Nexen is investigating why its “failsafe” leak detection system failed to detect what turned out to be a massive spill that leaked 1,400,000 gallons of oil, sand and waste water

Alberta oil spill: When ‘failsafe’ leak detection systems fail

By Anna Mehler Paperny Senior Producer, Investigative Data Desk  Global News

Aerial images show the bitumen emulsion spill at Nexen's Long Lake site.
Global News

Nexen is investigating why its “failsafe” leak detection system failed to detect what turned out to be a massive spill that leaked 5,000 cubic metres of bitumen, sand and wastewater into an area of northern Alberta so remote the oil and gas company needs to build roads from scratch just to access the spill site.

But the failure of its leak detection system shouldn’t be such a mystery, says Anthony Swift, an attorney with the National Resources Defence Counsel: These systems, common among oil and gas companies, fail all the time. And 80 per cent of the biggest leaks go undetected by these systems, an Inside Climate News investigation found.

In fact, a 2012 study by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration found that leak detection systems only detected spills on a company’s right-of-way 11 per cent of the time. Far more often, leaks are discovered by emergency responders, members of the public or, as was the case this week, a company employee. By then, as was the case with the 5,000-cubic-metre Nexen spill, enormous amounts of bitumen, oil or emulsion can be released.

Alberta pipeline spill


Ron Bailey, Nexen’s senior vice-president of Canadian operations, said the company is “sincerely sorry” about the spill and is investigating what went wrong.

“This is a modern pipeline. We have pipeline integrity equipment, in fact some very good equipment,” he said. “Our investigation is looking at exactly why that wasn’t alerting us earlier.”

Most oil and gas companies have pipeline leak detection systems in place, Swift said. They just tend not to detect many leaks.

“Unfortunately, a leak detected by a pipeline’s leak detection system tends to be the exception to the rule,” he said.
“The vast majority of leaks are identified by landowners or intermittent flyovers. And by that time, they can be quite large.”

Many leak detection systems, Swift said, measure the difference between the volume at one end of a pipeline and compare it to the volume at the other end. Others measure changes in pressure.

But both those methods are vulnerable to a high number of false positives, the U.S. study found: A whole host of factors can cause volume or pressure to change. And even if you do know there’s a leak, systems that only measure endpoint pressure or volume make it tough to find exactly where on an enormous pipeline a rupture is.

“Regulators haven’t required substantial improvements in leak detection technologies. And because there’s little regulatory pressure to improve outcomes … pipeline companies aren’t incentivizing technology companies to create better systems,” Swift said.

It would help for regulators to require redundancy — multiple leak detection systems all working at once, so if one of them misses a leak, another one will catch it. Germany requires this, Swift said.

“It’s hard to imagine a pipeline operator being legitimately surprised their leak detection system didn’t work,” Swift said.

He’s hopeful massive pipeline failures such as Nexen’s spill this week will lead the public and regulatory bodies to demand better leak detection systems.
“The public hasn’t been aware of the issues associated with leak detection,” he said.

“As we see a litany of spills happening across North America and leak detection problems become a consistent issue, that very well may change.”

And as Canada debates whether to approve new large-scale energy projects, the issue couldn’t be more timely.

“This is a timely discussion to be having,” Swift said.
“The pipeline industry purports to have safety measures which oftentimes are pitched as much stronger than they are.”

Male driver killed in collision with TDOT mower on Alcoa Highway in Tennessee

(Photo: WBIR)

WBIR Staff, WBIR

 

July 17, 2015

 

(WBIR – ALCOA) 

A Virginia man died Friday morning when he collided on Alcoa Highway with a Tennessee Department of Transportation employee on a mower.

The man was identified as Eddie R. Haga, 42, of Marion, Va., according to a Tennessee Highway Patrol report.

Driving a 1999 International tow truck, Haga was heading south about 11:45 a.m. on Alcoa Highway when he crashed into a 1993 John Deere Bush Hog tractor driven by Nathan Reagan, 53, of Townsend, according to a report from Trooper Ernest Marion.

According to the THP, the tractor was southbound on the left lane/left shoulder near Mimosa Heights Drive. Reagan was moving to the median to mow, according to Marion's report.

Haga rear-ended the tractor. He was killed on impact. Reagan suffered injuries, according to the report.

Both men wore seat belts, according to the report.

The crash caused lengthy backups, and the highway was closed for several hours Friday. Both north and south bound lanes were reopened at approximately 3:20 p.m. according to the Alcoa Police Department.

Man killed in two-vehicle crash on C-470 in Littleton, Colorado

Posted 7:59 am, July 17, 2015, by Chuck Hickey

A two-vehicle crash killed a man on C-470 near South Platte Canyon Road on Friday, July 15, 2015. (Photo: Colorado State Patrol)

LITTLETON, Colo. — 

One person was killed after a two-vehicle accident Friday morning forced the closure of eastbound C-470, the Colorado State Patrol said.

The accident happened just after 7 a.m. on C-470 near South Platte Canyon Road. A 2008 Dodge traveling westbound rolled over into the eastbound lanes and coming to stop in the median, ejecting and killing the 22-year-old male driver.


The other vehicle involved was a 2007 Subaru. There were no other injuries.
Eastbound C-470 was closed at South Kipling Parkway and only one westbound lane was open as crews investigated the crash.

CSP opened one lane of eastbound lanes about 8:30 a.m. and announced that both directions would be open soon  at 10:09 a.m., with tows extracting the vehicles at that time.

CSP announced that westbound lanes were open at 10:28 a.m.

Hell on I-15: A fast-moving wildfire swept across Southern California's I-15 freeway in the Cajon Pass, destroying 20 vehicles and sending motorists running to safety before burning at least five homes

LOS ANGELES, CA (AP) — 

A fast-moving wildfire swept across a Southern California freeway in a mountain pass, destroying 20 vehicles and sending motorists running to safety before burning at least five homes. There were no reports of serious injuries, authorities said Friday.

The fire started in the Cajon Pass along Interstate 15 — the main highway between Southern California and Las Vegas — and quickly chewed through bone-dry brush.

Cars are shown burning on the Interstate 15 freeway in the Cajon Pass, California in the frame grab from KNBC vido

As flames closed in, drivers and passengers ran from their vehicles.

"It was total smoke and all the cars just started to stack and the fire got closer to us, and everyone started running up the hill," said Russell Allevato, 45, of Southgate, Michigan. "Hundreds and hundreds of people running up the hill."
He was traveling from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with his two teenage daughters, his nephew and his nephew's girlfriend. Their rental car was among those destroyed.

"All our stuff was charred and gone," Allevato said by phone as he rode in the back of a California Highway Patrol vehicle.

Television helicopters carried the scene live as the flames leap from vehicle to vehicle while water-dropping helicopters and then firefighters on the freeway battled to get control. A car-carrying tractor-trailer and a boat were among the losses left smoldering on the highway.

Dozens of vehicles were abandoned, and hundreds of others turned onto side roads in the rugged area about 55 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

"It's crazy, you're watching black clouds and white clouds of smoke, there's a ridgeline off to my right ... and it looks like any second flames will come over the ridgeline," Chris Patterson, 43, said from his vehicle.

As firefighters gained control on the freeway, the flames spread to 3,500 acres and burned at least five homes in the rural community of Baldy Mesa. About 50 more were threatened.

Melissa Atalla said she could see the flames from her gas station.

"People are spectating from our parking lot, running around getting water and beer. It's chaos," Atalla said. "One man came in and said, 'Oh my. My house is getting burned.' "

An evacuation center was set up at the local high school as firefighting equipment flooded the area. There were 22 engines, six air tankers, three helicopters, a bulldozer and hundreds of firefighters.

No injuries had been confirmed, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Uriah Hernandez said.

California is in the midst of severe drought, and wildfires are common. Some break out near freeways, but it's very unusual to have vehicles caught in the flames.

The 15 freeway was typically busy about 2:30 p.m. Friday when the fire broke out near the northbound lanes. With temperatures in the mid-90s and winds kicking up, it quickly ran up a hill and across the southbound lanes.

Vehicles that had slowed came to a stop as the flames approached. Occupants fled.

"There were elderly trying to get up the hill. People had animals, dogs. They tried to get their dogs out of the car," Allevato said.

His 15-year-old daughter, Leah, cried about her lost vacation.

"We waited two years for this vacation, and I saved all my money," she said. "I was thinking about it every day, and I finally got here and I have no clothes. ... I waited so long, and it's ruined."

According to a report from Lloyds, if the power grid in the United States were to be attacked the cost would be massive.

Insurance losses could be as high as $70 billion in the US from one peril

According to a report from Lloyds, if the power grid in the United States were to be attacked the cost would be massive.

Lloyds of London has now released a new report that has shown that if the Northeast U.S. power grid were to fall victim to a cyber attack, the insurance losses would be tremendous and far-reaching.

The economic losses that would occur from such an event could actually reach a trillion dollars.

Beyond financial disruptions, there would also be issues with water supply and transportation. The insurance losses were predicted to be over $70 billion. This, above and beyond the millions of people across the country who would be left without power. This “Business Blackout” report from Lloyds and the Center for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge looked into the chilling impact on the economy and the insurance industry if a major cyber attack should occur, such as on the American power grid.

The report worked with a scenario that would have darkened 15 states and generated massive insurance losses.

The specific scenario that was analyzed within the report considered the situation in which hackers would destabilize segments of the American power grid. This would send Washington D.C. and 15 states into complete darkness. Approximately 93 million people would be left without electricity.

The experts forecasted that in such a situation, there would be an increase in deaths as safety and health systems crumbled. There would also be a reduction in trade as ports would be forced to close. Water supply would be disrupted as electric pumps failed. Transportation networks would be left in complete chaos as infrastructure completely broke down.

The total impact to the American economy was estimated to be around $243 billion, but there could be more than $1 trillion in economic losses if every worst case scenario played out. In terms of insurance losses from claims, the most likely amount would be around $21.4 billion, but that could rise as high as $71.1 billion if all of the various worst case scenarios should occur due to this type of cyber attack on the power grid.

Cleanup goes on around Tellico Plains, Tennessee after tornado touchdown

 

(Photo: WBIR)

(WBIR – TELLICO PLAINS, TN) The National Weather Service in Morristown confirmed Wednesday an EF1 tornado occurred the day before in Monroe County.

A Sweetwater church turned out in force Wednesday to help community members who suffered damage from Tuesday's high winds. July 15, 2015 

The twister touched down near Gamble Gap Road in Tellico Plains, downing trees in every direction, pulling down power lines and creating a mess for people to clean up today. One resident recalled darkness fell quickly before the hit, then it grew quiet, and then it "just like a boom."

It's not the first time the Monroe County community has seen such destruction.
Felecia Bookout remembers a strike in 2011. She lost her home in that one.
"That one was more of a freight train type experience. This one was different. It was more all of a sudden and come out of nowhere."


Elsewhere, in Sweetwater, straight-line winds reaching 70 mph did damage in Sweetwater.

No injuries were reported.

An EF1 tornado and straight line winds caused damage Tuesday in Monroe County. 

Residents spent their day cleaning up across Monroe County.
The wind, mixed with heavy downpours, took their toll on one Sweetwater neighborhood.

"After it quit we came down here looking around. And we thought 'It's a disaster.' There's trees down everywhere," said Larry Tyler.

There were 15-20 trees down in the neighborhood, one on the roof of a house. Luckily, none of the homes were destroyed, but many were left with serious damage.

The wind also knocked the steeple off of Sweetwater First Assembly Church.
But that wasn't the focus for church members. They headed out into the community to help others.

They soon found the McGeachy family, who had just moved into their new home. Then, winds toppled four trees in their yard, and one crashed through the ceiling into the guest bathroom.

No one was hurt...but the damage was too much for this family to handle alone.
The 20 extra sets of hands sped up the clean up, but it will still likely take several days.

The church canceled their Wednesday service in hopes of getting more volunteers out in the community, which was much appreciated by the victims of the storm.


According to the National Weather Service office in Nashville, the EF1 tornado in Pickett and Fentress Counties were the first tornadoes ever to occur in those counties in July.

The EF1 tornado in Putnam County is only the second tornado to occur in that county in July. The previous F1 tornado in Putnam County occurred on July 13, 1956.

Prairie storm in June that swept across parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba tops $45 million in insured damage

2015-07-16

---

The hail and windstorms that swept across parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba on June 12 caused more than $45 million in insured damage, according to the preliminary estimate by Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc. (CatIQ).


The Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) said in a statement on Thursday that the storms brought wind gusting as strong as 116 kilometres per hour, with hail up to 6 centimetres in diameter reported throughout Medicine Hat, Alta. and surrounding areas.

The storm also knocked down and damaged many trees in the area and as many as 4,000 people lost power, the IBC reported.
Similar to Alberta, Saskatchewan experienced up to 6-cm diameter hail, powerful winds and heavy rain.

The most significant damage occurred across the southern part of the province, in an area from Fox Valley, near the Alberta border, to Carlyle and Storthoaks in the province’s far southeast. Claims were also reported in Manitoba, south of Moose Jaw, Sask., around Lafleche and Assiniboia, and extending eastward to Crane Valley, Ogema, Radville and Pangman.

The majority of claims reported were the result of hail damage to vehicles, residences and commercial buildings.

“In 2014, weather-related damage in the Prairies alone resulted in more than half a billion dollars in insured losses,” said Bill Adams, vice president, Western and Pacific, IBC, in the statement. “The insurance industry continues to speak to all levels of government about the need to continue investing in infrastructure to make communities more resilient to increasingly frequent and severe weather events.”

Toronto-based CatIQ compiles and combines comprehensive insured loss amounts and related information to serve the risk management needs of the insurance and reinsurance industries.

The IBC, also based in Toronto, is the national industry association representing Canada’s private home, auto and business insurers. Its member companies make up 90% of the property and casualty insurance market in the country.

Crikey, Mate: Oil Spill Confirmed Along Great Barrier Reef

Published in Oil Industry News on Friday, 17 July 2015

Australian authorities remain on alert for a potential oil spill in waters around the Great Barrier Reef despite finding little sign of a reported kilometre-long slick off the north Queensland coast.

Maritime safety authorities in Queensland confirmed that small patches of oily water were seen in waters south of Townsville where a fisherman had earlier reported seeing a slick close to 1km long.

Aircraft from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority will renew the search for evidence of the oil spill early on Saturday, the third aerial search in 24 hours after the reported sighting 18 nautical miles off Cape Upstart national park.

Unesco spares Great Barrier Reef 'in-danger' listing but issues warning
Government agencies remain on standby to deal with a potential environmental emergency. The reef is considered one of the world’s most important natural wonders, but is under threat from warmer ocean temperatures caused by climate change and local pollution from dredging to create new ports.

A spokeswoman for Marine Safety Queensland said: “A water police vessel out of Townsville and Emergency Management Queensland helicopter investigated and reported a sheen on the water and small oily patches about one metre in diameter.”

She said the specialised AMSA aircraft would fly out of Cairns on Saturday for “an early morning inspection tomorrow of the ocean area and also of the islands and coastline in the general areas”.

MSQ confirmed it found “oily residue” on the fisherman’s boat, after he reported seeing the slick on Friday morning.

“Maritime Safety Queensland has oil pollution resources and staff on standby if required in Townsville and other ports,” the spokeswoman said.

Other agencies, AMSA, the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection and Maritime Safety Queensland are also on standby.

The spokeswoman said those agencies would meet tomorrow to “consider information reported from the morning flight [and] response options”.

Ted Winterbottom from Townsville’s Coast Guard told Fairfax Media that any oil would be blown away from the coast on Saturday before the winds switched in the afternoon.

“At the moment in the morning we are getting westerly winds, which would tend to blow it away from the shore,” he said. “But in the afternoon, they get come in a south-westerly, which is the reverse.”
Source: www.theguardian.com

WE ARE SORRY: NEXEN APOLOGIZES FOR ONE OF THE LARGEST SPILLS IN HISTORY FROM OIL SANDS PIPELINE IN ALBERTA, CANADA

It leaked 31,500 barrels of emulsion (1,323,000 gallons), a mixture of bitumen, water and sand.

 

JULY 17, 2015

CALGARY, Alberta — 

Nexen Energy apologized on Friday for an oil sands pipeline leak in the Canadian province of Alberta that is one of North America’s largest-ever oil-related spills on land, and said its clean-up crews were working around the clock.

The subsidiary of China’s CNOOC Ltd. said it is still trying to find the root cause of the leak in the pipeline, which was new and installed last year. It found a visible breach about the size of a hand, which Nexen’s automatic detection systems did not pick up.

The incident is another blow for the environmental record of the oil sands industry, already under fire from environmental groups for its carbon-intensive production process.

“We are deeply concerned with this and we sincerely apologize for the impact,” said Ron Bailey, a senior vice president of Nexen who leads the company’s Canadian operations.

The spill was detected on Wednesday and leaked 31,500 barrels of emulsion, a mixture of bitumen, water and sand.

The leak covered 16,000 square meters and the Alberta Energy Regulator said it did not contaminate any water bodies. Nexen said the area has been isolated.
The volume is larger than the July 2010 rupture of an Enbridge Inc. pipeline which spilled an estimated 20,000 barrels of crude, with some reaching Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.

Still, because the spill was bitumen emulsion, rather than oil, it would be significantly easier to clean up and less damaging to the environment, said Raj Mehta, a professor of oil and gas engineering at the University of Calgary.

“It should not be contaminating any water table. Bitumen, because it’s so viscous, is like molasses,” he said. “You can literally backhoe and scoop it up.”
Alberta Premier Rachel Notley, who on Friday finalized a Canadian energy strategy with other provincial leaders, said the leak was “very troubling” but pipelines were still the best option for transporting crude oil.

“As much as everyone was concerned to hear it had happened, it did not actually in any way shake the conclusion by all premiers that pipelines remain the safest way to move hydrocarbon products,” said Notley, whose recently elected left-wing NDP government has pledged to toughen the province’s environmental standards.

Nexen said restarting the pipeline, which connects its 9,000 barrel per day Kinosis oil sands project to Long Lake, will take “some time.” Production from Kinosis will be shut in until the pipeline is repaired.

Long Lake, which has capacity of 72,000 bpd but is producing about 50,000 bpd, is 22 miles southeast of the oil sands hub of Fort McMurray.

The largest Alberta oil-related spill on record, according to the AER, was a 40,000 barrel-release from a pipeline operated by Peace Pipe Ltd. in December 1980. More recently, a Plains Midstream Canada pipeline failed in April 2011, releasing an estimated 28,000 barrels of oil in the northwestern part of the province.

NEXEN, THE CANADIAN UNIT OF CHINA’S CNOOC LTD. REPORTS ONE OF THE LARGEST PIPELINE SPILLS IN OIL SANDS OF ALL TIME

Published in Oil Industry News on Friday, 17 July 2015

 

Nexen, the Canadian unit of China’s Cnooc Ltd., reported a spill of about 31,500 barrels of crude, sand and water in the oil-sands region after a pipeline failure, the Alberta Energy Regulator said.

The regulator is starting an investigation into the spill of so-called emulsion about 36 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of Fort McMurray, according to a statement Thursday. 

The pipeline was a 16-inch line connecting Nexen’s well pad to a processing facility, said Peter Murchland, a spokesman for the regulator.

The pipeline and pad site have been isolated to contain the release, which hasn’t affected any bodies of water. There have been no reported impacts to the public or wildlife.

Canada’s energy industry is struggling to build new pipelines, as environmental groups and communities affected by proposed projects delay construction over perceived risks of spills and rising carbon emissions from the oil sands.
Source: www.bloomberg.com