Nexen energy oil spill

[NinePack]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...tres-1.3155907


"One of the largest leaks in Alberta history has spilled about five million litres of emulsion from a Nexen Energy pipeline at the company's Long Lake oilsands facility south of Fort McMurray."

Wow 5 million litres , How can a leak like that go for so long undetected? Thats no good

[Looch City]

That's pretty large, I wonder how long it had been leaking for before being discovered.

[GGG]

They are saying produced emulsion so this should mean it's an above ground line shouldn't it? Rather than the DilBit that makes up the underground sales oil pipelines.

[burn_this_city]

I don't get how you wouldn't notice basically half a day's production was missing from the gathering system.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by GGG

They are saying produced emulsion so this should mean it's an above ground line shouldn't it? Rather than the DilBit that makes up the underground sales oil pipelines.

Yeah this would be the return line on the above ground gathering lines from the Pads.

[malcolmk14]

Oopsie!

[Finger Cookin]

Poor old Long Lake. It's never really lived up to any of its promise.

[Northendzone]

Emulsion....yuck!!!

[GGG]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Yeah this would be the return line on the above ground gathering lines from the Pads.

Unless it catastrophically failed I don't get how you spill that much oil. There are roads along all of these that operators drive daily. So you would see a slick develop pretty quickly.

What's sad is that people will use this as an arguement to why pipelines are unsafe when the design and construction of above ground pipelines although to the same code is completely different from below ground ones.

[Peanut]

They say pipeline and not flowline in the cbc article and the AER news release. Pipeline = below ground, flowline = above ground. No?

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by Peanut

They say pipeline and not flowline in the cbc article and the AER news release. Pipeline = below ground, flowline = above ground. No?

Yes, gathering line from one of the well pads. Volume spilled is about 45% of a day's production.

Not all oil, but a mixture that includes water and sand.

[TurdFerguson]

Thanks NDP.


is that still a thing?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Peanut

They say pipeline and not flowline in the cbc article and the AER news release. Pipeline = below ground, flowline = above ground. No?

In industry terms yes but they are pipelines licensed under the pipeline act. So the media would not make that distinction.

These would be above ground.

If this was a sudden release it likely wasn't corrosion. I wonder if they dumped steam into the line to unblock it and hammered it

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by GGG

In industry terms yes but they are pipelines licensed under the pipeline act. So the media would not make that distinction.

These would be above ground.

If this was a sudden release it likely wasn't corrosion. I wonder if they dumped steam into the line to unblock it and hammered it

If it was a sudden release, it could also be a severe slug load event. But I can't see them dumping half a day's production from a sudden breach.

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by GGG

Unless it catastrophically failed I don't get how you spill that much oil. There are roads along all of these that operators drive daily. So you would see a slick develop pretty quickly.

What's sad is that people will use this as an arguement to why pipelines are unsafe when the design and construction of above ground pipelines although to the same code is completely different from below ground ones.

I'm guessing it happened overnight so it wasn't as apparent. If it was during the day I'm at a loss why they didn't recognize the issue.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by llwhiteoutll

If it was a sudden release, it could also be a severe slug load event. But I can't see them dumping half a day's production from a sudden breach.

They should be designed for slugging to the gas velocity in the line and with a typical slug the shoes should rip off first.

If you have a 24" 5k line that breaches without isolation it would only contain 1400 m^3. So you are right it would have to be a long term thing.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

I'm guessing it happened overnight so it wasn't as apparent. If it was during the day I'm at a loss why they didn't recognize the issue.

That might make sense but shouldn't the control room see the pressure drop at the plant inlet

[burn_this_city]

Originally Posted by GGG

That might make sense but shouldn't the control room see the pressure drop at the plant inlet

They should have seen it for sure. May have happened on the main trunk line where there's no valves between the plant edge and the pad valve stations.

[llwhiteoutll]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

They should have seen it for sure. May have happened on the main trunk line where there's no valves between the plant edge and the pad valve stations.

For that kind of loss there would have been pressure drop alarms in the CPF though. When your production basically goes to zero, you'll trip all kinds of stuff inside battery limits.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by GGG

That might make sense but shouldn't the control room see the pressure drop at the plant inlet

Maybe China fired the guy who watches the pressure gauges.