With surging crude oil production in the Permian Basin reaching the limits of the pipeline system, pipeline companies are working to build new capacity to avoid bottlenecks that could restrict exports out of the area.
There is a renewed interest in construction of high-voltage direct-current transmission lines as they are viewed as an ideal solution to deliver far away wind and solar energy, and to stabilize intermittent renewable power, concepts backed by a recent report prepared for the Energy Information Administration.
While a new report forecasts spending on North American pipelines and midstream infrastructure will begin declining after next year, at least one engineering firm sees significant near-term activity, partly on higher oil prices.
A joint venture between Fluor and Yokohama, Japan-based JGC was selected in April as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for LNG Canada’s proposed liquefied natural gas export facility in Kitimat, British Columbia.
The joint venture, Bayport Polymers, will take ownership of Total's existing 880-million-lb-per year polyethylene facility in Bayport, Texas and a $1.7-billion, 1-million-tons-per-year ethane steam cracker that is being built by CB&I in Port Arthur, Texas. The cracker is slated to begin operating in 2020.
Dominion Energy has stopped work on 100 miles of the 600-mile Atlantic Coast natural gas pipeline following a court decision vacating a permit related to threatened and endangered species, while an effort continues to force a work stoppage on the entire project.
California and Massachusetts are preparing to spend millions to support microgrid projects as the microgrids—energy systems that can run separately from the wider grid system to protect critical facilities from power outages—are gaining steam nationally and worldwide.
Speeding up the notoriously slow-moving Superfund program appears to be a priority for U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt as he looks to revamp the entire agency.
