Page 8 - NorthAmOil Week 46 2021

NorthAmOil PIPELINES & TRANSPORT NorthAmOil

Flooding disrupts Western

Canadian pipelines

WESTERN HEAVY rain and flooding disrupted oil and Enbridge operates the main natural gas pipeline
CANADA gas pipeline operations in Western Canada this system linking production in Northeastern BC
week. with the Lower Mainland.
On November 14, the government-owned As of November 18, the company was limit-
company operating the Trans Mountain oil and ing shipments on the pipeline as it continued to
refined product pipeline from Alberta to the test the stability of the pipeline in areas affected
British Columbia coast temporarily suspended by the flooding.
service on the project as a precautionary meas- “We are continuing to monitor and assess.
ure. The company cited widespread flooding and Given adverse conditions and the effort required,
debris near Hope, BC. Work on the Trans Moun- that work may take several days,” an Enbridge
tain expansion project was also suspended. spokesperson, Jesse Semko, was quoted by the
The pipeline supplies around 90% of the Globe and Mail as saying.
fuel consumed in BC’s Lower Mainland. As of Flows on the affected T-South segment were
November 18, no timeline had been announced down to 1.4bn cubic feet (39.6mn cubic metres)
for Trans Mountain’s restart, with the company per day, down from a seasonal average of 1.5-1.8
continuing to assess the condition of the pipe- bcf (42.5-51.0 mcm) per day. Natural gas prices
line. The company’s Puget Sound pipeline, which surged in the Lower Mainland as a result of the
branches off Trans Mountain and supplies refin- disruptions to supply.
eries in Washington State on the other side of the “As long as they can confirm there’s been no
Canada-US border, also remained closed. land movement around the pipe itself, or there’s
Separately, Enbridge said on November 16 no damage to the pipe, I suspect this will all be
that heavy rains in the Lower Mainland had back up in, certainly, less than a week,” an RBN
forced it to shut a segment of its T-South nat- Energy analyst, Martin King, was quoted by the
ural gas pipeline as a precautionary measure. Globe and Mail as saying.™

Double E pipeline enters service

PERMIAN BASIN SUMMIT Midstream Partners announced under 10-year take-or-pay commitments, with
on November 18 that its Double E natural gas XTO accounting for 750mn cubic feet (21.2
pipeline, which serves the Permian Basin, had mcm) per day of this.
entered service. Summit’s president, chairman and CEO,
Double E has a capacity of 1.35bn cubic feet Heath Deneke, said the pipeline provides a gas
(38.2mn cubic metres) per day and will carry transportation option to shippers in a capaci-
gas over a distance of 135 miles (217 km) to the ty-constrained region of New Mexico, where 80
Waha Hub in Texas. The pipeline is expected to rigs are currently operating. This is up from 45
receive gas from at least seven processing facil- rigs in the third quarter of 2020, he noted.
ities, six of which are located in New Mexico’s “Our investment in Double E drives a tre-
portion of the Permian. It has potential to serve mendous amount of value uplift for the partner-
more facilities, as it is located close to 20-25 other ship going forward, and we are excited to bring
processing plants. this critical residue gas outlet online to debot-
Gas shipped on Double E to the Waha Hub tleneck growing natural gas production in the
can be sent on out of the basin via a number of northern Delaware Basin,” Deneke said.
other pipelines, including Kinder Morgan’s Gulf Gas production in the Permian tends to be a
Coast Express and Permian Highway pipelines by-product of drilling for oil, but with gas prices
to East Texas and the Trans Pecos Pipeline to the and demand rising, producers will be keen to
Texas-Mexico border. monetise it. The Permian benefits from being in
Summit operates Double E with a 70% inter- close proximity to the US Gulf Coast, where gas
est, while ExxonMobil’s shale subsidiary, XTO demand comes from petrochemical plants and
Energy, owns the remaining 30%. The majority LNG export terminals, and is on the rise as new
of the pipeline’s capacity is already contracted liquefaction capacity comes online.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 46 18•November•2021