Calling California a leader in both seismic protection and natural gas infrastructure safety, officials at Woodside Natural Gas provided more detail last Friday on why they are not concerned about a recent United States Geologic Survey (USGS) seismic report casting doubts on the company’s plans to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) through a series of offshore and onshore pipelines connecting to the Sempra Energy utility transmission pipeline system near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

Woodside is redesigning its plans and will take into consideration the USGS report, a spokesperson told NGI.

“We and [the governmental agencies] are continually reviewing and updating data relating to the design and development of the project to ensure it considers all relevant factors,” said Woodside spokesman Michael Hinrichs. “We are currently taking additional time to design a smarter and better project that will reduce the project’s footprint and environmental impact.”

The USGS report says the project, which does not include an offshore receiving and storage terminal, faces a “medium-to-high probability” of damage from earthquakes or other causes (see Daily GPI, Jan. 9). USGS’s assessment of earthquake risks has not deterred Woodside from developing a deepwater LNG pipeline 27 miles offshore LAX. The project involves no permanent offshore receiving terminal, only buoys and the undersea pipes.

“California has been a leader in seismic-sensitive construction of buildings and infrastructure, and we are designing a pipeline that draws on the best information and technology to address seismic and safety issues,” said Hinrichs, who contends that Woodside has an “unprecedented commitment” to safety. “We already have proposed a system of emergency shutoff valves and monitoring equipment that will surpass the safety measures in the existing pipelines in the region.”

Woodside points out that there are more than 90,000 miles of natural gas pipelines traversing Southern California, and the region has a long history of using pipelines to transport natural gas. Further, the company stressed that a number of pipelines travel along the offshore Southern California seabed carrying petroleum products from offshore drilling platforms and tankers.

The proposed offshore pipeline, with its state-of-the-art technology, Hinrichs said, could provide a much-needed source of gas in the event the major interstate pipelines coming into the state from the Arizona border were shut by a major earthquake in the desert regions of Southern California, or in the greater Los Angeles metro area.

The buoy technology used by Woodside to collect the gas for shipment into the Southern California Gas Co. system “has proven effective in even the most extreme conditions,” including Hurricane Katrina, Hinrichs said.

©Copyright 2009Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.