Transporting merchandise has varying needs based on the item’s properties. For instance, some commodities are perishable, and you need to ensure they do not become substandard during transit. And as such, these types of goods require refrigeration, while others, such as oil and gas, need you to factor in safety.
Care is required when transporting oil and gas since mishandling can lead to considerable losses. It begs the question; what safety measures should you establish when transporting such items?
With that said, this article outlines some essential measures to consider in transporting oil and gas.
Utilize the Right Mode of Transportation
The container you use during transport can highly determine safety. With oil and gas transportation, there are many methods you can utilize, from rail to pipelines to trucks to the sea. Whichever system you use, you need to do it appropriately.
If you’re to use pipelines, ensure that the pipes are made from material with good mechanical properties. It should also be continuously monitored to avoid any leakage or spill, which could be hazardous to health and the environment. Additionally, faulty pipelines may also lead to fire and explosions due to the high flammability of gas.
With trucks, ensure the carrier is made of the right material too. It should be thick enough to prevent changes in temperature on the outside affecting that of the carrier inside. Aside from using carriers, you can also opt for containers, especially when transporting via sea.
With the many types of containers available, choosing the one suited to transport oil and gas is essential. To help with your selection, consider seeking the assistance of container hire experts to best approach the transportation requirements of oil and gas.
Drive Within Acceptable Speed Limits
The speed limit tip applies if trucks are used to transport your oil and gas. It is said that driving at high speed is one of the crucial contributors to road accidents. As such, your driver should be aware of the speed to maintain.
When driving at high speeds, you could have less control of the vehicle should you find an obstruction ahead of you. You’d either have to swerve or hit an object.
Swerving might cause imbalance, resulting in the truck tipping over. Moreso, when this happens, there’s a probability of the oil or gas leaking and causing an explosion if there’s something inflammable nearby. On another note, hitting an object might also damage the engine or any part that could lead to a fire.
High speeds could also lead to tire bursts which may result in accidents. Most oil and gas accidents are fatal; therefore, your driver needs to exercise more caution to protect their lives and other parties nearby.
Ensure You Train Your Drivers
During transit, your drivers are in control. Hence, you need to train them adequately. One of the aspects they need training in is defensive driving.
Defensive driving is an essential skill that can help your drivers prevent accidents and deal with other drivers on the road. It is vital since they’re transporting delicate products, and they need to handle themselves carefully no matter the situation.
In addition, you need to train your drivers in handling the oil and gas before, during, and post transport. They need to be aware of the dos and don’ts to prevent catastrophes.
Aside from the preventive mechanisms, there could be a possibility of a fire breaking out. As such, fire training can also be crucial as your drivers need to be well prepared. It would be best to hire experts from the fire department to train your staff in fire management. This way, they may know what to do and won’t panic during a fire breakout.
Maintain Your Transporting Equipment
Your transportation’s condition may also contribute to safety during transit. Consider practicing routine maintenance to ensure the machinery is in pristine condition. For pipelines, ensure the pipes don’t have holes that could leak during transport. The same applies to your chosen transporting container.
If you’re utilizing trucks, ensure they’re in top-notch condition. For instance, the engine should be running well and well-oiled, the tires need to be well inflated, and spares should be available. When the vehicle is in good condition, you may prevent accidents that could be catastrophic, as previously stated.
It’s also good to note the regulations when it comes to the oil and gas industry. There may be other minimal conditions required for your vehicle when transporting flammable substances. These differ from state to state; thus, it is best to familiarize yourself with these. Knowing these laws will not only ensure you’re compliant but may protect your goods, drivers, and other road users.
Invest in Fire Fighting Equipment
With the flammability of oil and gas, a fire could be the main worry during transport. As such, you may need to adopt the right tools. One of the essential tools in your truck is a fire extinguisher. It may suffice for small manageable fires before they spread and become unmanageable, requiring expert intervention.
As you equip your trucks with this, it is good to know that different classes of fire may require a specific extinguisher. That said, ensure to purchase one, particularly for oil and gas.
Utilize Warning Signs
Warning signs can benefit other road users, as they are notified of transportation containing flammable substances. Most oil and gas transportation trucks and carriers have warning signs on their bodies, flame illustrations, and danger illustrations.
As you indicate these signs, ensure that they’re big and can be seen from a distance. In addition, consider using bold colors on the warning signs so they can stand out for easier visibility.
Adopt Monitoring Tools
During the transportation of oil and gas, anything can be possible. As such, it makes it necessary to invest in monitoring tools, such as trackers and cameras.
Should there be an accident, you can trace the vehicle’s location to provide assistance and prevent extensive damage. Additionally, if there is a hazard ahead of the route, you may conveniently inform your driver, allowing them to seek alternative directions.
Furthermore, a camera can help you monitor your driver to ensure they follow all the safety precautions. If they’re deviating, you can warn them. After all, prevention is better than cure.
Conclusion
Factoring in safety when transporting oil and gas isn’t as challenging as you might have presumed. This article has provided you with some tips and measures worth considering and implementing to have seamless oil and gas transportation.
U.S. energy markets continue to evolve, shaped by demand disruption on a global and local scale, price volatility, and increasing demand for specific commodities like natural gas and LNG. Energy trading is a complex business that involves large numbers of oil field transactions and a big dance that requires traders to continuously coordinate supply and demand with the movement of commodities over multiple types of transport, including truck, rail, pipeline and barge. The dance involves not just produced products, such as crude, gas and natural gas liquids, energy trading extends across the supply chain into finished fuels and refined products.
Consider the energy requirements for a typical hydraulic fracturing job. Margins are frequently narrow for energy traders who supply diesel fuel for frac spreads, underscoring the need to precisely gauge demand, and supply these fuel intensive oil field operations with exactly the right volume. With a typical hydraulic fracturing operation requiring one million gallons of diesel, even a small miscalculation can result in significant monetary loss.
Adding complexity to the big transportation dance is managing driver demurrage, the costs incurred by shippers when freight is delayed and left sitting on a loading dock to be picked up or delivered. A truck waiting in line for hours to fuel a frac job is just one example of how a trader’s margins can be eroded by demurrage, making it imperative to the bottom line to schedule just-in-time arrivals and departures to prevent dancers from stumbling.
Energy Trading and Risk Management Defined
To operate efficiently and prevent financial losses, those in the business rely on energy trading and risk management (ETRM) solutions, which comprise digital technologies and the processes in place to execute trades, move commodities, and comply with regulatory agency reporting and tax. Gartner, the leading technology, research and consulting company, offers a well-rounded definition for ETRM:
ETRM involves commercial decision making and market execution using an integrated system that enables data exchanges among trade floor, operations, credit, contract and accounting functions. Integral to the process are event and trade identification/capture, comprehensive risk management strategies/policies, scheduling/nomination/transportation, and settlement execution. The process also provides for price transparency, market monitoring, controlled access and regulatory compliance.
The ETRM definition above does a good job of highlighting the fundamental challenges that energy traders face in managing so many moving parts. In the digital oil field, paper field tickets persist and systems for capturing transactions are often disconnected from market analysis and pricing data, the general ledger, accounts receivable and regulatory systems, which creates bottlenecks for cash flow. ETRM systems, by nature, also do a poor job of asset management, and an even poorer job of scheduling with time constraints and third-party providers.
Those in the business of selling finished fuels and refined products often feel like their organization is in the banking business. That’s because paper-based transactions, inconsistent routing of tickets from operations, and manual workflows delay accounts receivable invoices by months, which can feel like the seller is continuously lending money to buyers. Given the volume of transactions involved, teams can be out millions at any given time, underscoring the need for robust accounting processes that work in parallel with the logistical complexities of energy trading.
Unique Complexities of Finished Fuels and Refined Products
Traders must constantly track rack and index prices (such as OPIS and DTN), forecast monthly and annual weighted averages, and determine optimal times to load from yard, pickup from rack, stockpile, hold, and sell. Trading is fiercely competitive, leading oil field suppliers to optimize fleet movement to better service customers, the complex dance that involves continuous dispatch updates and analysis of electronic logging data (ELD) and driver utilization.
There are always risks involved in trading any type of commodity, whether buyers are basing their decisions on cyclical trends or speculating in a new market. For regulatory, service providers face major challenges in maintaining current physical position reports and ensuring DOT compliance. Trucking operations that cross state lines also inject additional complexity from the rigorous reporting requirements of the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA).
Unlike contracts that are traded on the major commodity exchanges – like natural gas and crude oil – suppliers of finished fuels and refined products take physical custody of these commodities. That puts these traders in the transportation business, requiring companies to manage fleets of trucks and drivers in parallel with the back office and trading operations. With intensifying scrutiny of greenhouse gas emissions, traders must find ways not only to optimize their operating costs, but they must also minimize their carbon footprint while optimizing ESG.
Solving Transportation Management Challenges
What finished fuels and refined product traders need is a transportation management system (TMS) to manage the logistical complexities of trucking operations with ETRM capabilities for managing trades and risk. However, typical TMS solutions aimed at solving energy trading present cost and complexity overkill for the industry, and can take a year and massive capital outlay to deploy.
Figure 1: Deal fulfillment screen for finished fuels and refined products.
Combining a mobile app for drivers and a comprehensive back office suite for dispatch, inventory management, accounting and deal capture, W Energy Software’s TMS solution can be deployed in just weeks and at a fraction of the cost of “big box” solutions. The cloud-based solution automatically captures transactions and incorporates real-time index pricing of transportation cost data and rack prices into cloud-based deal fulfillment screens, enabling marketing teams to instantly view supplier and customer pricing, KPIs (e.g., run time, drive time, load/unload time), and margin calculations.
The TMS solution provides traders with the robust transportation management capabilities needed to manage shipments by truck as well as modern ETRM technology to gain unprecedented visibility into high volume transactions, enabling organizations to increase business performance and deal volume. Importantly, W Energy Software’s TMS is the only solution that provides seamless integration with a trader’s core financials, accelerating accounts receivable and cash flow while mitigating risks with automatically generated physical position reports, including IFTA.
W Energy Software’s TMS enables continuous, real time communications with all available transporters, allowing the back office to choreograph the “big dance” of oil field transportation and ensure the fluid movement of trucks and the disposition of commodities at any given time. The real time communications unlocked by the cloud and mobile devices are also enabling predictive inventory – both long and short – at storage locations, virtually eliminating costly demurrage fees for trucking.
In oil field transportation, not everything goes as planned, requiring carriers, dispatchers and suppliers to collaborate around a wide variety of data to adapt plans and keep moving. The TMS solution eliminates data silos by integrating transportation contracts and commodity price feeds from price indexes in context with traffic and weather data. Additionally, with real-time visibility into prices at origin and destination locations, W Energy Software’s TMS provides shippers with increased optionality and enables rapid response to supply chain anomalies, increasing agility and improving margins.
Driving Operational Excellence at Scale
A leading wholesaler and marketing company procures finished fuels and refined products across North America. It supplies oil field operations throughout major basins, including fuel-intensive hydraulic fracturing.
The company had relied on manual, paper-based processes for a large number of monthly transactions, limiting accountability and visibility into buying. It operates a large fleet of trucks nationwide, adding operational and logistical complexity through reliance on paper run tickets and manual invoicing processes.
What’s more, paper-based processes, inconsistent routing of tickets from operations, and manual workflows delayed customer invoicing by two weeks and as much as two months, continuously impacting the company’s cash flow from delayed payments. With complex state tax obligations that vary from product to product, it also faced significant delays for regulatory reporting and taxes that often required three months to prepare.
To maximize deal margins, the oil field supplier wanted to incorporate real time rack and OPIS prices, automatically calculate monthly and annual weighted averages for multiple products, and determine optimal times to execute transactions. Its dispatch department wanted to better understand driver utilization and gain insights into ELD data to optimize fleetwide performance while minimizing driver turnover. And, in order to compete and improve service times for customers, the company needed to optimize truck routes by avoiding deadhead runs, bypassing road closures, and rerouting when storage terminals sell out.
The oil field supplier needed to maintain a current physical position report and ensure DOT compliance by capturing driver KPIs and certifications for trucks and drivers. It set out to find a solution that would also accelerate customer invoicing and tax preparation to improve cash flow and eliminate the time, costs and G&A associated with manual invoice processing and tax workflows.
Figure 2: Mobile app for truck drivers automatically optimizes routes, fuel usage and emissions.
The company deployed W Energy Software’s TMS and ETRM solution to automatically record transactions and integrate real time OPIS and rack prices. Through intuitive, cloud-based fulfillment screens, its marketing staff can instantly calculate margins, track suppliers and customer pricing, and view real time key performance indicators, including run, drive and load times. Leveraging trend graphs and weighted average algorithms, the oil field supplier gains unprecedented visibility into 2,000 monthly transactions, enabling it to triple volume output.
W Energy Software provides the company with a complete real time fleet optimization and invoicing solution that includes an advanced mobile app for dedicated use on tablets and printing integration with mobile printers, enabling it to track inventory and generate current customer processing, dispatching and delivery insights. The solution enables dispatch to better optimize fleet performance by seeing if drivers are over or underutilized and, in some cases, allows drivers to completely bypass dispatch by using a “pickup from” or “deliver to” the nearest location feature. The mobile app also leverages real time route optimization capabilities similar to FedEx and UPS to provide drivers with the fastest routes based on current road conditions, taking into account HAZMAT restrictions, if applicable, such as traffic and road closures.
The W Energy Software TMS solution provides actionable insights that help the company mitigate monetary loss by better understanding risks in the field, including complex frac fueling operations, maximizing margins. The solution automatically captures performance history for trucks and drivers (e.g., speeding, running stop signs) and streamlines medical certification compliance with DOT. In addition, W Energy Software’s TMS solution automatically creates physical position reports to help the oil field supplier better manage risks.
By deploying W Energy Software’s TMS solution, the company’s accounting team reduced invoicing time to a maximum of four days, with 90 percent of customer invoices being submitted within one day, while giving it the assurance that it has invoiced 100 percent of its accounts receivable. The solution also helps the oil field supplier avoid millions in sales tax reporting (from a well-known ETRM tax software package) with W Energy Software’s all-inclusive tax module that cut tax preparation for the company from three months to thirty minutes. The solution has had a significant positive impact on its cash flow, enabling the company to purchase more finished fuels and refined products, increase sales and remain positioned for growth.
Best-in-class energy traders are defined by their margins, customer experience and agility to meet evolving market conditions head on. Increasingly, best-in-class risk management in the oil field must incorporate environmental stewardship – not just financial and regulatory risk mitigation – especially as Wall Street, private equity and the public look beyond the wellhead into the broader energy supply chain for ESG improvement. Energy traders, bulk commodity transportation providers, crude first purchasers and other oil field players who rely on large scale trucking operations have an opportunity to embrace digital transformation, enabling organizations to grow revenue and improve customer experience while reducing their carbon footprint and maintaining a social license to operate.
Pipe materials can be categorized into metallic and non-metallic pipes. Metallic pipes are further subdivided into ferrous and non-ferrous types. The ferrous has iron as a main component and the non-ferrous does not have iron as a main component. The carbon-steel pipes, stainless-steel pipes, chrome-moly pipes and cast-iron pipes are ferrous pipes with iron being the main component. Nickel and nickel alloy pipes, as well as copper pipes, are non-ferrous pipes. The plastic pipes, concrete pipes, special pipes such as plastic-lined pipes, glass-lined pipes and concrete-lined pipes, which may be used in special applications, are called non-metallic pipes. Ferrous pipes are the most widely-used pipes in the energy industry; carbon-steel pipes are used in abundance. The ASTM and ASME standards govern the various piping and piping materials used in the process industry.
Classification of Steel
Based on the chemical compositions, steel can be categorized into four basic groups:
Carbon Steel
Alloy Steel
Stainless Steel
Tool Steel
Carbon steel is the most utilized steel in the industries and accounts for more than 90 percent of the total steel production. Based on the carbon content, carbon steel is further classified into three groups:
Low Carbon Steel/Mild Steel
Medium Carbon Steel
High Carbon steel
In Alloy steel, varying proportions of alloying elements are used, in order to achieve desired (improved) properties such as weldability, ductility, machinability, strength, hardenability, and corrosion resistance, etc. Some of the most used alloying elements and their effects are as follows:
Manganese – Increases strength and hardness, decreases ductility and weldability.
Silicon – Used as deoxidizers in the steel making process.
Phosphorus – Increases strength and hardness and decreases ductility and notch impact toughness of steel.
Sulfur – Decreases ductility, notch impact toughness and weldability. Found in the form of sulfide inclusions.
Copper – Improves corrosion resistance.
Nickel – Increases hardenability and impact strength of steel.
Molybdenum – Increases hardenability and enhances the creep resistance of low-alloy steel.
Stainless steel is an alloy steel with 10.5 percent chromium (minimum). Stainless steel exhibits extraordinary corrosion resistance due to formation of a very thin layer of Cr2O3 on the surface. This layer is also known as a passive layer. Increasing the amount of chromium will further increase the corrosion resistance of the material. In addition to chromium, nickel and molybdenum are also added to impart desired (or improved) properties. Stainless steel also contains varying amounts of carbon, silicon and manganese. Stainless steel is further classified as:
Ferritic Stainless Steel consists of iron-chromium alloys with body-centered cubic crystal structures (BCC). These are generally magnetic and cannot be hardened by heat treatment, but can be strengthened by cold working.
Austenitic Stainless Steel is most corrosion resistant. It is non-magnetic and non-heat-treatable. Generally, austenitic steel is highly weldable.
Martensitic Stainless Steel is extremely strong and tough, but not as corrosion-resistant as the other two classes. This steel is highly machinable, magnetic and heat-treatable.
Duplex Stainless Steel consists of a two-phase microstructure consisting of grains of ferritic and austenitic stainless steel (i.e., ferrite + sustenite). Duplex steel is about twice as strong as Austenitic or Ferritic Stainless Steel.
Precipitation-Hardening (PH) Stainless Steel possesses ultra-high strength due to precipitation hardening. (Out of these five types, the first four i.e., austenitic, ferritic, martensitic and duplex, are categorized according to their crystal structure. If they are additionally strengthened by precipitation hardening process, then the product obtained is known as Precipitation-Hardening (PH) stainless steel.)
In addition to the above grades, some advanced grades (or specialty grades) of stainless steel also being used in the industries are:
Super Austenitic Stainless steel
Super Ferritic Stainless steel
Super Martensitic Stainless steel
Super Duplex Stainless steel
The austenitic stainless steel can be further divided into two types:
Austenitic Stainless steel containing chromium and nickel as the main alloying elements (in addition to iron). These are identified as AISI 300 Series types.
Austenitic stainless steel containing chromium, nickel and manganese as the main alloying elements (in addition to iron). These are identified as AISI 200 Series types.
Tool Steel has a high carbon content (0.5 to 1.5 percent). Higher carbon content provides greater hardness and strength. This steel is mostly used to make tools and dies. Tool steel contains various amounts of tungsten, cobalt, molybdenum and vanadium to increase the heat and wear resistance and durability of the metal. This makes tool steel ideal for use in cutting and drilling tools.
Carbon Steel Pipes
These pipes are widely used in the process industry. The designation of the pipes done by ASTM and ASME looks different, but the material grades will be the same. For example:
ASTM A 106 Gr
A [330 Mpa]
B [415 Mpa]
C [485 Mpa]
The material above, when designated as per ASME standards, will be:
ASME SA 106 Gr
A [330 Mpa]
B [415 Mpa]
C [485 Mpa]
The material composition and properties on both the ASME and ASTM codes will be the same other than the designation. The tensile strength of ASTM A 106 Gr A is 330 Mpa, ASTM A 106 Gr B is 415 Mpa and ASTM A 106 Gr C is 485 Mpa. The most commonly used carbon steel pipe is the ASTM A 106 Gr B. There is an alternative to the ASTM A 106 Gr A 330 Mpa, which is ASTM A 53 (hot dipped galvanized or line pipe), which is also a widely used pipe grade among carbon steel pipes. There are two types of grades in ASTM A 53 pipe:
ASTM A 53 Gr A
ASTM A 53 Gr B
There are three types of ASTM A 53 pipes – Type E (ERW – Electric Resistance Welded Type), Type F (Furnace and Butt Weld), Type S (Seamless). In the Type E, both ASTM A 53 Gr A and ASTM A 53 Gr B are available. In the Type F, only ASTM A 53 Gr A is available, and in the Type S again ASTM A 53 Gr A and ASTM A 53 Gr B are available. The tensile strength of ASTM A 53 Gr A pipe is similar to the ASTM A 106 Gr A, which is 330 Mpa. The tensile strength of ASTM A 53 Gr B pipe is similar to the ASTM A 106 Gr B, which is 415 Mpa. This covers the widely used carbon steel grade pipes in the process industry.
Stainless Steel Pipes
The stainless steel pipes that are mostly used in the process industry are known as austenitic stainless steel. The essential characteristic of austenitic stainless steel is that it is non-magnetic or paramagnetic. The three important specifications of austenitic stainless steel are:
ASTM A 312 (ASME SA 312)
ASTM A 358 (ASME SA 358)
ASTM A 409 (ASME SA 409)
ASTM A 312 (ASME SA 312)
There are 18 grades in this specification of which the most commonly used is the 304 L. The popular category is 316 L because of its high resistance towards corrosion. The ASTM A 312 (ASME SA 312) is used for piping 8” or below in diameter. The “L” along with the grade indicates that it is low in carbon content and this enhances the weldability of the pipe grade.
ASTM A 358 (ASME SA 358)
This specification is used for pipe sizes 8” and above.
ASTM A 409 (ASME SA 409)
This specification is used for large diameter welded pipes. The pipe schedules covered in this specification are Schedule 5S and Schedule 10.
Weldability of Austenitic Stainless Steel – Austenitic stainless steel possesses higher thermal expansion than the ferritic or martensitic stainless steel. Distortion or warping occurs during the welding of austenitic stainless steel due to its high coefficient of thermal expansion and low thermal conductivity. Austenitic stainless steel is susceptible to solidification and liquation cracking. Hence, proper care to be given while selecting filler material and welding process. Submerged arc welding (SAW) is not preferred when fully austenitic stainless steel or low ferrite content weld deposit is required. Table (Appendix – 1) is a guide for the selection of proper filler wire or welding rods, as per the base material (for austenitic stainless steel).
Chrome-Moly Pipes
The chrome-moly pipes are suitable for high temperature service lines because the tensile strength of the chrome- moly pipes is maintained during the high temperature. This pipe finds its application in power plants, heat exchangers, etc. The specification of this pipe is ASTM A 335 with multiple grades:
P1 & P2 – 380 Mpa
P12 – 415 Mpa
P23 – 510 Mpa
P24 – 585 Mpa
P91 – 585 Mpa (Type 1 and Type 2)
P92 & P911 – 620 Mpa
P122 – 620 Mpa
P36 – 660 Mpa
Other grades – 415 Mpa
Cast Iron Pipes
Cast iron pipes are used in services such as fire protection, drains, sewage, heavy load (subjected to heavy load) – underground pipes, etc. The grades of cast iron pipes are:
Ductile Iron Pipe
Dur Iron Pipe
The ductile iron pipe is used in underground piping for fire protection service. The dur iron pipe is hard due to the fact that it contains silicon. These pipes are used in commercial acid services, as this grade shows resistance to commercial acids, as well as used in water treatment where acidic wastes are discharged.
References
ASTM A312 / A312M – 19 – Standard Specification for Seamless, Welded, and Heavily Cold Worked Austenitic Stainless Steel Pipes
ASTM A358 / A358M – 19 Standard Specification for Electric- Fusion-Welded Austenitic Chromium-Nickel Stainless Steel Pipe for High-Temperature Service and General Applications
ASTM A409 / A409M – 19 Standard Specification for Welded Large Diameter Austenitic Steel Pipe for Corrosive or High- Temperature Service
This year, Russia invaded Ukraine, threatening not just the sovereignty of European nations, but also the world energy market. When America, along with our allies and trade partners, rightfully sanctioned Russia, refusing to fill Moscow’s coffers, the global energy market was impacted. American LNG has served as a tourniquet, staunching the possibly devastating economic impact of removing one of the world’s largest energy producers from the world stage.
Energy expert and author Daniel Yergin, in a recent interview, best summed up America’s energy position like this: “Today, we [the United States] are basically self-sufficient, if you look on a net basis. And we’re the world’s largest oil producer. And this was unthinkable a decade and a half ago.”
And that great leap – from unthinkable to our reality – is entirely credited to American oil and gas producers.
American energy production, driven by national leader Texas, has transformed the global oil and gas industry. Since 2012, crude oil production has risen 95 percent and natural gas production has risen 46 percent. In Texas’ Permian Basin, total oil and gas production increased over 320 percent between 2011 and 2020. And Texas single-handedly accounts for roughly a quarter of U.S. natural gas production. With this prolific production, it came as no surprise that in 2020 we crossed the threshold from net petroleum importer to net exporter.
Hand-in-hand with rapidly growing energy production, America’s investment in liquified natural gas (LNG) infrastructure over the past several years has proved not just to be a boon, but a necessity. The lower 48 states only began exporting LNG in February 2016. Just over five years later, the United States officially became the world’s leading LNG exporter, surpassing Russia. And once again, it is Texas energy that made it possible. The coasts of Texas and Louisiana have become home to our country’s largest LNG export terminals, and more than 85 percent of the additional planned U.S. LNG export capacity will be located in the Gulf of Mexico and supplied largely by Texas natural gas.
In short, the shale revolution delivered energy security that we had not held in decades.
Our ability to wield that energy security has proven invaluable. Thanks to American oil and gas supply, Russia could not as easily leverage its energy supply against EU leaders. To put into context the dependence of Europe on Russian energy, consider this: Russia provided 20 percent of Europe’s LNG imports in 2021. That same year, the United States was providing just over a quarter of Europe’s LNG imports – which means to fill the void left by Russia, the U.S. would need to almost double our LNG exports to the region. And so far, we’ve successfully done so.
In January alone, the United States supplied more than half of the LNG imports into Europe. However, we’ve promised to deliver much, much more. At the end of March, President Biden pledged to supply Europe with an additional 15 billion cubic meters of LNG by the end of this year to offset imports from Russia. Beyond Europe, global LNG demand is also set to surge, both in the short and long term. By 2040, world demand for LNG is projected to increase 90 percent, compared to 2021 consumption levels.
If we are to keep up with our promises to Europe, and broader global demand, we will need to push our LNG export capacity even further. In November 2021, the EIA estimated that U.S. LNG nominal liquefaction capacity was 9.5 Bcf/d and peak capacity was 11.6 Bcf/d. And yet, as it currently stands, the export terminals along the Gulf Coast have already been strained.
In February of this year, LNG tankers were docked or loading at all seven U.S. LNG export terminals. To expand our capacity, many have called for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and other agencies to expedite approval on proposed export terminal projects. Approvals aimed at improving our capacity in the short-term are already underway.
In mid-March, the Department of Energy (DOE) issued two orders authorizing LNG exports from two current operating LNG export projects, Cheniere Energy Inc.’s Sabine Pass in Louisiana, and another in Corpus Christi, Texas. However, America must prepare for the long term demands on our LNG capacity, particularly as it can take years to get a project online. For example, NextDecade’s proposed Rio Grande LNG export terminal, which could produce 27 million cubic meters of LNG per year, is not yet approved. If given the green light, it could start commercial operations as early as 2026-28. That is just one of many projects in the pipeline, and these projects simply cannot come online soon enough.
The U.S. stands where we are today – filling the gaping hole left by Russian oil, supporting our allies, and as a global energy leader – thanks to the innovation and hard work of the oil and gas industry. But what has become clear is that has not been deemed enough by many politicians.
Congressional leaders have been calling oil and gas executives into hearings to interrogate them on why oil prices have risen in the face of extreme shocks to the global market. Ignoring the obvious answer that American companies are subject to the prices set by the global market, many politicians have instead chosen to accuse the energy industry of price gouging and seek to set additional taxes – like the windfall tax – on American oil and gas corporations.
In the same breath they choose to villainize the energy industry, these politicians fail to acknowledge that in an alternate world – one that many have advocated for, where Texas energy production was stifled, and calls to “end fossil fuels” succeeded – that we would be in a dire situation, perhaps equivalent to the frightening oil and gas shortages of the 1970s. In that scenario, President Biden’s administration may have been forced to negotiate with Putin rather than firmly defend democracy. Putin has previously denounced shale, and he has done so because he recognized that shale provided the United States with flexibility in our foreign policy, and with new and strengthened trading partners.
Looking to the future, we must continue to embrace oil and gas. Investing in both our energy production and infrastructure will help fortify America against the next threat. Energy independence and energy security are versatile tools that we will need both today and tomorrow.
Flogas Britain, one of the UK’s leading LPG suppliers, announces that it has been granted planning permission to construct a gas pipeline from Bristol Port into the nation’s largest above ground LPG storage terminal, at Avonmouth, near Bristol.
Once complete, the pipeline will link the UK to a diverse, global supply of off-grid gas, providing security of supply and enhancing affordability for off-grid commercial and residential customers.
The pipeline will also have the capability to import Bio-LPG, which is a fully renewable green gas alternative. Additionally, it will provide access to emerging sources of renewable fuels, helping to further future-proof Britain’s supply of low carbon off-grid fuels.
Running safely underground and out of site, the twin-pipeline will vastly increase the availability of LPG and Bio-LPG, enabling up to 20,000 tons of commodity to be safely and securely discharged from a ship in 24 hours.
Lee Gannon, Flogas Britain’s Managing Director explains: “The next phase of design is currently underway and with completion of construction potentially as early as 2025, we will soon have locked in a direct link between our storage facility and world supply of existing and upcoming carbon free fuels.”
Montfort Group has acquired 49% of New Age Energy, a broad-based black empowerment (B-BBEE) company that focuses on the reliable import, export, and distribution of safe and high-quality energy products, to mark its entry into the South African energy market
Montfort will introduce its brand, products and services to the market to help meet the energy needs of South Africa. (Image source: Adobe Stock)
After opening its first office in the country in 2022, the confirmation of this new partnership has been highlighted as a key step towards realising the company’s goal of strengthening and expanding its supply capabilities in the South African energy market. The company will introduce its brand, products, and services to the market, in order to help meet the future energy needs of the growing South African economy.
Rashad Kussad, CEO of Montfort Group, said, “We are delighted to partner with New Age Energy, and expand our presence to the South African energy markets. Our B-BBEE partners possess a significant amount of market knowledge and expertise which, combined with our trading capabilities and financial support, will enable us to enhance product and service offerings to our valued customers. We firmly believe in the continuing growth of the South African economy and look forward to playing our part in supporting the growing energy demands of the market.”
Esrick Bull, managing director of New Age, added, “Today marks a significant milestone in the history of our company. We are excited to form this strategic alliance with a global energy company such as Montfort. Their expertise in supply and trading, together with their commitment to invest in the logistics and supply chain in South Africa, will enable us to have a strong presence in the market, and further strengthen our capabilities to supply the best fuels at the maximum value.”
Kinetiko Energy Ltd, an Australian gas explorer and developer focused on advanced shallow conventional gas and coal bed methane (CBM) opportunities in South Africa, has provided an update on its Amersfoort gas to power (GTP) project in the country
Kinetiko CEO, Nick de Blocq, commented, “The overall gassy sandstone geology evidenced by logging and testing the three new Korhaan wells has given us a lot of confidence that we have long-term feedstock support for the Amersfoort GTP project; with further cluster development available to supply increasing power output to an extremely energy hungry nation. This conviction has also spread to achieving maiden gas reserve certification and we have now engaged Sproule B.V. to undertake this assessment and certification.”
The Korhaan project exploration focused on gas-laden sandstones, coal and other carbonaceous structures over an interval of 130 m to 450 m. In all three wells, gas was produced from the upper zones immediately under the cased dolorite and continued to produce gas almost all the way down to terminal depth in each case. An average of over 100 m of gassy sand pay-zone per well was encountered across the cluster
Korhaan-3 and Korhaan-4 have tested at commercial production rates, while Korhaan-5 appears to have landed in a smaller compartment, which is supported by a neighbouring large compartment, separated by a thin dyke wall, and currently has provided sub-commercial flow rates – although plans are now being assess to re-drill the well.
Added to the existing wells Korhaan-1 and Korhaan-2, gas produced from the five wells is anticipated to over-supply the GTP project and provide the advantage of managing the production to better support reservoir longevity.
Kinetiko is working with Vutomi Energy (Pty) Ltd., a highly experienced Gas-To-Power partner, on the programme which entails using existing wells at Amersfoort to produce gas to an in-field, containerised generator linked to the existing grid running through the farmlands. The first phase commissioning and testing will be undertaken targeting 1MW of output. Further phases are planned for the upgrading of the conductors and transformers to enable scalable modular increased output to 5MW.
The GTP project is planned to be operated in three phases which will include proof of drive involving gas from a single well to the generator and commissioning of equipment to undertake load and compliance testing; connecting and supplying the existing community electricity grid with an initial output of 1MW; and finally advancing infrastructure and adding machinery to enable a 500% output increase.
Eskom has already issued electricity production licences and deign approvals for the level of power output and final permits to process are expected soon.
This is one of the most modern Terminals in Southern Africa. The facilities include a 645 meters long quay with a depth of 12 meters. The terminal has 4 container gantry-cranes, two of which have the capacity to carry 65 tonnes. The terminal can store more than 10,000 TEU’s and has 148 electricity connection points for refrigerated containers. Currently, the terminal can handle 300,000 TEU’s a year, but, with the continual investment programmed, its capacity could gradually be increased to 700,000 TEU’S. The terminal is served by an extremely modern computerized management system-Navis N4-regarded as the most advanced in the port industry worldwide. This is a computerized platform endowed with state-of-the-art technology which offers enormous advantages in increasing and improving the operations undertaken at the Container Terminal. It also allows online communications with shipping lines, the shipping agencies and clients who can accede to the mechanism to send correspondence concerning the loading and unloading of containers, and to obtain all the relevant information about the state of the logistical base. Recently, this terminal benefitted from an investment to increase the capacity of its container storage space to an area of 3 hectares, as well as the building of a new five lane access road, with the option to add a further two lanes in the future.
Eazi Access, is one of Africa’s market leaders in the rental, sales, servicing and training of work-at-height and material handling solutions. We have a strict commitment to safety, reliability, and productivity, across everything we do and in all industries, we serve. We have partnered with trusted OEM’s, JLG and Linde Material Handling, to provide safe working environments.
This is achieved through the different equipment we have on offer. Within the equipment range, we have aerial lifts, boom lifts, scissor lifts, telehandlers, and low-level access lifts ensuring workers are lifted safely and efficiently. Within the industry this lifting equipment is commonly referred to as Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWPs) which have multiple benefits, and are available to our customers on a rental or sale basis.
MEWPs are safe, manoeuvrable and time saving machines used to lift workers into spaces they otherwise would not be able to reach. MEWPs are used on both indoor and outdoor worksites to eliminate the risk of accidents associated with climbing, lifting, and even falling on the job. The need to keep workers safe while accessing high areas is common between many different sectors, making MEWPs versatile and universally needed. They are also flexible between different tasks on the same project. They can be easily adjusted for different heights, and some are even designed for use on smooth and rough terrains.
This makes a worksite more accessible by increasing the workers’ reach, whether they’re in a warehouse, on a mine, on a construction project or at an event. When a customer comes to Eazi Access looking for a MEWP, we invest time in performing a thorough diagnosis before we can recommend the suitable solution. We go on-site where we take measurements and look at the size of the area and fully understand the objectives of the customer for the job at hand. After which, we recommend the best fit solution for the job on-site. We can provide a complete solution for the different industries from the highest machine which is up to 58.56 metres to the smallest scissor lift that can be use in the warehouse.
According to Blaize Wulfsohn, Eazi Access GM: Compliance & Enterprise Risk Management other industry drivers for MEWPs include health and safety as they reduce fatigue and risk, productivity through increased flexibility and efficiency, while technology advances have also led to more reliable mobility and control. Renting MEWPs for hard-to-access jobs can save money by increasing productivity across the worksite.
As a business we are enthusiastic about the safety, efficiency, and cost benefits we can deliver to our customers and we pride ourselves in consistently ensuring that every customer, regardless of industry, size, or scope of needs, receives the highest level of service and professional advice to ensure our customers get the right machine for their specific requirements. One of the ways we ensure safe working environments for our employees and customers is through training and compliance to regulations which is essential in creating safe working environments.
In order to operate access equipment workers are required by law to undertake training. As a business, providing this training is beneficial to both our customers and to our operators
Wulfsohn adds that “our safety promise underscores every facet of our business. Uplift Quality Solutions, our training business, specialises in operator training on mobile elevated work platforms (MEWPs), telescopic boom handlers, forklifts, overhead cranes, and mobile cranes. Customers can choose between having their own operators trained in line with industry standards and manufacturers’ specifications, or we can provide readily available, trained Eazi Access operators to work on-site.”
Eazi Access and our training business, Uplift Quality Solutions are both members of the Institute for Work at height (IWH), which is the recognised industry professional body registered with SAQA (South African Qualifications Authority). Members of the IWH are declared fully competent to practice in a specific field of the Work at height Industry and members have to comply with the IWH Code of Ethical conduct. Uplift Quality Solutions is accredited as a training provider by the IWH and is also registered with full accreditation with the TETA (Transport Education Training Authority). Our association with IWH and our accreditations with the TETA and IWH provides comfort to our customers on the quality standards of our training provided, the quality of equipment used for training as well as the issuing of legitimate IWH training certificates. The IWH training certificates have the advantage of avoiding the delays with issuing of training certificates by the TETA and allows the trainee to start operating the respective equipment soon after the training.
Keeping safety and training topical within the industry is a key target adopted through the years. However, despite the increased training provided, incidents still happen. Also, with newer and improved models being delivered to the market training continues to be crucial for anyone operating a MEWP.
Durban-based material handling specialist, BLT WORLD, supplies and supports an extensive range of handling equipment, including transportation equipment designed especially for the wind turbine industry.
Novatech’s specialist equipment for the safe and efficient transportation of wind turbine components encompasses wing transportation, tower and Nacelle brackets.
BLT WORLD’s Novatech self-contained tower lifters are used for safely transporting wind turbine towers on board ro-ro ferries, with no risk of damage to components. The robust tower lifters, with a maximum lifting capacity of 80 t, are fitted with a hydraulic pump unit for dependable powering of lifting and steering cylinders. The tower bogie system, with a 140 t load capacity, has been designed to transport towers safely and securely around ports.
The company’s portfolio of container and bulk handling equipment also encompasses Mobicon straddle carriers, Taylor empty and loaded container handlers and reach stackers, as well as Meclift variable reach trucks for swift and safe container stuffing and handling.
Terminal tractors can be customised for specific handling tasks required. The company is also the exclusive distributor in Africa for the Samson range of bulk handling equipment, which includes material feeders for loading and high capacity stockpiling, link conveyors and eco – hoppers, as well as mobile shiploaders. BLT WORLD also distributes MDS trommel screens and apron feeders for mineral processing and recycling applications.
The company supports this equipment with a technical advisory and original spare parts service to all sectors, including shipping, mining and quarrying, civil engineering and construction, as well as general engineering, materials handling and agricultural industries.
