Analysis: Oil and gas pipeline watch

By Ben Lando
UPI Energy Editor - Jan. 14, 2008

Original URL

Lentransgaz pipeline break won't harm supply

The head of the Lentransgaz distribution company said an early Sunday pipeline break in the Leningrad region won't be noticed by consumers.

"Gas shipments to consumers are not at risk," General Director Sergei Fursenko told Interfax. "The gas pipeline has a reliable reserve and gas has been channeled into a reserve pipeline."

Fursenko said there has been no cause of the break established, but said everything is "normal for such accidents."

The Emergency Situations Ministry's Main Department for the Leningrad Region said a fire was started by the 9 a.m. Sunday break but was contained by 11:30 a.m.

"The damaged stretch of the pipeline has been disconnected from the gas supply system and gas is being burnt out," the department said.

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TransCanada gets pipeline nod from S.D. county

The commission of South Dakota's Hutchinson County unanimously backed TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline.

The Argus Leader reports commissioners called TransCanada "a positive corporate neighbor, a good steward of the land and a positive contributor of the economy of South Dakota."

About 220 miles, or 10 percent of the pipeline sending oil from Alberta, Canada to Illinois and Oklahoma refineries would be in South Dakota.

Following a U.S. government OK last week on its "limited" environmental impact, TransCanada President and Chief Executive Officer Hal Kyisle said construction will be begin in the second quarter of 2008 and the pipeline would come online by the end of next year.

The $5.2 billion pipeline is expected to have a capacity of 435,000 barrels per day.

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Midwestern, AGIP reach Umasadege field deal

AGIP, a subsidiary of Italy's Eni, was awarded a crude handling deal for oil produced from the Umasadege field in Nigeria.

Mart Resources Inc., Midwestern Oil and Gas Company and Suntrust Oil Company Nigeria Ltd. Announced the deal Monday.

AGIP's Kwale flowstation, southwest of Umasadege, will receive oil from it and adjacent fields. It will then head to the Brass River export terminal and onto tankers, according to a company statement.

Construction continues in the field, with storage tanks and the export pipeline receiving the early production equipment with the rest to be connected to wells and the production facilities.

More drilling remains to be done and government permits have been applied for while the company says production will "commence in the near term."

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Kenya-Uganda oil pipeline work starts May

Ugandan Presdient Yoweri Museveni said contracts have been awarded for the pipeline and work will begin in May, the Tripoli Post reports.

The first phase of the pipeline will send oil 211 miles from Eldoret, Kenya, to Kampala, Uganda. That will cost $110 million.

An extension will connect to Kigali, Rwanda, and Bujumbura, Burundi.

This comes as Uganda faces fuel shortages and wants to stop relying on truck and train transports of oil products.

Violence following elections in Kenya has hurt exports of products to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Congo, with no other route to move the fuel.

Museveni said he's arranged security for the tankers but prices are doubling and sparking related increased costs for food and other commodities.

Uganda has also contracted Tullow Oil to build a refinery near Lake Albert, which will produce heavy fuel oil, kerosene and diesel, initially, and then transportation fuels later.

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Rockies Express pipeline opens, extends in February

Five hundred miles of natural gas pipeline is now online from northern Colorado's Weld County to Brown County in Kansas.

The Rockies Express Pipeline company said Monday the Jan. 12 activiation is the first step in sending 1.8 billion cubic feet of gas from Colorado to Ohio each day.

The pipeline will be completed by June next year, the Denver Business Journal reports.

Next month another 213 miles will open, reaching Audrain County in Missouri.

When its completed, Kinder Morgan Energy Partners will operate the pipeline and own 50 percent of it; Sempra Pipelines & Storage and ConocoPhillips will each own 25 percent.

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