JUNE 2015
/
World Pipelines
7
W
o
rld News
SIGN UP TO RSS NEWS FEEDS AT
API welcomes administration’s focus on infrastructure
API President and Chief Executive Officer Jack Gerard said that the industry can
help achieve the Obama administration’s goal of creating a modern infrastructure
system for this country.
“We welcome the administration’s call to action on infrastructure, now we
need them to act – our industry is ready to go to work,” said Gerard.
“Essential infrastructure improvements in just the oil and natural gas area
could, over the next decade, attract as much as US$1.15 trillion in new private
capital investment, support 1.15 million new jobs, and add US$120 billion on
average per year to our nation’s GDP.
“America is the number one producer of natural gas in the world and we’ll
soon be number one in oil, but we cannot deliver these products to consumers
without a modern infrastructure system.
“We need pipelines like Keystone XL to fully realise our energy potential.
Pipelines are one of the safest modes for transporting product and we need more
of them. Keystone is but one example of a pipeline that, if approved, could
benefit consumers by increasing the amount of fuel to the market place while
stimulating job and economic growth, and all without costing taxpayers a dime.”
API is the only national trade association representing all facets of the oil and
natural gas industry, which supports 9.8 million US jobs and 8% of the US
economy.
API’s more than 625 members include large integrated companies, as well as
exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses,
and service and supply firms.
They provide most of the nation’s energy and are backed by a growing
grassroots movement of more than 25 million Americans.
Canada: legislation to enhance
pipeline safety
Greg Rickford, Canada’s Minister of Natural
Resources, has issued a statement following the
passage of the Pipeline Safety Act (Bill C-46) in
the House of Commons. “[The] passing of our
government’s Pipeline Safety Act will further
enhance Canada’s already world-class pipeline
safety system. Indeed, this system has
transported 99.999% of oil and petroleum
products safely via federally regulated pipelines
between 2008 and 2013 ... Once again, we are
demonstrating our government’s commitment
to improving transportation of energy across
Canada even further. Our plan for responsible
resource development will continue improving
protection of the environment while creating
Canadian jobs and supporting economic
growth.”
With this legislation, the government is
implementing a suite of measures to strengthen
incident prevention, preparedness and response,
and liability and compensation. These include:
)
)
Enshrining in law the ‘polluter pays’
principle.
)
)
Implementing absolute, ‘no fault’ liability
(CAN$1 billion in the case of companies
operating major oil pipelines).
)
)
Requiring companies operating pipelines to
hold a minimum level of financial resources
in case of an incident.
)
)
Providing governments with the ability to
pursue pipeline operators for the costs of
environmental damages.
These measures build on previous measures
introduced through Canada’s plan for
Responsible Resource Development. These
include increasing annual inspections of oil and
gas pipelines by 50% and double the number of
comprehensive audits to improve pipeline
safety across Canada. There is currently a safety
inspector for every 1217 miles of National Energy
Board regulated oil and gas pipeline. By
comparison, in the US there is one inspector for
every 5830 miles of pipeline. The rate of spills
on federally regulated pipelines in Canada was
57% lower than in Europe and 60% lower than in
the United States over the past decade.
The Pipeline Safety Act has now been
referred to the Senate for consideration.
TAP receives further exemption from EU gas directive
The regulatory authorities in Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s (TAP) host countries –
Greece, Italy and Albania – have released a joint statement, prolonging the
validity period of TAP’s exemption from certain provisions of the EU Gas
Directive.
TAP’s exemption has been updated in line with the planned commencement
date of Shah Deniz Phase 2 gas exports to Europe, now expected in 2020. This
enables TAP to be fully aligned with upstream developments in the Southern
Gas Corridor value chain.
The updated joint opinion follows the approval of the European
Commission as well as a positive opinion by the Energy Community Secretariat.
The joint opinion has been implemented in TAP’s host countries via national
decisions.
In 2013, TAP secured an exemption from certain provisions of the EU Gas
Directive [2009/73/EC], including a third party access exemption for the initial
capacity of 10 billion m
3
/yr for gas volumes from Azerbaijan supplied under the
relevant Shah Deniz gas sales agreements over a period of 25 years.
Lutz Landwehr, TAP’s Commercial Director, said: “TAP continues to comply
with all the conditions set out in the exemption decision, as well as European
regulation to which our project is subject.
According to the requirements for major new pieces of gas infrastructure
securing exemption decisions, TAP will enhance competition of gas supply as
well as boost security of supply in several European markets.”
