Pipelines NEWS

Energy services firm, Wood Plc has secured a $43 million contract to build an 80 mile-long steel pipeline in West Texas. The Aberdeen-based company informed that the pipeline would be used to transport natural gas liquids (NGL) across Texas. Wood said that the contract award reinforced its position as a "major midstream player". Wood secured three contracts last month to assist the onshore oilfields development in the UAE.

India-based Great Eastern Energy Corp (GEECL) is planning to put in approximately $2 billion to exploit shale gas reserves in West Bengal’s Raniganj block. The company is looking to begin the initial exploration work of drilling core wells in 2019. GEECL has reached an initial understanding with state-owned GAIL (India) for an offtake or a transmission agreement through the upcoming Jagdishpur-Haldia & Bokaro-Dhamra pipeline.

Gaz-System, gas grid operator of Poland and its Danish counterpart have marked their approval on the Baltic Pipe gas link. This Polish project is intended to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. Baltic Pipe, a 900 kilometres pipeline will link Poland with Norway’s deposits past Baltic Sea and Denmark. Poland’s deal with Russia’s Gazprom will end in 2022 and it is expected that the project will be ready by that time.

NordStream 2 pipeline has been under severe criticism from a long period of time. Previously, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany stated that the fellow nation should put this pipeline project on hold after Russia’s act of seizing three Ukrainian ships near Crimea. But, Germany is unaffected by any criticism regarding NordStream 2 which will transport gas to Europe, bypassing Ukraine. Germany’s government spokesman informed that Ukraine will remain a transit country.

India’s ONGC will have to pay 242 crore to the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT), as ordered by the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), India. This compensation has been imposed on the firm as wharfage compensation for the transportation of crude oil through the two pipelines of ONGC. The company said that it is examining the admissibility of the claim.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd informed that it has inked a 20-year gas sale and purchase agreement (SPA) with Perdaman Chemicals and Fertilisers Pty Ltd. The agreement will lead to the pipeline supply of 125 TJ of gas per day for use in Perdaman’s proposed urea plant. Woodside will source the gas to Perdaman from its proposed Scarborough development.

Securing contracts from Permian, Alaska through the Bakken and then Louisiana’s onshore energy contract, Wood has won a string of new contracts in US midstream this year. These contracts are worth about £190m, and will create about 1,000 new jobs. CEO of Wood’s Asset Solutions Americas commented “These contracts show the strength and expertise of Wood to deliver a diversified portfolio of energy,”

Oil minister of India has updated the nation about the recent talks with Nepal. The two countries have agreed to discover various possibilities for laying pipelines to supply LPG and natural gas. Pradhan said “Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) will work together on these projects,” The leader of both the countries have agreed to complete the ongoing pipeline work from Motihari, India to Amlekhgunj, Nepal.

India and Bangladesh yesterday jointly unveiled a pipeline project for widening the connectivity network in the region. The projects include the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline and the Dhaka-Tongi-Joydebpur railway project. The unveiling came after the Bangladesh cabinet approved access of Chittagong port by NE states of India. The pipeline will transport high speed diesel to Bangladesh, currently being supplied through cross-border train from Numaligarh refinery.

At an enterprise valuation of $2 billion, investment firm Brookfield is all set to acquire the East West Pipeline Ltd (EWPL), currently running at a loss. Post-acquisition, Brookfield will own the 1,400 km common carrier pipeline from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh to Bharuch in Gujarat. Brookfield is supporting India Infrastructure Trust, an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT) as the acquisition vehicle.

According to the source, Algeria has decided to enhance the output of Europe, for which it will invest $280 million to build a gas pipeline. The capacity of the pipeline will be 4.5 bcm per year and is expected to be online by 2020. The plan is to connect this 197 km pipeline with two others that will further link it to Spain.

Norwegian oil giant, Equinor has concluded the installation of the 283-km crude oil pipeline for its Johan Sverdrup project. The pipeline, laid by Saipem’s Castorone, runs through the North Sea to the Mongstad oil terminal outside Bergen, Norway. The Saipem-owned vessel is now preparing to lay the 156-km long natural gas pipeline from Johan Sverdrup to the Statpipe pipeline, shipping gas from the field to Karsto.

Coming out of its shell and expanding its business beyond natural gas processing, Black Bear Midstream will now enter into “dry” gas market. The company announced on Sept.10 that it has entered into a six-year agreement and will provide dry gas gathering service from late 2018. Presently, Black Bear has a cryogenic gas processing plant in LA of 140 MMcf/d capacity and NGL pipeline of 40-mile.

CNPC’s listed arm, PetroChina updated about the completion of a new pipeline by Yunnan refinery for the transportation of gasoline and diesel. The newly constructed pipeline is 81 km long, with an annual transport capacity of 1.68 million tonnes. The Yunnan refinery is one of the PetroChina’s largest refining projects with 260,000 barrels per day of crude refining capacity that began production in 2017.

CEO of Suncor Energy Inc. has denied any further pipeline expansions in Canada “until it becomes clearer when new pipelines will be ready”. Suncor took this decision after the Canadian court upended the government’s consent of expansion of Trans Mountain pipeline. In Canada, the new pipelines construction has failed to match the rate of heavy oil production which is now disrupting the supply and creating pricing issues for the country.

Amidst all the controversies and the risk of sanctions, Nord Stream 2 pipeline work is rolling on schedule according to its operator. It will transport gas from Russia to Germany. Earlier a warning was issued by Washington that the Western firms were at risk of sanctions. But then too, the European investors are committed to the project. The Nord Stream 2 will start operations by the end of 2018.

Plains All American Pipeline yesterday updated on the fire on its Texas crude storage tank. The pipeline giant, in a statement, said that the fire was extinguished, and the situation was under control. The terminal and connecting pipelines have resumed operations. The crude storage tank was caught in fire on Tuesday morning. Wichita Falls is a crude injection point in north Texas along Plain’s Basin Pipeline.

In its last attempt to save the company from splitting, GAIL India will launch its new portal tomorrow allowing anyone to hire its pipeline network for natural gas transportation. The Oil Ministry in January considered dividing the company, one for transportation and other for marketing in order to avoid any internal conflicts. According to the sources, GAIL has been accused of denying access to its 11,000-kilometer pipeline network.