Month: July 2009

This is carried out when there is a malfunction in the transmission of the gas or suspicion that the quality of the gas is not of the approved standard leading to the necessity to release any quantity of gas remaining in the pipeline into the atmosphere under controlled safety conditions

In order to reduce risks and costs of exploration newer techniques are constantly being developed. One of the lacuna of seismic surveys is that it provides little data regarding the nature of fluids discovered within structures and cannot easily distinguish between waterbearing and hydrocarbon bearing geological formations. Until recently the only way to identify whether hydrocarbons were present was to drill. Over the last few years O&G companies have begun using controlled source electromagnetic imaging (CSEM) as a key component in their exploration tool kits to complement their seismic data, gain a more complete picture of the sub-surface, delineate reservoirs and reduce the risk of drilling costly dry holes. The technique uses electro-magnetic signals to map the variations in the resistivity of the geological formations below the seabed. The resistivity in hydrocarbon bearing layers is typically between 10 and 100 times greater than the surrounding strata. CSEM uses this contrast in the resistivity between water and hydrocarbons to detect and delineate structures that are likely to contain oil and gas.

Natural gas pipeline companies have customers on both ends of the pipeline – the producers and processors that input gas into the pipeline, and the consumers and local distribution companies that take gas out of the pipeline. In order to manage the natural gas that enters the pipeline, and to ensure that all customers receive timely delivery of their portion of this gas, sophisticated control systems are required to monitor the gas as it travels through all sections of what could be a very lengthy pipeline network. To accomplish this task of monitoring and controlling the natural gas that is traveling through the pipeline, centralized gas control stations that collect, assimilate, and manage data received from monitoring and compressor stations are placed all along the pipe