Pipeline Companies Research Articles

Gathering and Transporting Marcellus and Utica Shale Natural Gas to the Market and the Regulation of Midstream Pipeline Companies - The Case for a Uniform Federal and State Definition of "Gathering" in the Context of Economic and Siting Regulation

Much has been written about the major natural gas reserves in the Marcellus and even Utica Shale formations located in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. But much of the focus has been on the law and regulation around producing the gas-drilling and getting it out of the ground. Related, but serving a very different function, is the role of pipeline companies in their various business models to transport that gas to market. This is a different and equally robust and growing segment of the natural gas industry where large amounts of shale exploration take place. In fact, without pipelines and regulatory certainty for those constructing pipelines, natural gas has no value as it cannot be transported to the market place in any practical manner without pipelines. When planning to construct or acquire natural gas pipelines, a major question to consider is, "Will the pipelines be regulated?" For purposes of this Article, "regulated" refers to regulation of the siting and construction of pipeline facilities as well as economic regulation of the prices (or rates) charged and the terms and conditions (or tariffs) for services offered to customers (or shippers) transporting on those pipelines. Depending upon the physical configuration of the pipelines, the manner in which they are used to transport natural gas, and the type of customer transporting the gas on the pipeline, the correct answer could be (1) no regulation, (2) regulation by a state or commonwealth public service or utility commission, or (3) possible regulation by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC"). Moreo- ver, with respect to state or commonwealth regulation, as one might imagine, the extent of that regulation varies by state or commonwealth.

Improving the flow in pipelines by Cocos nucifera fiber waste

In this study, fiber performance as drag reducing agent in aqueous media flow in pipeline was investigated. Use of fiber from the Cocos nucifera (coconut) to reduce friction in pipe flow is a new invention in the fluid transport technology. The use of coconut fiber in liquid pipelines can reduce operating costs which can have a significant impact on the revenue and profit of the pipeline company. An experiment facility with three different pipe diameters (0.0127, 0.0254 and 0.0381 m, respectively) was built in order to investigate the performance of these fiber suspensions as drag reducing agent (DRA). The dependence of drag reduction on various factors including fiber concentration, pipe length, pipe diameter and solution flow rate is investigated. Rheological test were investigated and conducted using programmable rheometer. It was observed that a small amount of fiber in suspension causes drag reduction in pipeline. The percent drag reduction (%DR) is calculated using the obtained experimental data in presence of the DRA. The results showed that percentage drag reduction increases by increasing the coconut fiber concentration and increasing flow rate. Adding the coconut fiber to the water, percentage drag reduction in pipeline can reach up to 56%. Key words: Coconut fiber, drag reduction, turbulent, concentration, friction.

Early Public Impressions of Terrestrial Carbon Capture and Storage in a Coal-Intensive State

While carbon capture and storage (CCS) is considered to be critical to achieving long-term climate-protection goals, public concerns about the CCS practice could pose significant obstacles to its deployment. This study reports findings from the first state-wide survey of public perceptions of CCS in a coal-intensive state, with an analysis of which factors predict early attitudes toward CCS. Nearly three-quarters of an Indiana sample (N = 1001) agree that storing carbon underground is a good approach to protecting the environment, despite 80% of the sample being unaware of CCS prior to participation in the two-wave survey. The majority of respondents do not hold strong opinions about CCS technology. Multivariate analyses indicate that support for CCS is predicted by a belief that humankind contributes to climate change, a preference for increased use of renewable energy, and egalitarian and individualistic worldviews, while opposition to CCS is predicted by self-identified political conservatism and by selective attitudes regarding energy and climate change. Knowledge about early impressions of CCS can help inform near-term technology decisions at state regulatory agencies, utilities, and pipeline companies, but follow-up surveys are necessary to assess how public sentiments evolve in response to image-building efforts with different positions on coal and CCS.

Risk analysis for oil & gas pipelines: A sustainability assessment approach using fuzzy based bow-tie analysis

Vast amounts of oil & gas (O&G) are consumed around the world everyday that are mainly transported and distributed through pipelines. Only in Canada, the total length of O&G pipelines is approximately 100,000 km, which is the third largest in the world. Integrity of these pipelines is of primary interest to O&G companies, consultants, governmental agencies, consumers and other stakeholder due to adverse consequences and heavy financial losses in case of system failure. Fault tree analysis (FTA) and event tree analysis (ETA) are two graphical techniques used to perform risk analysis, where FTA represents causes (likelihood) and ETA represents consequences of a failure event. ‘Bow-tie’ is an approach that integrates a fault tree (on the left side) and an event tree (on the right side) to represent causes, threat (hazards) and consequences in a common platform. Traditional ‘bow-tie’ approach is not able to characterize model uncertainty that arises due to assumption of independence among different risk events. In this paper, in order to deal with vagueness of the data, the fuzzy logic is employed to derive fuzzy probabilities (likelihood) of basic events in fault tree and to estimate fuzzy probabilities (likelihood) of output event consequences. The study also explores how interdependencies among various factors might influence analysis results and introduces fuzzy utility value (FUV) to perform risk assessment for natural gas pipelines using triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability criteria, namely, social, environmental and economical consequences. The present study aims to help owners of transmission and distribution pipeline companies in risk management and decision-making to consider multi-dimensional consequences that may arise from pipeline failures. The research results can help professionals to decide whether and where to take preventive or corrective actions and help informed decision-making in the risk management process. A simple example is used to demonstrate the proposed approach.

English

Lack of adequate topsoil depth and perception of lost soil fertility on pipeline construction rights-of-way are major concerns for landowners and can become extensive post-construction costs for pipeline companies. Reduction in crop productivity can occur in agricultural fields after pipeline construction due to numerous factors including compaction, drainage, and changes in surface soil characteristics. Significant changes in soil texture and/or organic matter content can change cation exchange capacity (CEC) and water holding capacity of the soil. Reduced CEC, as well as low soil fertility levels, can reduce the crops ability to withstand environmental stress, therefore reducing crop yield. Topsoil stockpiled and replaced on the construction right-of-way (ROW) of a 42-inch (107 cm) natural gas pipeline through Kansas and Missouri was evaluated and compared to the topsoil adjacent to the ROW. Soils were evaluated on and off the ROW to compare topsoil depths, soil fertility, texture and other agronomic factors. Varying amounts of topsoil loss were found at a majority of sample sites. Differences between the on-ROW and off-ROW values for the other soil parameters tested were not significant. The lack of significant change in tested parameters on-ROW, compared to the undisturbed topsoil off-ROW indicate no loss of crop yield potential would be expected due to the reduction in topsoil depth.

Method Study on Reducing the City Gas Winter Summer Peak Valley Dissimilarity

A marketing strategy of interruptible gas consumers is proposed on analyzing situation of the supply and users structure at one northern city in China. The serious problem in gas distribution companies is the increasing peak and valley rate, which is becoming more lethal one while the upstream pipeline companies change the gas price from one step to two steps. This paper finds a comparable good solution to promote dual-fuel burner on gas consumer market, building an interruptible part in demand side which is a better way that can make the gas company to accommodate the balance between supply and demand more effectively. The technical feasibility and some foreign gas company experience related to this sector are also discussed.

Slaying the CVD dragon with steroids: Figure 1–

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are a big problem worldwide, accounting for 29% of all deaths and over 16 million deaths annually 1. Ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and stroke are by far the most important contributors to total CVD mortality, responsible for 43% (7.2 million) and 33% (5.5 million) of all CVD deaths, respectively. At the heart of IHD and stroke is atherosclerosis, characterised by foamy macrophages, cholesterol crystals, smooth muscle proliferation and endothelial dysfunction 2. The three leading modifiable risk factors for atherosclerosis are hyperlipidaemia, hypertension and tobacco smoking, accounting for 50–75% of total population attributable risk for CVD mortality 3. By targeting and treating these risk factors, tremendous improvements in health outcomes from IHD and stroke have been achieved over the past 30 yrs, largely owing to population-based reductions in blood pressure, cholesterol, saturated fat intake and cigarette smoking. However, recent disappointing results of torcetrapib (which dramatically raised high-density lipoprotein cholesterol) 4, combination therapy with fenofibrate and simvastatin (which reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) 5 and renin–angiotensin system blockers (which reduced blood pressure) 6, 7 for the attenuation of cardiovascular events beyond standard therapy have been sobering; these findings have suggested that we may have reached the limits of risk reduction with these interventions, and raise an urgent call to find novel pathways and targets to further fight the large burden of IHD and stroke worldwide. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of promising compounds in the pipeline and many large pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, have abandoned CVD drug development altogether, after a decade of repeated failures 8. The report in this issue of European Respiratory Journal by Otsuki et al. 9, showing that inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are associated with reduced atherosclerosis in patients with asthma, is welcome news for patients with CVD. In this …

On the Pricing of Natural Gas Pipeline Capacity

Pipelines play a critical role in matching the supply and demand of natural gas. The pricing of their capacity is an important problem in practice for pipeline companies and the users of this capacity, which include shippers such as natural gas merchants, producers, and local distribution companies. This paper conducts a normative analysis of how pipeline capacity should be priced by each of these players. Although the trading value of this capacity should be relevant to merchants and its substitution and congestion values to shippers and pipelines, respectively, this analysis shows that all of these are equivalent values. Thus pipeline capacity should be priced at its trading value, a prediction that can be empirically investigated. This paper also conducts an empirical analysis of this prediction based on transacted prices of transport contracts for the capacity of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, a major interstate pipeline in the United States, and finds support for it. This analysis suggests that the uncertainty in the evolution of natural gas prices is an important driver of operational performance in the pricing of pipeline capacity. The results of this paper have potential relevance for the pricing of the capacity of other commodity conversion assets.

An MILP-based formulation for minimizing pumping energy costs of oil pipelines: beneficial to both the environment and pipeline companies

Optimal scheduling of pumps operation in fluid distribution networks (e.g., oil or water) is an important optimization problem. This is due to the fact that the dollar cost and also global carbon footprints of such a major transportation are in mega scales. For example, one of our industrial partners, a Canadian oil pipeline operator, spent more than $18.11 million dollars in 2008 for pumping costs. According to our calculations, this would lead to up to 182,460 tons of CO2 emissions annually. Therefore, even slight improvements in operation of a pipeline system can lead to considerable savings in costs and also reducing carbon footprints emitted to the environment (by introducing air pollutions needed to generate those huge amounts of electricity). In this paper, a methodology for determining optimal pump operation schedule for a fluid distribution pipeline system with multi-tariff electricity supply is presented. The optimization problem at hand is a complex task as it includes the extended period hydraulic model represented by algebraic equations as well as mixed-integer decision variables. Obtaining a strictly optimal solution involves excessive computational effort; however, a near optimal solution can be found at significantly reduced effort using heuristic simplifications. The problem is efficiently formulated in this paper based on Mixed-Integer Linear Programming. The proposed model is evaluated on a typical oil pipeline network. The numerical results indicate the effectiveness and computationally efficient performance of the proposed formulation.

TRASH OR TREASURE?: Putting Coal Combustion Waste to Work

Even as public debate rages over the question of whether coal should continue to provide the majority of U.S. electric power needs, the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicts in International Energy Outlook 2009 that, absent new policies to the contrary, the United States—along with China and India—is expected to account for 88% of the projected net increase in coal consumption between 2006 and 2030. Meanwhile, coal combustion waste (CCW)—the noncombustible remains from coal burning—continues to pile up at the rate of about 131 million tons per year in the United States alone, and electric utilities are looking to recycle a larger proportion of this material.

Eminent Domain Power Granted to Private Pipeline Companies Meets With Greater Resistance From Property Owners in Urban Rather Than Rural Areas

Heightened drilling activity and pipeline construction in the more densely urbanized parts of the City of Fort Worth has exposed an increasing number of citizens to the condemnation process. Affected citizens have banded together to educate themselves on the eminent domain authority of private entities and have increasingly voiced their opposition to certain condemnation practices by pipeline companies. Pipeline companies have faced heightened resistance from urban citizens to acquiesce to their threats of condemnation. This paper outlines the major issues landowners face in condemnation and addresses legislation and other changes to the legal landscape of condemnation in Texas.

Questar Corp.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: SIC: 1311 NAIC: 211111)Questar is a natural gas‐focused energy company with five major lines of business: gas and oil exploration and production; midstream field services; energy marketing; interstate gas transportation; and retail gas distribution. Co.'s operations are conducted through its Questar Market Resources, Inc., which acquires, explores for, develops and produces natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids, and provides midstream field services including natural gas‐gathering and processing services; Questar Pipeline Company, which provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services; and Questar Gas Company, which provides retail natural gas distribution services in Utah, WY and Idaho.

Individual risk analysis of high-pressure natural gas pipelines

Transmission pipelines carrying natural gas are not typically within secure industrial sites, but are routed across land out of the ownership of the pipeline company. If the natural gas is accidentally released and ignited, the hazard distance associated with these pipelines to people and property is known to range from under 20 m for a smaller pipeline at lower pressure to up to over 300 m for a larger pipeline at higher pressure. Therefore, pipeline operators and regulators must address the associated public safety issues. This paper focuses on a method to explicitly calculate the individual risk of a transmission pipeline carrying natural gas. The method is based on reasonable accident scenarios for route planning related to the pipeline's proximity to the surrounding buildings. The minimum proximity distances between the pipeline and buildings are based on the rupture of the pipeline, with the distances chosen to correspond to a radiation level of approximately 32 kW/m 2. In the design criteria for steel pipelines for high-pressure gas transmission (IGE/TD/1), the minimum building proximity distances for rural areas are located between individual risk values of 10 −5 and 10 −6. Therefore, the risk from a natural gas transmission pipeline is low compared with risk at the building separated minimum distance from chemical industries.

Questar Corp.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: SIC: 1311 NAIC: 211111)Questar is a natural gas‐focused energy company with five major lines of business: gas and oil exploration and production; midstream field services; energy marketing; interstate gas transportation; and retail gas distribution. Co.'s operations are conducted through its Questar Market Resources, Inc., which acquires, explores for, develops and produces natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids, and provides midstream field services including natural gas‐gathering and processing services; Questar Pipeline Company, which provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services; and Questar Gas Company, which provides retail natural gas distribution services in Utah, WY and Idaho.

TEPPCO Partners, L.P.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: 14.2 SIC: 4922 NAIC: 486210)TEPPCO Partners is engaged as a common carrier pipeline of refined products and liquefied petroleum gases in the U.S. Co.'s downstream segment includes transportation, marketing and storage of refined products, liquefied petroleum gases and petrochemicals. The upstream segment includes gathering, transportation, marketing, and storage of crude oil, and distribution of lubrication oils and specialty chemicals. The midstream segment includes natural gas gathering services, fractionation of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and transportation of NGLs. Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, LLC serves as Co.'s general partner and owns a 2.0% general partner interest in Co.

Questar Corp.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: 14.2 SIC: 1311 NAIC: 211111)Questar is a natural gas‐focused energy company with five major lines of business: gas and oil exploration and production; midstream field services; energy marketing; interstate gas transportation; and retail gas distribution. Co.'s operations are conducted through its Questar Market Resources, Inc., which acquires, explores for, develops and produces natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids, and provides midstream field services including natural gas‐gathering and processing services; Questar Pipeline Company, which provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services; and Questar Gas Company, which provides retail natural gas distribution services in Utah, WY and Idaho.

Questar Corp.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: 14.2 SIC: 1311 NAIC: 211111)Questar is a holding company. Co. is a natural gas‐focused energy company with four major lines of business: gas and oil exploration and production; midstream field services; interstate gas transportation; and retail gas distribution. Co.'s operations are are conducted through its three subsidiaries: Questar Market Resources, Inc., which acquires, explores for, develops and produces natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids, and provides midstream field services including natural gas‐gathering and processing services; Questar Pipeline Company, which provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services; and Questar Gas Company, which provides retail natural gas distribution.

TEPPCO Partners, L.P.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: 14.2 SIC: 5171 NAIC: 424710)TEPPCO Partners is engaged in the common carrier pipelines of refined products and liquefied petroleum gases in the U.S. Co.'s downstream segment includes transportation, marketing and storage of refined products, liquefied petroleum gases and petrochemicals. The upstream segment includes gathering, transportation, marketing, and storage of crude oil, and distribution of lubrication oils and specialty chemicals. The midstream segment includes natural gas gathering services, fractionation of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and transportation of NGLs. Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, LLC serves as Co.'s general partner and owns a 2.0% general partner interest in Co.

TEPPCO Partners, L.P.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: 14.2 SIC: 5171 NAIC: 424710)TEPPCO Partners engages in common carrier pipelines of refined products and liquefied petroleum gases in the U.S. Co. operates in three segments. The downstream segment includes transportation, marketing and storage of refined products, liquefied petroleum gases and petrochemicals. The upstream segment includes gathering, transportation, marketing, and storage of crude oil, and distribution of lubrication oils and specialty chemicals. The midstream segment includes natural gas gathering services, fractionation of natural gas liquids (NGLs) and transportation of NGLs. Texas Eastern Products Pipeline Company, LLC serves as Co.'s general partner and owns a 2.0% general partner interest in Co.

Questar Corp.

AbstractOil and Gas (MIC: 14.2 SIC: 1311 NAIC: 221210)Questar is a holding company. Co. is a natural gas‐focused energy company with four major lines of business: gas and oil exploration and production; midstream field services; interstate gas transportation; and retail gas distribution. Co.'s operations are are conducted through its three subsidiaries: Questar Market Resources, Inc., which acquires, explores for, develops and produces natural gas, oil and natural gas liquids, and provides midstream field services including natural gas‐gathering and processing services; Questar Pipeline Company, which provides interstate natural gas transportation and storage services; and Questar Gas Company, which provides retail natural gas distribution.