The engineering manager for a major petroleum pipeline proposal now before Canada’s National Energy Board says project design and construction will mean significant earnings potential for engineering consultants and contractors. Ray Doering, Calgary-based Enbridge Inc. head of regulatory engineering and design, says the preliminary engineering process alone for the Northern Gateway oil pipeline between Alberta and British Columbia would involve “a whole range of different specialty consultants”, including those that would assess associated marine, geotechnical and constructability issues. + Image Map Image: Enbridge “Just in that design phase, where we’re collecting and assessing data to support the detailed design, we’re
Reaction to the administration’s decision to put the brakes on future oil and gas leasing development in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf through 2017 has been divided. Industry groups blasted the decision, saying it would stifle growth. But environmental groups praised the administration for learning from the lessons of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. On Dec. 1, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said his agency would modify a proposal, released in March, for the OCS leasing program by choosing to focus resources on planning areas that already have leases for potential future development. Consequently, the area in the eastern
Administration officials have put the brakes on future oil and gas leasing development in certain areas of the Outer Continental Shelf through 2017, modifying a Dept. of Interior proposal for the OCS leasing program released in March. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Dec. 1 that the updated strategy calls for agency officials to focus their efforts on planning areas that already have leases for potential future development. Consequently, the area in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico that remains under a congressional moratorium, as well as the Mid and South Atlantic planning areas, are no longer under consideration for further
Cutting a 55-in.-dia. hole into concrete is hardly rocket science in construction, but when the hole is being cut into the concrete shell of a huge underground tank that has been storing highly radioactive plutonium waste for more than 60 years, that action could be the equivalent of a space-shuttle trip into the unknown. Photo Courtesy of WRPS Matt Landon, a project engineer for WRPS, the cleanup contractor at the Hanford nuclear-waste site in Washington state, measures the progress of a concrete cutting tool during a test on a simulated underground waste-tank dome. Photo Courtesy of WRPS Employees of WRPS
A new report offers a harsh assessment of BP, its service contractors and the U.S. Minerals Management Service in their role in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The preliminary report from a National Academy of Engineering/National Research Council committee, released on Nov. 17, suggests that BP and its service contractors “lacked a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks” at the Macondo well and learning from “near misses.” “Important decisions made to proceed toward well abandonment despite several indications of potential hazard suggest an insufficient consideration of risks,” says Donald Winter, former secretary of the
Cutting a 55-in.-dia. opening into concrete is hardly rocket science. But when it’s the concrete shell of a huge underground tank that’s been storing highly-radioactive plutonium waste for more than 60 years, the cutaway could be a doorway to the unknown. Photo: Courtesy of WRPS Matt Landon, a contractor engineer at Hanford, measures the progress of a concrete cutting tool during a test on a simulated underground waste tank dome. Related Links: Video: Closing the Radioactive Spent Fuel K Basins at Hanford At month’s end, however, a U.S. Dept. of Energy contractor’s crew at the Hanford nuclear waste cleanup site
Contractors are grading roads and clearing timber at the site of the Boy Scouts of America’s fourth high-adventure camp in Fayette County, W.Va. Construction began in October, a year after a $50-millon grant from the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation kicked off plans for the largest construction project in the history of the Boy Scouts. Since that time, more than $100 million—including $25 million from the Suzanne and Walter Scott Foundation—has been donated to the construction of the 10,600-acre reserve near Mount Hope. The reserve is called The Summit: Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, named for its largest contributor to date.
Following the initial surge in emergency response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP is in negotiations with several contractors to clean up paperwork and settle hundreds of million of dollars in payment disputes. Several contractors are claiming overdue invoices related to cleanup efforts following the April 20 explosion on BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig. The overdue payments, some more than 120 days old, are needed to pay employees, subcontractors and suppliers. Loupe Construction of Reserve, La., which was BP’s largest prime emergency-response contractor in St. Bernard Parish, La., claimed it was owed roughly $100 million. By early November, DRC
A new government report offers a harsh assessment of BP, its service contractors, and the U.S. Minerals Management Service in their respective roles in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Related Links: NAE Interim Report No Fault Assigned by Oil-spill Panel Uncalculated Risks ENR Coverage of Gulf Oil Spill The preliminary report from the National Academy of Engineering, released Nov. 17, suggests that BP and its service contractors “lacked a suitable approach for managing the inherent risks” at the Macondo well and learning from “near misses.” Click here to see full report. “Important decisions made to
After reviewing the performance of a BP-funded $360-million sand-berm project designed to keep oil from BP’s April 20, 2010, spill out of Louisiana marshes, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) has reallocated $100 million of the remaining $140 million to barrier-island restoration. With BP’s approval, the money now will be used to convert more than 10 miles of temporary berms into enduring restoration works for the islands. The other $40 million in BP funding will be used for renourishment, stabilization, environmental support and other compliance costs associated with the work, according to a Nov. 1 statement from the governor’s office. Nearly 17
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