Alyeska, federal regulators reach settlement on January oil leak

The operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline has reached a settlement with federal regulators, who raised major safety concerns following a January oil leak at Pump Station 1. Alyeska Pipeline Service Co. signed the settlement, or “consent agreement,” with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The deal resolves the “notice of [...]

Indian oil pipelines under tight surveillance

INDIA: Oil companies in Kochi have upped their surveillance to monitor the pipelines which pass underground through the city carrying highly inflammable oil products. Apart from deploying foot patrol teams, the companies have roped in the support of local residents who live near the pipe lines to strengthen the monitoring activities. “Certain pipe lines are [...]

Pipeline Spills Put Safeguards Under Scrutiny

This summer, an Exxon Mobil pipeline carrying oil across Montana burst suddenly, soiling the swollen Yellowstone River with an estimated 42,000 gallons of crude just weeks after a company inspection and federal review had found nothing seriously wrong. Crews in July picked up booms to contain oil in the Kalamazoo River near Marshall, Mich. And in the [...]

Third North Slope oil spill in a week

Small oil spills on the North Slope are continuing to keep BP Alaska crews and state environmental officials busy this summer. The company has had to deal with three small spills in just the last week, events that appear to be related to maintenance and testing activities. BP Exploration Alaska spokesman Steve Rinehart said Monday [...]

Oil spill brings calls for scrutiny of small lines

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A northwestern Montana oil spill that went unreported for a month has led to calls for increased scrutiny over the thousands of small flow pipelines within the nation’s oil and gas fields. Flow lines are completely contained within the fields and pipe unprocessed oil, gas and water from wells to holding tanks [...]

Montana governor reviewing oil, gas pipeline safety

Earlier this week Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer  said authorities will review safety of all oil and gas pipelines that cross waterways in the state and close those that did not meet standards. “We’ll make the decision over the next couple of days whether to shut off some pipelines,” Schweitzer told Reuters in a telephone interview. “The last [...]

BP Ducks Investor Suit for Prudhoe Bay Spill

(CN) – The 9th Circuit on Wednesday dismissed a securities-fraud complaint against BP Exploration related to the oil company’s 2007 conviction for negligently discharging oil into Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay. This decision from the federal appeals court in Seattle unanimously reverses a federal judge’s finding that BP’s contractual filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission [...]

Regulators Concerned About Canadian Oil Corroding U.S. Pipelines

U.S. regulators express concern that diluted bitumen from Canadian oil sands may be corrosive to pipelines and risk should be assessed. The United States is benefiting greatly from the Canadian oil sands, providing abundant fuel from a friendly neighbor to the north, thus reducing dependence on foreign oil from nations with a less-friendly attitude toward [...]

Rainbow Pipeline outage extended to end of June

Plains Midstream continues integrity work on oil line in northern Alberta Follow-up article from a recent MATCOR Blog Posting: A pipeline which caused the largest oil spill in Alberta since the 1980s likely will remain out of service until the end of June, said operator Plains All American Pipeline. The parent of operator Plains Midstream [...]

TransCanada reopens Keystone oil pipeline

There were no concerns about the integrity of the 1,300-mile Keystone oil  pipeline following a May 29 spill in Kansas, the U.S. government said. Canadian pipeline company TransCanada restarted the Keystone oil pipeline  during the weekend. The Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous  Materials Safety Administration issued a corrective action prohibiting a restart  last week [...]