pipelines

The United States is producing a growing share of the world’s oil and gas, with a potential impact that remains uncertain. But continuing infrastructure development and technology advances will be critical in the long term.

At least four US pipeline companies have seen their electronic systems for communicating with customers shut down over the last few days, with three confirming it resulted from a cyberattack.

In response to questions from lawmakers on whether federal law adequately provides for the prosecution of "criminal activity against infrastructure," the Department of Justice recently committed to "vigorously" prosecute those who damage "critical energy infrastructure in violation of federal law."

Additional environmental review of the disputed Dakota Access oil pipeline is likely to take the rest of the year to complete, US officials said in court documents in which they also advocate for keeping the line operating during the study.

General Electric has launched a subsidiary to develop and sell the use of flying, crawling, and swimming drones for inspections in the oil and gas industry, among others, the company announced.

A federal judge ruled on 14 June that the environmental review for the Dakota Access pipeline was, in part, inadequate and must be reconsidered, handing tribal opponents of the 1,170-mile pipeline project a key legal victory.

At the 2016 Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Technical Symposium in New Orleans, a presentation discussed the application of sensors and analytics in pipeline integrity management systems.

An experimental study was conducted by use of a 6-in.-inner-diameter facility to analyze three-phase stratified wavy flow in horizontal pipelines.

Use of unmanned aerial vehicles to monitor pipeline networks for theft and other issues is discussed.

Since 2007, an operator in Nigeria has registered a significant increase of oil-spill events caused by sabotage and oil-theft activities. The technology presented here allows detecting and locating leaks taking place at a distance from the sensor of up to 35 km.