Detecting

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and a Silicon Valley maker of measurement instruments said Monday they have collaborated on a technology for more accurately detecting natural gas pipeline leaks. PG&E is the first utility in the nation to begin applying the new equipment in its upgraded pipeline safety programs.

Late Thursday afternoon Northern Natural Gas canceled a force majeure that it had declared earlier that day after detecting a leak upstream of the Plains Turbine on the Hobbs 26 suction line (see Daily GPI, July 21). On Friday Northern declared a force majeure on the Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS), which it operates. A leak was discovered upstream of the Matagorda Island 686 platform, Northern said. Effective Friday until further notice, 14 platforms south of Matagorda Island 686C were required to shut in and were allocated to zero.

Northern Natural Gas declared a force majeure situation Thursday after detecting a leak upstream of the Plains Turbine on the Hobbs 26 suction line. The segment containing the leak must be isolated to facilitate repairs, which will require shutting in the Altura Gaines receipt point, Northern said. Upon isolating the affected area, eight other receipt points and four delivery points could be impacted and/or allocated, it added. See the bulletin board for further details.

Pacific Gas & Electric did not extend a high-inventory OFO beyond Friday.

Operator Northern Natural Gas declared force majeure after detecting a leak in the 20-inch mainline of Matagorda Offshore Pipeline System (MOPS) near the platform at Mustang Island 787. Offshore maintenance crews were responding, NNG said in a bulletin board posting late Thursday afternoon, and the Mustang Island 782, 785, 787, 803 and A-16 receipt points were to be shut in sometime during Friday’s gas day. Duration of the outage has not yet been determined, it said.

The development of a new technology for detecting problems in the nation’s 2-million-mile underground pipeline network was awarded a grant Friday by the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) to the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, TX, and a coalition of researchers and energy companies, including Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co., the largest U. S. natural gas distributor.

A Waltham, MA-based company whose technology for detecting land mines is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan has adapted the technology for commercial use to pinpoint the location of both metal and plastic underground natural gas pipelines in an effort to cut down on the incidents of third-party damage, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

A Waltham, MA-based company whose technology for detecting land mines is being used in Iraq and Afghanistan has adapted the technology for commercial use to pinpoint the location of both metal and plastic underground natural gas pipelines in an effort to cut down on the incidents of third-party damage, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).