July Newsreel: Crosstex Selling Assets, Jicarilla Apache Make ROW Deal, Most Arctic Natural Gas in Russian Territory

Det Norske Veritas (DNV) has joined with Gassco to develop a new acoustic inspection method which allows the internal and external status of gas pipelines to be more accurately characterized. Measurements can now be made without reducing the gas flow, and the net effect is seen as a big improvement in the safety of gas pipelines along with substantially reduced inspection costs.

DNV said this solves a long-standing problem for the oil and gas industry which has previously had to reduce gas flows to check pipelines for possible maintenance requirements. Not only has that imposed considerable expense, but existing inspection methods have not been sufficiently reliable, DNV said. The new method can be used on land and offshore. Attaching a simple “necklace” to a standard cleaning pig will now make it possible to determine the condition through absolute measurements of the whole pipeline surface, said DNV.

Gassco has tested the new technology on one of its gas pipelines. It said that performance has been so good that Gassco and DNV have decided to establish a joint venture to commercialisz the solution.

“For us, this means that inspection and maintenance costs can be sharply reduced while enhancing quality of the inspections,” said Brian Bjordal, president/CEO of Gassco. “Now wall thickness can be measured much more exactly. This technological advance probably has a global market potential.”

ABS Gives Preliminary Approval To Second Offshore Gas To Liquids Concept

ABS has issued an Approval in Principle (AIP) for a second floating Gas to Liquids (GTL) concept and is reviewing several additional GTL concepts from leading energy operators. ABS provided its first AIP for a GTL concept (a floating production barge facility) in 2006. Since then, it has seen a steady increase in requests from designers for review and preliminary assessment of proprietary technologies. Currently there are no GTL plants offshore.

“The marine environment, dynamic loads, impact of sea motions and equipment congestion on the floating structures can be significant for GTL plants. The high temperature and explosion risk of GTL plants need special attention” said Harish Patel, Manager, Emerging Technologies, ABS.

Patel said the emerging trend is the use of small-scale, compact GTL plants offshore. By placing the GTL plant on an existing FPSO, associated gas that would have been flared or re-injected can be converted to a clean, low-sulfur petroleum product or blended into oil, transferred using conventional FPSO handling systems and shuttled ashore using readily available product tanker tonnage. The key is to test minimal-scale GTL plants onshore to verify technology and identify all potential risk. It is estimated more than one-third of global gas reserves are stranded by their location or field size.

First Phase Startup Of Anadarko-Woodford Shale Expansion

DCP Midstream, LLC announced startup of new facilities servicing Anadarko-Woodford Shale resource play development in Oklahoma's Blaine and Canadian counties. The installation of a new high-pressure booster, with associated gathering and discharge pipelines, is the first phase of DCP Midstream's continued development in central Oklahoma.