Integrity

After a nearly three-year delay, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is preparing to begin a well inspection program before the end of the year.

BP plc last week launched a Gulf Claims Fraud Hotline “to help protect the integrity of the claims processes” related to the 2010 Macondo well blowout and Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) said that after an eight-year decline, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants jumped 7.1% in 1Q2013, due in part to rising natural gas prices and the lure of cheap coal.

The House Natural Resources Committee sent a letter to the Interior Department Thursday expressing concern about the scientific integrity of and the imposition of what it said were arbitrary deadlines on a decision to potentially list the sage grouse under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)

A subsea survey for the fourth time has confirmed the integrity of the Macondo well and the associated relief wells in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, BP plc said. The visual inspection by BP and Transocean Ltd., which owned the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, was to see if residual oil remained trapped under wreckage. The sheen is not recoverable and poses no risk to the shoreline, the U.S. Coast Guard said. No conclusive evidence of hydrocarbons leaking was observed from the surveyed area, but a “white, cloudy substance” appeared to emanate from several places on the overturned rig. Samples were collected, and BP plans to review the results with federal officials.

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has released the latest revised draft amendments of rules relating to the well integrity issues of well casing, cementing, drilling and completions, cathodic protection wells, and seismic holes and core holes. The draft revisions are being circulated for an informal comment period, which is to end Dec. 31. The revisions are in response to comments RRC staff has received so far. The proposals are working drafts that have not been finalized and have not been submitted to the Texas Register for publication for public comment. Revisions are proposed to rules relating to cement sheath thickness; drilling fluid programs; isolation of productive zones; surface casing testing; cement specifications, quality and requirements; new requirements for wells that are to be hydraulically fractured (fracked); minimum separation of wells to be fracked; and well control/blowout preventer and pipeline shut-off valve requirements. One of the proposed revisions would ban fracking at noncemented wells when the zone being fracked ends within 1,000 vertical feet of a usable aquifer.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar signaled Tuesday that the department is close to completing final regulations for hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in drilling operations on public lands.

Saying it needed to protect system integrity and due to excessive hourly takes exceeding scheduled quantities, Tennessee issued meter-specific Balancing Alert OFOs Monday affecting two LMSMA contracts (71054 and 943030). They are required to maintain an actual daily flow rate not exceeding 2% or 500 Dth, whichever is greater, of scheduled quantities.

Southern plans to implement a systemwide OFO Type 6 Notice effective Wednesday until further notice, saying it must maintain the pipeline’s operational integrity by requiring shippers and poolers to remain in balance (including available no-notice injection entitlements). Tiered penalties will apply to customers running positive daily imbalances exceeding 2% or 200 Dth, whichever is greater.