
to improve uptime and productivity, while
reducing maintenance and cost of owner-
ship by at least 17%.
The SPM® QEM 3000 was designed to
withstand the most punishing pressure pump-
ing operations, including continuous duty at a
sustained maximum 275,000-pound rod load.
In the Duvernay and Montney formations,
the pump operated 16-18 hours per day
in temperatures averaging 20-23 degrees
Fahrenheit at a frack pressure of 10,500-
13,000 psi, average rod load of 206,250
to 233,750 psi with a 5-inch plunger and a
flow rate of 264 to 343 gallons per minute.
Roller bearings looked new after 3,200-
hours and shell bearings had considerable life
remaining, Weir said. Other wear parts that
would normally require replacement, such as
guide sleeves, showed insignificant wear and
did not require replacement. Moreover, the
onboard filtration system delivered clean oil to
enhance bearing life through optimized control.
While the traditional frack pump devel-
opment process typically tests up to 1 mil-
lion cycles, Weir completed an endurance
test of its beta SPM® QEM 3000 in its Fort
Worth Research & Development Center
lasting three times longer than other pumps
in the company’s history. A Calgary-based
customer has operated SPM® QEM 3000
pumps that have completed more than 10
million field cycles (about 1,700 hours)
without any signs of fatigue to the main
components, Weir said. P&GJ

Allseas Touches Down with
Sonardyne Dual-Gyrousbls on
Lorelay Stinger
Offshore pipeline installation and sub-
sea construction Allseas is taking advan-
tage of the operational benefits available
from Sonardyne International’s GyroUSBL
acoustic positioning technology, following
an order for two systems for its 236-meter-
lay vessel, Lorelay.
Used in conjunction with a Ranger 2
ultra-short baseline (USBL) topside that
also formed part of the order, the GyroUSBL
transceivers will be installed on the end of
the Lorelay’s stinger to acoustically track a
remotely operated vehicle (ROV) deployed
to ensure a pipe is accurately touching down
in the permitted corridor.
USBL transceivers are routinely deployed
through the hull or over-the-side of a vessel,
enabling targets to be tracked below, to the
side and far behind. However, on a large
dynamic positioned (DP) pipelay vessel such
as the Lorelay, a transceiver cannot reliably
“see” through the thruster wash created at the
rear, so touchdown monitoring operations
are often conducted by an ROV operating
from a survey vessel (equipped with its own
USBL system) following on behind.
With a stinger-mounted GyroUSBL,
there is an alternative. The unit combines a
6G HPT transceiver (either 5,000 or 7,000
Model) and Lodestar attitude and heading
Instrument Simplifies Flow Data Control in Oil and Gas Operations
Field technicians, SCADA personnel and
managers across oil and gas industry sectors
can more easily generate, manage and inter-
pret flow data with a new flow computer
that incorporates the functionality of a smart
multi-variable transmitter in the same unit.
The Thermo Scientific AutoXP flow
computer is built for use in the harshest
environments of midstream, downstream
and upstream operations for both gas and
liquid applications. The instrument allows
operators to acquire accurate flow data from
a variety of primary devices. Additionally,
users can transfer primary variables such
as differential pressure, static pressure and
temperature data to remote devices.
The instrument can also be networked
into existing systems via an onboard
Ethernet port. To simplify upgrading and
need for maintenance, it is comprised of
only four main hardware components.
“Adding the smart multivariable trans-
mitter functionality to the flow computer
gives customers greater control and connec-
tivity than was possible with two separate
instruments,” said Ben Zhou, vice president
TECHNOTES
Product Development
reference system in the same assembly and pipelay vessel operators, with the technique
is supplied pre-calibrated to eliminate the having first appeared on the market in
mechanical alignment errors seen in con- 2013. The Lorelay will be third vessel in
ventional USBL setups. the Allseas fleet to be equipped in this way,
These features allow an acoustic trans- with systems already in operation on the
ceiver to be sited well away from noise Pioneering Spirit and Solitaire.
interference, even on a dynamic structure Alan MacDonald, of Sonardyne in
such as a stinger, and deliver outstanding Aberdeen said, “Locating a transceiver on
positioning performance. It also means that the stinger is a great solution for ensuring
a pipelay vessel is able to employ its own that vessel noise disruption is rejected.
ROV to carry out touchdown monitoring, The time-saving features of GyroUSBL
allowing the accompanying survey vessel to results in reduced operational costs with
get on with another task, or eliminating the the ability for users to move it from vessel
need for it altogether. to vessel with minimal downtime while
Mounting a GyroUSBL on a stinger maintaining the highest levels of position-
is now a widely adopted practice among ing performance.” P&GJ
and general manager, environmental and
process monitoring for Thermo Fisher.
Additional features include:
n Bluetooth connectivity, allowing users
to access the instrument without expo-
sure to hazardous materials
n Infrared sensors, which enable menu
operation without removal of the end
cap to maintain safe operation
n Compatibility with the Thermo
Scientific AutoCONFIG software plat-
form, which incorporates updated stan-
dards for hydrocarbon measurement
calculations
n Compliance with Class I, Division 1
hazardous location requirements.
Certifications and compliances for the
AutoXP Gas and Liquid Flow Computer
include CSA/C-US Class I, Div 1, Groups
B, C, D; ambient temperature range of -40°
C to +85° C (-40° F to +185 °F), tempera-
ture code T6 (-40° C to 75° C) T5 (-40°
C to 85° C) EN 61326-1: 2013 (industrial
criteria); FCC 47 CFR, Part 15, Subpart
B; ICES 003: 2016; with measurement
Canada pending. P&GJ
www.pgjonline.com
| 95
 BUSINESS
Personnel Changes, Association News, Mergers & Aquisitions
Names in the News
Troy Construction CEO
David Dacus was named
Pipeliner of the Year by
the Pipeliners Association
of Houston. A longtime
supporter who has twice
served as president of the
Dacus association, Dacus has
overseen an aggressive ex-
pansion of Troy Construction since taking
the reins of the family-owned company in
1986. With three primary offices in Texas
and Georgia, the pipeline construction and
maintenance company has more than 25 sat-
ellite offices and over 2,000 employees.
The Williams Compa-
nies appointed Nancy K.
Buese as an independent
director on its board, filling
a vacancy created by the re-
tirement of Janice Stoney.
Buese is executive vice
Buese president and chief finan-
cial officer for Newmont
Mining Corporation. She previously held
executive positions at MPLX, a publicly
traded midstream company, and MarkWest
Energy Partners prior to its acquisition by
MPLX. With Buese’s appointment, the Wil-
liams board consists of 11 members, 10 of
whom are independent.
ComEd President and
CEO Anne Pramaggiore
has been promoted to senior
executive vice president
and CEO of Exelon Utili-
ties. She replaces Denis P.
O’Brien, who will serve as
Pramagglore adviser until his retirement
at the end of 2019. Pramag-
giore, a 20-year veteran of ComEd, will over-
see six local electric and gas utilities.
Lilis Energy, an exploration and devel-
opment company operating in the Permian
Basin of West Texas and Southeastern New
Mexico, appointed Nicholas Steinsberger
to its Board of Directors. He is a petroleum
engineer with 31 years of experience.
Pipetech, the indepen-
dent process system in-
tegrity specialist, named
Frank Andersen as gen-
eral manager for Scandina-
via. Anderson brings more
than 10 years oil and gas
Andersen experience to the company
and will be based at the firm’s Stavanger
hub. He joins the company from GS-Hydro
Norge AS, where he was the business devel-
opment manager.
Goodnight Midstream hired of Andrejka
96 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Bernatova as its chief financial officer. Pre-
viously, she served as executive vice presi-
dent and CFO of Core Midstream. Prior
to that, Bernatova was vice president of
Finance and Investor Relations at PennTex
Midstream Partners.
Michael J. Russell has been appointed to
Optium Cyber Systems Board of Advisors,
where he will oversee the development of
the company’s cybersecurity platform for
the petroleum industry. He has 40 years
experience in the oil and gas sector and is
chairmanship of the American Petroleum
Institute-Houston Chapter.
Weiler Abrasives Group
promoted Jason Con-
ner to the position of vice
president of sales for the
U.S. and Canada. Conner
joined Weiler in 2012 as a
national accounts manager
and was promoted to direc-
Connor
tor of national accounts in
2015 after managing a significant portion of
business with Weiler channel partners.
Rob Hausler has been hired as executive
vice president of JLT Specialty USA, where
he will advise on midstream and other en-
ergy sectors, while managing accounts and
developing business. Based in Houston, he
was previously with Marsh.
Amplify Energy appointed Kenneth
Mariani to serve as president and CEO. He
previously served as the president of En-
erVest and vice president of operations for
Energy Corporation of America.
Well services company
Key Energy President and
CEO Robert Drummond
resigned from his role as
CEO to pursue another op-
portunity. He will continue
with his current responsi-
Drummond bilities during an interim
period and remain on Key’s
Board of Directors.
Anadarko Petroleum named Mitch In-
gram as executive vice president of Interna-
tional, Deepwater & Exploration. The com-
pany also announced Ernie Leyendecker,
executive vice president of Exploration is
retiring after more than 30 years in the oil
and natural gas industry.
Thomas E. Blaser, se-
nior vice president and
chief financial officer of
W.R. Grace & Co., re-
signed from the company
to pursue other interests.
The company has retained
Blaser an executive search firm
and begun a formal search
for his replacement.
David Lamont, CEO of energy services
company Proserv, is stepping down and will
be replaced by David Currie, who previous-
ly held positions as CEO of JDR Cable Sys-
tems and U.K. president for Aker Solutions.
The American Council
of Engineering Companies
of Michigan (ACEC/M)
selected Sean J. Kelley,
of The Mannik & Smith
Group, as its 2018-2019
president. Kelley has been
Kelley employed in the Michigan
engineering consulting in-
dustry for his entire 32-year career. He is a
senior vice president and principal for his
300-plus person firm, leading its downtown
Detroit office.
Oil services company
Three60 Energy appointed
Walter Thain as CEO, North
Sea. Thain has 28 years in the
oil and gas industry, having
previously worked for Petro-
fac in the United Kingdom
Thain and UAE, most recently as
managing director, West for
Engineering & Production Services.
Resolute Energy Corporation appointed
three new outside directors: Joseph Citar-
rella, managing principal of Monarch Alter-
native Capital LP; Wilkie Colyer, principal
of Goff Capital; and Robert Raymond,
founding member and portfolio manager
of RR Advisors. As a result of the appoint-
ments, the Board will now have 11 directors.
Nathan Leslie has been
appointed to chief sales
officer at pipeline inspec-
tion company NDT Global.
He joined the company in
2014 and has over a decade
of experience in the oil and
Leslie gas industry.
Royale Energy appoint-
ed Board Director Rod Eson as CEO in a
move that took effect immediately. Prior to
accepting the position, he served as the CEO
of Foothill Energy, a California-focused
company he founded in 2004.
Steven Shepard has
been named director of
Product Management for
Ridgid in Elyria, Ohio. He
will manage development
of new products, and lead
global new product devel-
Shepard opment and growth strat-
egies for the company’s
hand, tubing and pipe fabrication tools divi-
sion. Shepard previously worked at Stanley
Black & Decker.
Continental Resources selected Shelly

Lambertz to the Board as a Class II direc-
tor. She replaces James L. Gallogly who
resigned in order to focus on his duties as
the upcoming president of the University of
Oklahoma.
Enservco appointed Kevin C. Kersting
to the new position of chief operating offi-
cer. Prior to joining the company, Kersting
held several senior positions at CAP Logis-
tics, which provides transportation services
for heavy industry.
Companies in the News
The 10,000th machine delivered to its destination.
Michels Corporation received the
10,000th machine assembled and delivered
by Caterpillar Hydraulic Excavator Facility
in Victoria, Texas.
According to Cat equipment dealer
PipeLine Machinery International (PLM),
the new 336F Hydraulic Excavator was
presented to mainline pipeline contractor
Michels in a ceremony on May 16, with
guests and representatives of the compa-
nies in attendance.
Shell Midstream Partners entered into
a purchase and sale agreement to acquire
Shell’s ownership interest in Amberjack
Pipeline Company LLC. The pipeline
transports 300,000 bpd, expected to increase
to about 400,000 bpd by the end of 2019.
Oilfield services company Danos was
named the winner of a Silver Stevie Award
in the “Best Newsletter or House Organ/
Publication – Online/Electronic” category
in the 16th Annual American Business
Awards. Danos’ internal weekly e-news-
letter, The Pipeline – Keeping Employees
Connected, was launched in 2015 for the
company’s 1,800 employees worldwide. In
2017, The Pipeline averaged 7,447 unique
page views per month.
Krohne opened its state-of-the-art flow
and level instrument manufacturing and
calibration facility in Beverly, Mass. The
headquarters will produce new and existing
flow and level products, while continuing to
serve as the main distribution hub to North
American markets for all other products.
Administration, sales, service and market-
ing, and a new training center will also be
located in Beverly.
Personnel Changes, Association News, Mergers & Aquisitions
The newly opened Proserv Centre of Excellence. workshop space.
3 Bear Delaware Operating-NM
launched a binding open season for vol-
ume commitments and acreage dedications
to support construction of a new crude oil
gathering and transportation system. The
Hat Mesa System will gather crude oil from
origination points in Lea County, N.M.
WhiteWater Midstream announced
transportation and interconnect agreements
for its Delaware Basin Agua Blanca pipe-
line, a joint venture between WhiteWater
and WPX Energy. Targa affiliate Mark-
West Energy Partners will join as joint
venture partners in the Agua Blanca pipe-
line, and WhiteWater entered into long-term
transportation service agreements with two
premier Delaware Basin producers in Cul-
berson County, Texas.
Bioscience company Amyris’ subsidiary
Novvi and Chevron Products Company
said the two companies will develop renew-
able base oil technologies. Terms were not
disclosed. Novvi produces a range of lubri-
cant applications to the global market.
Associations in the News
The Pipeliners Association of Houston
awarded more than $700,000 in scholar-
ships to college-bound students at its June
meeting and elected Patrick Lamb as 2018-
19 president. Lamb, who serves as senior
vice president of Business Development at
Murphy Energy Group, presented an award
of appreciation to outgoing association
President Danny Seal, senior project man-
ager at Williams.
Education/
Research in the News
Rice University is offering a new mas-
ter’s degree in energy data management in
the coming school year. The Wiess School
of Natural Sciences’ Department of Earth,
Environmental and Planetary Sciences
opened enrollment for fall 2018 and spring
2019 in its graduate program in subsurface
geoscience. Rice faculty have collaborated
with leading Houston oil and gas companies
to develop a program for students to become
data-enabled geoscientists.
BUSINESS
Energy services company Proserv
opened its new Centre of Excellence in
Great Yarmouth’s Beacon Park in the Unit-
ed Kingdom. Developer Great Yarmouth
Borough Council, together with New
Anglia LEP and key stakeholders, joined
Proserv at the 65,000-square-foot facil-
ity. It will feature 25% additional manu-
facturing space and a yard area. There is
also room to add an 20,000 square feet of
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)
was awarded two contracts, totaling $1.2
million, from the U.S. Department of Ener-
gy to advance turbine technology for power
plants. SwRI will develop a supercritical
carbon dioxide (sCO2), coal syngas or natu-
ral gas-fired oxy-fuel turbine. It will also
develop a modular, combined-cycle power
system. Both projects should be completed
in December 2019.
Obituaries
Calvin Paul Evans, 88, died May 11, af-
ter a brief illness. He had a long career in
the pipeline industry, eventually working his
way up to executive positions and establish-
ing his own company, Evans Pipeline Equip-
ment in 1971.
In 1985, Evans Pipeline merged with
CRC Pipeline International, and Evans be-
came chairman of CRC-Evans Pipeline In-
ternational. He became an honorary mem-
ber of Pipe Line Contractors Association
in 1996 and was a driving force behind the
PLCA Scholarship Foundation.
He is survived by his wife, Sylvia; sons
Falkner (Linda) and Marc; and grandchil-
dren Stephen and Joanna (Erik Lundberg).
Mark Osadchuk, 83, a veteran of the
pipeline industry, died April 12, peacefully
at home. He invented the innovative Ozzie’s
Pipeline Padder in 1989 and founded a num-
ber of companies.
Osadchuk helped form Central Pipeline
and Cable Co. in 1965 and remained as
president until 1967, when the company was
liquidated and organized as Natural Pipeline
Co., based in Lakeville, Minn. In 1980, he
formed Southeast Pipeline Contractors Inc.,
which became one of the largest mainline
pipeline contractors in the United States.
He is survived by his wife, Vera; their two
children and spouses Velma (Osadchuk) and
Bob Hope of Scottsdale, Ariz., and Dwayne
and Tina Osadchuk, of Scottsdale; and their
two grandchildren and spouses, Amanda
(Osadchuk) and Craig Ciliberti, of Scotts-
dale, and Nicholas and Alisha Osadchuk of
Oak Creek, Colo. P&GJ
www.pgjonline.com
| 97
P&GJ BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORY

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98 Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
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106 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

 P&GJ BUSINESS CARD DIRECTORY

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| 109
ADVERTISER’S INDEX
Index provided as a courtesy to readers. While every effort is made to compile accurate listings, publisher assumes no responsibility for errors.
Above Ground Markers.com LLC, www.AboveGroundMarker.com .............. 104
Airport Windsock Corp., www.airportwindsocks.com ..................................... 104
American Petroleum Institute, www.API.org/ICPprograms ..........................44-45
Armor Plate Inc., www.armorplateinc.com ...........................................................35
Arnett & Burgess Pipeliners Ltd., www.abpipeliners.com............................... 109
Badlands Security Group, www.badlandssecuritygroup.com ........................ 109
Baker Hughes, a GE company, www.engagerecip.com ................................. 107
Bishop Lifting Products, www.lifting.com ........................................................... 102
BKW, www.bkwinc.com ...............................................................................100, 109
Brad Bean, www.b3pe.com ................................................................................. 100
Brandt Equipment Solutions, www.brandt.ca .......................................................27
Burns & McDonnell, www.burnsmcd.com/PGJNaturally .............................46-47
CCI Pipeline Systems, www.ccipipe.com .......................................................... 107
CDI Control Devices, Inc., www.pigging.com ......................................................68
Coastal Corrosion Control Inc, www.coastalcorrosion.com ........................... 103
Commercial Resins, www.commercialresins.com ........................................... 104
CRC-Evans Pipeline International, www.CRC-Evans.com ........................ 17, IBC
Cross Country Infrastructure, www.CrossCountryIS.com ............................... 104
Darby Equipment Company, www.darbyequip.com ...........................................33
Davis Corp. (D.C.I.), www.davcorpipelinerollers.com ...................................... 106
Denso North America, www.densona.com ....................................................48-49
DMI International, www.dmiinternational.com ......................................................99
Dualco, www.dualco-inc.com ............................................................................... 106
Dura-Bond Coating Inc., www.dura-bond.com ...................................................... 9
E N R General Machining Company, www.ENRHotTap.com ......................... 108
E-Z Line Pipe Support Co., Inc., www.EZLine.com ............................................... 5
Elgin Separation Solutions , www.ElginSeparationSolutions.com ................. 106
Enduro Pipeline Services, www.enduropls.com .................................... 50-51, BC
Energy Web Atlas, www.EnergyWebAtlas.com....................................................43
FG Clean Wipes, www.FGCleanWipes.com/efusion ................................ 69, 108
Flow Management Devices LLC, www.oag-ps.com......................................52-53
Galvotec, www.galvotec.com ............................................................................... 104
GasPro Americas, www.GasProcessingConference.com .................................26
Geo Corr, www.geocorr.com................................................................................ 109
H&M Shared Services, www.henkels.com .....................................................54-55
Harding Directional Drilling, www.hardingdrilling.com..................................... 100
Harsco, www.HarscoAXC.com ...............................................................................11
Heaman Pipe Bending, Inc., www.heaman.com .............................................. 103
Heath Consultants, Inc., www.heathus.com ...................................................... 105
Inline Services, www.inlineservices.com ..............................................................70
John Deere Construction & Forestry Division, www.JohnDeere.com/pipeline 3
Knapp Polly Pig, Inc., www.pollypig.com ..............................................................71
KS Energy Services, Inc., www.ksenergyservices.com .................................. 103
Lane Trailer Manufacturing Co., www.lanetrailers.com ................................... 104
Laney Directional Drilling, www.laneydrilling.com .........................................56-57
Lift Technologies, Inc., www.lifttechnologiesinc.com....................................... 108
Magnetrol International, www.magnetrol.com ......................................................98
Meridien Energy, LLC, www.meridienenergy.com ...............................................23
MESA, www.mesaproducts.com .................................................................. 72, 107
Michels Corporation, www.michels.us/PushingLimits ........................................15
SALES REPESENTATIVES
U.S.A. – Southeast
Doug Fix
+1 (770) 740-2078
Doug.Fix@GulfEnergyInfo.com
U.S.A. – Southwest & Midwest U.S.A. – West Coast
Jim Donnelly Mike Lance
+1 (972) 437-9557 +1 (661) 618-4067
jim.donnelly@PGJonline.com Michael.Lance@GulfEnergyInfo.com
U.S.A. – Northeast U.S.A. – Mid Central
Denis O’Malley Donna Harbacek
+1 (203) 356-9694 +1 (417) 559-3207
Denis.OMalley@GulfEnergyInfo.com Donna.Harbacek@GulfEnergyInfo.com
2 Greenway Plaza, Suite 1020 (713) 529-4301
Houston, TX 77046 www.pgjonline.com
110 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018
Midwestern Contractors, www.midwesterncontractors.com/legacy ............. 103
Midwestern Manufacturing Co., www.sidebooms.com ......................................73
MPG Pipeline Contractors, www.mpg-plc.com................................................. 101
N-SPEC/Coastal Chemical, www.coastalchem.com ....................................58-59
NACE, www.nace.org/career-development ..........................................................74
Opvantek, www.opvantek.com................................................................................75
Outlaw Padding Company, www.outlawpadding.com ..................................... 102
Pe Ben USA, www.pebenusa.com...................................................................... 108
Pigs Unlimited International, Inc., www.pigsunlimited.com................................76
Pipe Spring LLC, www.laughlincompanies.net ....................................................78
Pipeline Data Services LLC, www.pipelinedataservices.com ........................ 103
Pipeline Drying International, www.pipelinedrying.com .................................. 105
Pipeline Equipment Inc., www.pipelineequipment.com.............................77, 105
Pipeline Machinery International, www.plmcat.com............................................41
Pipeline Opportunities Conference, www.pipeline-opportunities.com.............25
Pipeline Pigging Products, Inc., www.pipepigs.com........................................ 102
Pipeline Technology Forum, www.pipelinetechforum.com ................................13
Pipesak Inc, www.pipesak.com ........................................................................60-61
Pipetel Technology, Inc., www.pipetelone.com ....................................................79
PLH Group Inc., www.plhgroupinc.com ..........................................................62-63
Polyguard Products, Inc., www.polyguard.com ...................................................81
Precision Welding & Fabrication, www.weweld.com ..........................................80
Pro Access Rentals, www.proaccessrentals.com ............................................ 106
Project Piping Solutions LLC, www.projectpipingsolutions.com .................... 102
Proline Pipe Equipment, www.proline-global.com ........................................... 102
Quanta Pipeline Services, www.QuantaServices.com .......................................82
Qarter Turn ACTUATION, www.QTActuation.com................................................42
Rosen Swiss AG, www.rosen-group.com .............................................................83
Rosen Swiss AG, www.rosen-group.com ............................................................IFC
Rotork Controls, Inc., www.rotork.com ............................................................64-65
SICK Inc., www.sick.com ........................................................................................... 7
Southern Gas Association, www.southerngas.org ........................................... 107
SPY Pipeline Inspection Company, www.picltd.com ..........................................85
STATS Group, www.statgroup.com ........................................................................21
Steel Etc., www.steeletc.com ............................................................................... 100
Step-Ko Products, www.step-ko.com .....................................................................84
Subscription, www.pgjonline.com ....................................................................... 111
Triple D Bending, www.pipebending.com.......................................................... 102
Troy Construction, Inc., www.troyconstruction.com.......................................... 105
U.S. Pipeline, Inc., www.uspipeline.com ...............................................................19
United Piping Inc., www.unitedpiping.us ...............................................................27
UniversalPegasus International, www.universalpegasus.com ..........................40
Vermeer Corpoation, www.vermeer.com ..............................................................86
Weamco, www.weamco.com ............................................................................... 106
Weldbend Corporation, www.weldbend.com .................................................66-67
Welker Flow Measurement Systems, www.wfmsinc.com ..................................29
Wolseley Industrial Group, www.wolseleyindustrialgroup.com .........................37
Women’s Global Leadership Conference, www.WGLConference.com ...........89
Italy, Eastern Europe Japan
Fabio Potesta Yoshinori lkeda
3339/010/5704948 JES Media, Inc.
Fabio.Potesta@GulfEnergyInfo.com +82 (2) 481-3411/13
Western Europe India
Hamilton Pearman Manav Kanwar
33/608/310/575 +91 (22) 2837 7070/71/72
Hamilton.Pearlman@GulfEnergyInfo.com India@GulfEnergyInfo.com
UK, Scandinavian, Netherlands Africa, Middle East
Patrick Djuma Tanya Mbaluli
+44 20 3409 2243 254/722/376972
Patrick.Djuma@GulfEnergyInfo.com Africa@GulfEnergyInfo.com
China Mexico, Central America, South America
Mike Xu Marco Antonio Monteiro
13902475517 +55 21 99616-4347
China@ GulfEnergyInfo.com Brazil@GulfEnergyInfo.com
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A Conversation with Kinder Morgan’s Tom Martin
By Joe Hollier

T
om Martin serves as president of the
Natural Gas Pipelines Group for Kinder
Morgan, one of the largest energy infra-
structure companies in North America.
In this role, he is responsible for all commercial
and operational activities of the Kinder Morgan
Natural Gas Pipelines Group, which encompasses
approximately 70,000 miles of natural gas trans-
mission pipelines and gathering lines, plus stor-
age, treating and processing facilities.
Martin joined Kinder Morgan as vice president of Optimization
and Storage in the Texas Intrastate Pipeline Group in 2003. He
was named president of the Texas Intrastate Pipeline Group in 2005
and assumed his current position in 2009. Martin has more than 25
years of commercial experience in the unregulated and regulated
U. S. natural gas pipeline industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree
in accounting from Texas A&M University and is a registered
Certified Public Accountant.

P&GJ: When did you get involved in
the oil and gas industry, and how did you
end up in your current position at Kinder
Morgan?
Martin: I first got involved in the energy
industry in the mid to late 1980s in the advent
of natural gas transportation and marketing
becoming an open access and unbundled
marketplace. It was an exciting and fasci-
nating time to grow up in the industry with
so much change and opportunity. I joined
Kinder Morgan in 2003 and have worked
in both intrastate and interstate markets. As
I have grown in my career, I have come to
appreciate and be proud of the important
role that pipeline infrastructure plays in the
economic development of our country and
improved quality of life for people.
P&GJ: Has the growing anti-fossil fuel
movement changed how Kinder Morgan
addresses stakeholders on new projects and
expansions?
Martin: It has always been a priority
to consult with a variety of stakeholders at
every stage of a project. As pipeline proj-
ects have increasingly become a target for
the anti-fossil fuel movement, however, we
have been engaging with stakeholders much
earlier in the project planning process.
Each project is unique, but we typically
have conversations with landowners, local,
state and federal officials, as well as regula-
tory agencies, businesses, community orga-
nizations, indigenous groups, individuals or
groups opposed to our project, and others.
Our goal is to educate our stakeholders about
the need for the project, provide project
details, such as possible facility locations
and construction timing, and to address any
issues or questions they may have.
P&GJ:: Does the company have any
concerns about pending regulations?
Martin: At the federal level, the cur-
rent Administration seems open to taking
seriously legitimate safety and technology
concerns as they develop regulations, but
the imposition of tariffs on imported steel
is problematic. Our other current concern
is what happens with NAFTA. Mexico is a
strong market for us; we deliver more than
70 percent of U.S. exports to Mexico.
P&GJ: The Permian Basin continues
to be a prolific resource. What is Kinder
Morgan doing there now, and is there an
opportunity or need for more pipeline
expansions?
Martin: There is currently an enor-
mous need for additional pipeline transpor-
tation capacity in the Permian, and we are
working on several expansion projects on
our existing NGPL (Natural Gas Pipeline
Company of America) and EPNG (El Paso
Natural Gas) systems in order to help allevi-
ate some of the constraints.
We also are developing the Gulf Coast
Express Pipeline with joint-venture partners
DCP Midstream and Targa Resources, in
response to the tremendous need for addi-
tional takeaway capacity out of the Permian.
Kinder Morgan will build and operate the
$1.75 billion project, which is designed to
transport up to 1.98 billion cubic feet per
day of natural gas from the Permian Basin
to growing markets on the Texas Gulf Coast.
P&GJ: How is the Elba Liquefaction
Project coming along, and when do you expect
to start exporting LNG from the facility?
Martin: Construction is currently under
way at our Elba Liquefaction Project, and
we are expecting initial service to begin
in the third quarter of this year. The final
units are scheduled to come online by mid-
2019 to bring total liquefaction capacity to
approximately 2.5 million tons per year of
LNG, which is equivalent to about 350 mil-
lion cubic feet per day of natural gas.
This project adds liquefaction and export
capability to Southern LNG Company’s exist-
ing terminal at Elba Island in Georgia. It is
supported by a 20-year contract with Shell.
P&GJ: Are you concerned there might
be broader implications for Canada’s inter-
governmental squabbling over the Trans
Mountain expansion? How does this com-
pare and contrast with U.S. state agencies
taking actions that impede construction of
FERC-approved projects?
Martin: It’s all fueled by the so-called
“keep it in the ground” agenda. While I cer-
tainly respect that people have different opin-
ions about natural gas and oil, it would be better
if those opinions were better grounded in facts.
Oil, natural gas, natural gas liquids and
petrochemicals are the foundation of our
civilization. And I’m sure these protesters
would be surprised to learn that while the
U.S. has increased its reliance on natural gas-
powered electricity generation by 45% in the
past decade, power-sector CO2 emissions
have gone down 28% in the same period of
time. Or that U.S. methane emissions from
natural gas systems decreased over 15%
from 1990 to 2016, despite a 49% increase in
natural gas production over the same period.
P&GJ: What are some of your interests
outside of work?
Martin: I am from a large extended
family that lives locally, so I am fortunate
to be able to spend leisure time with them
and close friends on a regular basis. I also
enjoy traveling, reading, listening to music,
going to sporting events and being involved
in the community. P&GJ

112 | Pipeline & Gas Journal • July 2018

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