March Newsreel: Boomerang Tube Funds Texas Plant; Oil & Gas Execs Predict More 2010 Employment and more

Texas Gas Plans Mississippi Pipeline Compressor Station Rejuvenation
GE Oil & Gas has replaced-in-kind a gas turbine at a Texas Gas Transmission, LLC pipeline compression station in Mississippi, using advanced technology designed to revitalize and recover performance with improved efficiency.

Commissioned in 1969, the original GE Frame 32H gas turbine had operated at the Lake Cormorant compression station for more than 200,000 hours due to a program of repair and maintenance. However, the next scheduled outage brought an unknown repair scope due to end of life issues for turbine discs, buckets and other hot gas path components.

When the company decided to make a long-term investment that would revitalize the original package, Texas Gas hired GE to upgrade the technology in a project valued at more than $4 million, designed to leverage technologies from GE’s advanced fleet of Frame 5, 6 and 7 gas turbines.

GE incorporated new design features into a newly manufactured replacement Frame 32J machine for the Lake Cormorant station, increasing efficiency by 2%. The new unit is in full-speed, full-load operation and Texas Gas has ordered a second unit, scheduled for October delivery.

Bill Nunn, manager compression support, Texas Gas said: “Knowing that several of the hot gas path components were reaching the end of their design life, we began evaluating our options to restore the existing unit to its original performance.”

Union Pacific’s Pipeline Express Sets Milestone
Union Pacific Railroad’s Pipeline Express service set a milestone in delivering its 25,000th rail car of customer product. Formed in 2005, Pipeline Express has grown from moving 1,700 rail cars in its first year to nearly 8,000 for its customers through year-end 2008.

Pipeline Express says it serves the steel pipeline industry for oil and gas producers with truck-competitive transit times and a rail network that aligns well geographically with new pipeline projects.

“By offering the best value proposition to the natural gas industry, Union Pacific has emerged as the clear transportation choice,” said Greg Shimonek, senior business director for the railroad’s Pipeline Express service. “Our carloads tell the story.”

Natural gas reserves are expected to grow 39% from 2007 levels by the end of 2009, according to the Energy Information Administration. Having invested nearly $17 billion in its rail network since 2005, Union Pacific said it is ready to serve that growth.

“We have the industry’s largest fleet of 89-foot flat cars capable of hauling 100 tons of pipe,” Shimonek said. “That’s greater than 40% more capacity in terms of weight than most of the cars our competitors offer.”

Union Pacific said it can carry 9-11 pipes on a single rail car compared with 7-8 for other rail carriers and just two per truck.

New Factors Impacting LNG Imports
Ziff Energy released a new report examining global LNG supply availability for North America to 2020. As global gas demand recovers and new liquefaction projects are delayed, Ziff Energy expects a potential shortfall in LNG supply commencing in 2014, which will put upward pressure on global gas prices.