Alliance Pipeline begins burn-off after hydrogen sulfide build-up
by Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press
The company shut its B.C.-to-Chicago pipeline after sensors detected high amounts of the corrosive, flammable gas
CALGARY—A natural gas pipeline that extends from northeastern British Columbia to the Chicago area was on August 7 shutdown while its operator disposed of dangerous hydrogen sulphide gas that got into the system.
Alliance Pipeline said it expects its mainline to be closed for an “indeterminate amount of time” as it deals with the gas, which is poisonous, corrosive, flammable and smells like rotten eggs. The company did not say how much of it entered the pipeline, only that the amount exceeded its standards.
“Our chief concern now is to ensure the safety of the public, employees and the environment,” vice-president Daniel Sutherland in a news release late Thursday.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause to our customers and we are working with our partners and the regulator to determine the cause.”
Alliance has begun burning off the gas at its Alameda compressor station about 250 kilometres southeast of Regina and at a block valve 24 kilometres northwest of the station, said Tony Straquadine, manager of commercial and government affairs.
Detectors along the pipeline alerted Alliance to the fact that hydrogen sulphide levels were too high and the pipeline was shut on Friday morning.
Alliance said the incident was the result of “complications experienced by an upstream operator,” but did not identify the company involved.
However, natural gas processor and transporter Keyera Corp. said there was a “brief operational upset” at its Simonette gas plant in northwestern Alberta on Wednesday. As a result, gas “which did not meet sales gas specifications” entered the Alliance system. It said there was no risk to the public or to the environment.
“We have offered our assistance to Alliance Pipeline and are working with our producer customers to divert gas and find alternative solutions for their production until regular operations resume on Alliance,” Keyera said.
Alliance has not offered guidance to its customers on how long to expect the line to be out of commission, said Straquadine.
The company has not had to deal with an event like this in its more than 14-year history, he added.
The Alliance Pipeline is jointly owned by an affiliate of pipeline giant Enbridge and Calgary-based Veresen. It runs 3,848 kilometres and carries 1.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day.
AltaCorp Capital analyst Dirk Lever said the outage is a “pain in the neck” for producers, but the consequences shouldn’t be too dire. He expects the line to be out of service for days, rather than weeks.
