Pipelines NEWS

Russia and China, yesterday, kickstarted the 3,000-km-long Power of Siberia pipeline for the transportation of gas from Siberia to northeast China. The launch was overseen by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The pipeline is being seen as an attempt to boost economic and political ties between Moscow and Beijing. The move will fortify China’s spot as Russia’s top export market.

A group of farmers in Tamil Nadu has petitioned the state government against BPCL for conducting land surveys through drones without prior knowledge. A private consultancy utilized drone cameras to conduct survey in farmland for BPCL’s Irugur-Devangonthi Petroleum and Petroleum Product Pipeline (IDPL) on October 14. A senior official from BPCL acknowledged that the consultancy had deployed the drone cameras without the company’s knowledge.

If sources were to be believed, TC Energy Corp’s Marketlink oil pipeline running from Oklahoma to Texas was shut on Thursday. The southeastern part of Texas took in heavy rains yesterday due to Tropical Depression Imelda. The 750,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Marketlink pipeline links to the Nederland terminal. Phillips 66 was also forced to shut operations at its Beaumont Terminal in Nederland, Texas.

Pipeline firm Energy Transfer LP has agreed to acquire smaller rival SemGroup Corp in a $1.35 billion deal. The acquisition will gain Energy Transfer the ownership to SemGroup’s crude oil terminal on the Houston Ship Channel, crude oil gathering assets and oil and natural gas liquids pipelines. With an enterprise value of $5 billion, the deal is expected to close in late 2019 or early 2020.

Poland has won a European Union court ruling That would reduce Russia's control on Opal pipeline in Germany. Poland challenged the European Commission's 2016 decision which allowed Gazprom to use major capacity on the Opal pipeline. “The ruling keeps Poland’s and Ukraine’s energy security at a high level”, said the Polish Energy Minister. The pipeline has the capacity to transport 36 billion cubic meters of gas per year.

Mexico government is trying to solve a dispute over fees and payments. Working on this, the government has reached a deal with private gas pipeline operators. Nation's President has slammed the private companies for taking unfair advantage of the of the country. "We avoided a dispute that would have implied going to international tribunals, a dispute that would have taken years to resolve", said Mr President.

Calgary-based Pembina Corp. has agreed to buy Kinder Morgan Canada and the U.S. division of the Cochin Pipeline system in a $3.27 billion deal. Pembina will acquire Kinder Morgan Canada in an all-stock deal, valuing the Canadian assets of the pipeline giant at about C$15.02 per share. This represented a premium of 36.8% to stock’s Tuesday close.

India’s state-run midstream giant, GAIL’s Chairman, yesterday, informed about plans of spending Rs 45,000 crores to expand the National Gas Grid and city gas distribution network. The investment will span over the next 5 years. While Rs 32,000 crore would go into pipeline laying, Rs 12,000 crore will be spent on CGD networks for the retailing of CNG to automobiles and PNG to household kitchens.

Russia is considering transferring operational management over oil input points to pipeline monopoly Transneft. Russian Prime Minister and Transneft's Chief Executive had a meeting to discuss about this matter. Transneft has assured that it is working towards improving the quality of contaminated water. In April, the discovery of contaminated crude through the Druzhba left the oil market in shock.

Enbridge-owned Kentucky natural gas line erupted in a ball of flames in rural Kentucky yesterday. A local sheriff said that the explosion killed one person and put numerous houses on fire. The blast was second in the line of explosions that have taken place on Enbridge’s Texas Eastern natural gas pipeline. The pipeline delivers gas and utilities along the route to consumers, including Gulf Coast industrial facilities and LNG export terminals.

Canadian energy infrastructure firm, Kinder Morgan recorded a net profit for the second quarter, climbing on the back of better incomes from natural gas pipelines and fewer impairment charges. The pipeline giant, however, missed Wall Street estimates in the earnings released yesterday. Kinder Morgan’s share traded lower nearly 2% at $20.21 in the after-hours.

The pipeline monopoly of Russia, Transneft slammed Rosneft on Monday. The company rebuked due to the disinterest shown by the oil producer to help resolve a contaminated oil crisis in the Russian Druzhba. On this, Rosneft said, "Instead of not so constructive comments, we'd like to see a clear and public plan of measures". This problem has tainted Russia's credibility as an energy supplier.

Russia’s natural gas giant, Gazprom has said that despite the threat of US sanctions, work at the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline will continue since the pipeline is "past the point of no return". The $12-billion Nord Stream 2 will amplify Russian gas shipments to the EU's biggest economy, Germany. The final major hurdle in the way of Nord Stream 2 is obtaining approval from Denmark.

Michigan's Attorney General, yesterday, initiated a lawsuit to shut down twin 66-year-old oil pipelines owned by Enbridge Inc in the Great Lakes area. Democrat Dana Nessel has argued that the pipelines present an "unacceptable risk". The twin pipelines are integral to Enbridge's Line 5, transporting 23 million gallons of crude oil and propane everyday between Superior, Wisconsin, and Sarnia, Ontario.

PKN Orlen-owned Czech oil refiner Unipetrol has halted oil import through the Druzhba pipeline from Russia, citing chloride contamination. The chief of Czech state strategic reserves yesterday tweeted, “Unipetrol has stopped taking oil from the Druzhba pipeline due to detected contamination by chlorides. Further tests of samples are underway”. Czech Industry and Trade Minister was earlier quoted informing about detecting an increased level of contamination in the Druzhba pipeline.

A senior executive of Transneft has informed about its affiliation with Belarus. The Russian pipeline monopoly with the help of Belarus will clean the contaminated Russian oil in the country. The Russian oil shipments are transported through Belarus to Poland and beyond. Further, he also said that if the plan works out successfully, Poland will receive clean oil on June 9-10.

An oil and gas pipeline welding company Pipeline Technique has been bought by a private-equity firm Blue Water Energy (BWE). BWE has bought this Huntly-headquartered company from Dutch business Heerema Marine Contractors (HMC). The exact value of the deal has been kept undisclosed. BWE informed that the management team of Pipeline Technique will be retained.

The industry group of Germany, MWV said that presently they are not facing any shortage of gasoline or diesel due to contaminated crude oil on Russia's Druzhba pipeline. But the company has warned of future challenges if improvements do not occur. Pertaining to the above reason, Russia temporarily stopped the oil flows last month which resulted in the rise in global prices.