Varanus Island gas explosion report slams Apache

US oil-and-gas giant Apache Energy has failed to block a scathing review of the Varanus Island gas explosion, which cut 30 per cent of Western Australia’s supply and cost the economy an estimated $3 billion. Apache claimed the explosion at its plant off WA’s North-West coast in June 2008 was “unforseen and unforeseeable”. But a [...]

$67 million requested for pipeline safety

Federal pipeline safety programs would get an extra $67 million and nearly 120 new employees under a proposal President Obama announced Monday that brought cheers from safety advocates pushing to address accidents and growing safety concerns. The request, part of the president’s $3.8 trillion plan, would almost double the number of enforcement agents nationwide, according [...]

Oil industry, under pressure, vows pipeline safety boost

U.S. and Canadian not-for-profit groups said on Tuesday that they’re conducting a “comprehensive” joint study to improve pipeline safety. The effort follows several notable accidents over the last two years, and comes as oil companies are pressing the Obama administration to approve a major pipeline linking Canadian oil sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries. In [...]

VP joins PG&E from firm with more pipeline leaks

The man Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has hired to fix its natural gas operations after the San Bruno explosion comes from a company that routinely suffers far more pipeline leaks than does PG&E. Nick Stavropoulos, who will join PG&E in June as executive vice president, used to head the U.S. gas operations of National [...]

Citizens Energy Group pipelines pass internal review mandated by feds

Citizens Energy Group said its gas pipelines have passed an internal review that federal regulators required of pipeline owners nationwide after a spectacular gas main explosion in Allentown, Pa., in February that killed five people. The National Transportation Safety Board had asked pipeline operators to take another look at inspection reports for potential problems such [...]

Enbridge Gas offers reassurances about pipeline going in

Enbridge Gas Distribution made a presentation to King council Monday about a 16-inch gas pipeline that’s being built along Lloydtown/Aurora Road. Ritch Murray, engineering project manager of Enbridge Gas Distribution was at Monday’s council meeting, trying to set people’s minds at ease. “Enbridge is committed to safety to the public, customers and the environment,” Murray [...]

Feds call on industry to repair aging pipelines

  ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Federal transportation officials demanded Monday that pipeline companies speed up efforts to repair and replace aging oil and gas lines, saying recent deadly explosions in Pennsylvania and California highlight the urgent need for safety improvements. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced plans to strengthen oversight of companies that operate a 2.5 million-mile [...]

Pipeline accidents prompt training

More than 500 emergency officials and excavators from four different counties were squeezed into one banquet hall Wednesday evening, all eager to take part in a pipeline safety training session. For most, this was not their first training session in pipeline safety. And, it will not be their last. The recent increase in pipeline accidents [...]

Enbridge restarts Line 6B oil pipeline

CALGARY – Repairs along Enbridge Inc.’s Line 6B have been completed, allowing volumes on the oil pipeline from the U.S. Midwest to Ontario to flow at pre-maintenance rates, the company said Friday. The 190,000 barrel per day capacity line, which ruptured last July spilling heavy oil into Michigan waterways, had been taken off-line Monday to [...]

Latest Pennsylvania Business

PIPELINE SAFETY Federal hearing in Pa. addresses gas pipelines KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. (AP) A utility executive says it’s possible a leak in a natural gas pipeline developed after an inspection that took place one day before an explosion that killed five people in Allentown last month. At a hearing on pipeline safety in King [...]