Pipeline News Round Up 6/29/13

Pipeline News Round Up 6/29/13

News of the Week

- Pipeline Corrosion problems caused by bad CP design.  Not enough coverage.  Not enough test stations.  Not enough contact with pipe.  No mention of where the coating failure was, but they do mention that 5 “dents” were found which would certainly lead me to believe there was some kind of major trauma inflicted here (during construction, from nearby construction after the line was in service, or something like that).  (read more here)

- Enbridge pipeline shutdowns cost the company $952,000.00 per day!   

This does not include potential lawsuits – or clean up costs.

(read more here)

- Trading error leads to Interpipe shares dropping 35% within minutes. 

(read more here) 

- Report released that knocks down some of the Keystone Pipeline opponents arguments?

(read more here)

- PG&E uses cutting edge inspection pig to improve pipeline safety.

(read more here)

Weekly Pipeline News Round Up

•      Enbridge 450 mile pipeline built in 1949, this particular section in Oologah Lake (Oklahoma) being inspected as repairs are expected to be needed.  Apparently this is particularly sensitive as this lake supplies many in the area with their drinking water.  Last year during routine testing, a single 40 foot section of pipe was determined to have an ‘anomoly’.  I find this remarkable.  This pipeline is 64 years old.  No indication is given in the article what the factory applied or field joint coating is (but being 64 years old; it is almost certainly nothing that is currently being used) and there is concern about one specific segment of pipe.  My guess (I stress “GUESS”) would be that such a thing must be a result of physical damage – an anchor – a some kind of debris dropped on it  - something like that.  In any case – I wish they’d publicize what the coatings are since 64 years and 1 problem (almost certainly caused by an outside source) is a pretty remarkable track record!  (read more)

•       Another Canadian Gas Line rupture??  What in the world is going on up there? (early reports are that this was likely caused by catastrophic flooding.  (read more)
  

•       Constitution Pipeline files FERC.  196km, 30” pipeline to be in service by 2015 in the NE USA.  (read more)

•       Major Pipeline explosion in Louisiana.  Early reports say it is part of the Florida Gas Transmission line.  No injuries were reported.  No explanation in the articles I’ve read about a possible cause….(read more)

•       Au Canada.  Third spill in three weeks (Plains this time).  6” line; no explanation of how/why.  (read more)

Heat Shrink Sleeve Distributor

    

655 Trade Center Parkway, Conroe, TX 77385

     Joint Specialists is a Master Distributor for Covalence (formerly Raychem) heat shrinkable products.  We are also an Elite Distributor for Raychem heat shrinkable products (part of Tyco Electronics).  With a 20,000 square foot warehouse we are able to meet customer demands more most projects.  In addition, we ship most of our orders same day.

     I could not even tell you how many times a customer has contacted us saying "I've been searching for these heat shrink sleeves for days!  Thank goodness I finally found someone who knows what they're talking about!"  We've been doing this a long time.  Buying the correct shrink sleeves for your application (and to meet the specification you are working from) doesn't have to be a difficult, frustrating process.  We can make it painless.  Give us a call.

    

A listing of just a few of the products that we keep stocked and ready to go:

WPCT shrink sleeves

DIRAX shrink sleeves

WPC100M shrink sleeves

HTLP60 shrink sleeves

TPS shrink tubes

WPC120 shrink sleeves

Flexclad shrink tape

CPSM shrink tubing

Caseal shrink sleeves

Flangeseal shrink sleeves

...and many others.

Pipeline News Summary - June 2013

 Pipeline News

A summary of some of the stories that caught the attention of journalists this week:

• Russia hits Chinese pipe manufacturers with a 19.5% tariff to battle pipe dumping and price erosion (read more).

• The FREEDOM Pipeline is no more as Kinder Morgan pulls the plug on this proposed 2 billion dollar project.  Customers preferred the rail system over pipelines to transport oil (read more).

• Piedmont completes its $500 million, 128 miles pipeline after two years of work (read more). 

• For the second time in two months; Ecuador (PetroEcuador) loses a pipeline to avalanche (read more).

•  Man sentenced to 22 years for trying to blow up an Atmos Energy pipeline in Dallas, TX with a homemade explosive device (read more).

• Board determines that 2012 pipeline explosion in British Colombia last year was not caused by corrosion or external damage - but was instead caused by a pre-existing flaw in the pipe (read more).

• BC government unwilling to approve Enbridge Northern Gateway Project...yet (read more).

•  

Pipeline News Round-Up 5/29/13

Here are a few of the interesting pipeline stories that were floating around the interwebs this week: 

• Here is an interesting article titled 5 reasons we don't need more oil pipelines.  I would have to give this article a grade of 20%; as personally, I only agree with 1 of the 5 points.  For brevity sake, I will only address 3 of the points. 
• The author states that the pipeline will only create "35 full-time, permanent jobs."  Is any job every truly permanent??  Even in her own conservative estimate (siting a study) she says the Keystone pipeline will "create between 2,500 and 4,650 temporary jobs to build the pipeline, each of which will last approximately two years."  Is that something to scoff at??  4000 people who are currently unemployed would love the opportunity to work for the next two years!!
• The author states that "there will be spills..."  She has even found a study performed by a PHD in which he estimates that the Keystone Pipeline will result in "91 major spills over the 50 year life of the pipeline."  This seems crazy to me.  Let me apply that same logic to highways in Texas.  There are ~300,000 miles of road in Texas (source) and in 2010 there were 3028 traffic fatalities (source).  This means there was a traffic fatality for every 99 miles of road.  So, using the logic presented here; a proposed new 495 mile road will result in 250 deaths over the course of the 50 years of that road's proposed life; so we shouldn't build it.  Doesn't it make more sense to consider evaluating auto safety levels; speed limits; law enforcement; DWI awareness; etc to try and stop the deaths.  In the same vein, wouldn't it make more sense to evaluate Pipeline Integrity Standards and Pipeline Construction Quality as the means of reducing pipeline failures?
• Lastly, I would like to comment on her point that a Canadian company is (allegedly) attempting to abuse Eminent Domain by taking the land of Midwest farmers.  This is a significant problem - and in all honesty I would love to see some journalists focused exclusively on this issue.

• NACE International has released a free mobile app with tools available to members and non members alike.  Read more info here. 

• Alabama officials to meet about a proposed 3 billion dollar; 465 mile natural gas pipeline through the southeast USA.   Read more here.

• Get used to reading about Bridge corrosion in the news.  Though this has been an often talked about concern for decades, it will certainly be a high profile issue for months ahead.  Apparently, corrosion on the Bay Bridge was ignored for 9 years before the most recent March incident.  Read more here.

• Are Vietnamese Steel Manufacturers Dumping Steel Into the US Market?  Read more info here. 

As a side note:  Joint Specialists has developed a few new websites in an effort to better educate the public about our products:

Two Part Epoxies for Pipeline Coatings (www.2partepoxies.com)
A very general overview of Field Joint Coatings (www.field jointcoatings.com)
A site dedicated to Raychems WCSM tubing (www.wcsmtubing.com)
A general overview of Pipeline Coating Supply (www.pipelinecoatingsupply.com)
A general overview of Pipe Coating Supply (www.pipecoatingsupply.com)
A page committed to Raychem Heat Shrink (www.raychemheatshrink.com)
A page committed to Raychem Pipe Coatings (www.raychempipecoatings.com)
A page committed to Raychem Shrink Sleeves (www.raychemshrinksleeves.com)
A Page committed to Raychem Distributors (www.raychemdistributor.com)

JSICoatings.com (aka heatshrinksleeves.com) is LIVE

     Our new web site has gone live!  Next step is to relocate this blog to heatshrinksleeves.com

     I do believe this new website is faster, more user friendly and ultimately will be a better vehicle for teaching our customers about Covalence shrink sleeves and other products with which we are involved.  If you haven't yet seen it; go on over and check the site.  Any feedback you'd like to leave would be greatly appreciated!!

Joint Specialists' New Website is live!

Covalence: Seal for Life

     In June of last year, Berry CPG merged with Dutch company Stopaq.  This new super power in the coatings industry is in the process of rebranding themselves "Seal for Life."  Seal for Life now offers the broadest product line-up in the industry including the premier manufacturers of a collection of pipeline coating technologies.  Seal for Life is now capable of engineering solutions for end users using any combination of heat shrinkable sleeves; cold applied tapes; liquid epoxies; flexible anodes and viscoelastic materials.

    Showing off just one of the new logos here; see the newest Covalence Seal for Life logo (Covalence was formerly known as Raychem).

     We at JSI Coatings welcome this new partnership!  We see great things in the future for these products and look forward to working with our new Dutch brothers and sisters!

JSI Coatings - Master Distributor for Covalence / Seal for Life Products

     Joint Specialists was established in 1995 by Stan Simpson and Sam Damico.  They had been working directly for Raychem Corp for ~20 years by that point in R&D, technical support, field service and sales.   Their unique expertise translated easily into distribution and JSI was born.  Even today, many years later, JSI still prides itself upon its technical knowledge and ability to engineer solutions for nearly any customer need.

     We also recognize the need for fast turnarounds on orders within the oil, gas and water pipeline industries.  We keep our 20,000 square feet warehouse full of the most commonly sold pipeline coatings.  90% of orders placed with us ship same day (most of the rest ship next day).  Whether your pipeline is ambient temperature or elevated temperature; whether you require a 3 layer or a 2 layer coating solution; whether your application is subsea, involved in a road bore or simple to seal up a casing; you can count on the fact that we've got you covered.