One Pipeline and Two Impact Assessments: Coproduction, Legal Pluralism, and the Trans Mountain Expansion Project

Canada’s Trans Mountain Expansion Pipeline project is one of the country’s most controversial in recent history. At the heart of the controversy lie questions about how to conduct impact assessments (IAs) of oil spills in marine and coastal ecosystems. This paper offers an analysis of two such IAs: one carried out by Canada through its National Energy Board and the other by Tsleil-Waututh Nation, whose unceded ancestral territory encompasses the last twenty-eight kilometers of the project’s terminus in the Burrard Inlet, British Columbia. The comparison is informed by a science and technology studies approach to coproduction, displaying the close relationship between IA law and applied scientific practice on both sides of the dispute. By attending to differing perspectives on concepts central to IA such as significance and mitigation, this case study illustrates how coproduction supports legal pluralism’s attention to diverse forms of world making inherent in IA. We close by reflecting on how such attention is relevant to Canada’s ongoing commitments, including those under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

CHINA'S ENERGY DIPLOMACY TOWARDS RUSSIA IN THE EASTERN SIBERIA PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT DURING PRESIDENT XI JINPING PERIOD

China is a very active country in building energy diplomacy relations towards Russia. Since the end of the Cold War, the intensity of energy relations between the two countries has been increasing, one of which is related to the Eastern Siberian pipeline project. The Eastern Siberian pipeline project is a strategic project for China to maintain the stability of their energy security in the future. This is what makes China under the leadership of Xi Jinping, increasingly seeking to improve their energy diplomacy relations towards Russia in an effort to develop the Eastern Siberian pipeline project which includes two major projects, specifically oil pipeline through the Eastern Siberian Pasific Ocean (ESPO) and the natural gas pipeline through the Power of Siberia. Using qualitative research methods and literature reviews, the authors sought to provide an in-depth analysis of China's implementation of energy diplomacy against Russia in the development of the Eastern Siberian pipeline. China's energy diplomacy towards Russia is part of efforts to diversify China's energy imports many involving actors of China's national energy companies. This research also proves that energy cooperation relationships are not only built within bilateral frameworks but also in multilateral frameworks as part of China-Russia efforts to accelerate the development of the Eastern Siberian pipeline.

A Case Study of Floating Offshore Super-Long Steel Pipeline Combing with Field Monitoring

How to control deformation and avoid resonance is the key to ensuring the safety of the super-long pipeline when it is floating in the sea. Based on the deformation warning value of pipeline prototype composite material obtained from laboratory tests, the raw water pipeline project in Tong’an Xiamen adopts wireless communication equipment to transmit data, supplemented by aerial photography technology to monitor and feedback the strain and vibration during the dynamic construction of long-distance pipeline floating transportation. Combined with dynamic construction, this monitoring method avoids excessive deformation and resonance of the steel pipeline during floating transportation, and prevents the destruction of the anticorrosive coating. The airtightness test after completion shows that the whole pipeline meets the acceptance requirements. The monitoring results show that the strain at the bent position of the pipeline is large in the process of floating transportation, and the jacking speed and position of the tugboats have an important influence on the deformation of the pipeline. The same type of project should focus on these aspects and timely feedback monitoring data. At the same time, the study also provides detailed strain, modal analysis and effective monitoring technology for the safety of offshore steel pipeline floating transportation.

Design Adequacy for Change in Pipeline Service: A Case Study

Pipelines have proven to be the most reliable and efficient means of transportation of hydrocarbons. Different fluids from numerous sources have different physical, chemical and operational properties, thereby separate pipelines were laid for most of the fluids. However, laying of new pipelines is becoming more and more challenging with vast and complex network of existing pipelines and topographies being faced in both onshore as well as offshore. Moreover considering the huge laying costs and risks of damaging the delicate balance of flora and fauna by entering the unchartered territories, a point does arise to optimally utilize already existing massive pipeline infrastructure. In this technical paper a method has been formulated to achieve such a cause. A case study from an existing subsea pipeline project of M/s ADOC (Japan) has been presented. Existing 8 inch subsea pipeline of M/s ADOC (Japan) from Hail Site Terminal (HST) to Mubarraz Island in UAE was originally designed for gas service. However, the client intended to use the same for treated sea water service. A thorough design adequacy check was performed to convert the existing subsea gas pipeline into a liquid pipeline. In such a case it is mandatory to check the adequacy of the pipeline for the intended service and design parameters which includes checking for suitability of already selected pipe wall thickness, on-bottom stability and free spans under the action of hydrostatic and hydrodynamic forces. The methodology adopted for this project can be generalized in order to create a framework to establish a basis to use an existing pipeline for different services.

Optimization of pipeline lifecycle cost using alternatives with different life spans

This paper suggests a pipeline project optimization approach that compares alternatives with different life spans. The average inflation rate is used to project the future maintenance, operation and replacement costs. The average interest rate is used to express all the costs in Equivalent Real Annual Cost (ERAC), which is the correct cost form to compare alternatives with different life spans. The pipe diameter, material, pressure rating, surge tank size, and inlet/outlet resistances are the decision variables. A software was compiled with a commercial pipeline software to generate all the possible design alternatives based on the decision variables. Pipe initial cost as well as operation and maintenance costs are computed for each design alternative. The alternative with the least ERAC value is the optimum one. It was found that the approach can lead to substantial savings in pipelines projects cost. For pipes 800 mm in diameter or larger, and when selecting the optimum diameter, savings are between 23 and 27% in the total project cost. When imposing certain pipe material savings in overall cost will be 8.5, 16.3 and 31.3% for ductile iron, GRP and mild steel pipe material, respectively.

Ukraine will seek a louder voice in adverse conditions

Significance Just as Zelensky's July 2019 phone call with then President Donald Trump was fading from memory, Biden's green light for the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project, in a deal with Germany, has undermined Ukraine's confidence in both countries. Kyiv is now seeking to make its own voice heard and assert its rights as a significant player rather than a pawn in international affairs. Impacts Kyiv will present the Biden summit as an achievement, whatever the outcome, although this is unlikely to affect Zelensky's ratings. The opposition will place the blame for Nord Stream 2 squarely on the Zelensky administration. Biden's decisions on Afghanistan will increase Ukrainian worries about US foreign policy commitments.

The Low-Carbon Alternative: The Effects of The West-East Gas Pipeline Project On Energy Savings And Emission Reduction — Based On Empirical Research In Hubei Province

The extensive use of natural gas has created new opportunities for low-carbon primary energy composition, and has eased the peak value of carbon emissions before the complete transition to clean energy. To explore the impact of natural gas access on energy conservation and emission reduction in inland areas of developing countries, this study examines the policy intervention effects of the West-East Gas Pipeline Project in Hubei Province. In this paper, the causal inference of multi-bandwidth and multi-core analysis is made with breakpoint regression, and then the core conclusion of the counterfactual analysis is proven to be robust by using the synthetic control method. The results show that the transportation of natural gas from west-to-east to Hubei Province can reduce the intensity of carbon emissions, which demonstrates that it is an effective low-carbon energy alternative. The West-East Gas Pipeline Project can meet the demands of a large number of energy shortages caused by the rise of the manufacturing industry and can solve the energy bottleneck in the development process in the central and eastern regions of China. The West-East Gas Pipeline Project has ensured the coordinated development of the western, central and eastern regions in China, has stabilized the economic growth rate, and has achieved high-quality growth. These achievements can serve as a reference for guiding the energy conservation and emission reduction work of a considerable number of gas-importing central provinces.