New gas pipe holds promise for remote areas

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

As North America turns its attention to opening up Arctic natural gas resources, ExxonMobil and TransCanada PipeLines have successfully tested a new line pipe they describe as the world’s strongest and believe will improve the prospects for those remote areas.

Jointly developed under an agreement among ExxonMobil, Nippon Steel and Mitsui, the X120 line pipe is 50 percent stronger than the strongest line pipe steel commonly used for gas transmission lines and is expected to “substantially reduce pipeline project costs,” the companies said.

ExxonMobil teamed up with TransCanada to test the suitability of the new material for use in commercial applications by installing one mile of X120 pipe as part of a longer looping operation in northern Alberta.

They said the demonstration showed the X120 steel was “compatible with standard pipeline construction practices, even under severe Canadian winter conditions.

“The construction rate was comparable to rates expected for winter installation and the weld defect rate was lower than rates commonly reported for major pipeline projects,” the companies said in a statement.

The partners in the venture said that as gas becomes an increasing portion of the world’s total energy supply, many gas sources in remote areas will need “cost-effective transportation options before they can be brought to market.

“The use of X120 gas pipelines offers ExxonMobil the potential to substantially improve the economics of developing these resources and may be an enabling technology in some cases.”