crosses self
“Hail Mary, full of grace …”
Ok, the Nord pipeline incidents.
Sigh. I shouldn’t do this, but …
I call them “incidents” for a reason. I grew up in overseas oilfields. I try to, by training, observe everything from as objectively neutral a viewpoint as possible.
In my experience when anything involving energy-industry hydrocarbons explodes … well, sabotage isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. And honestly, when it comes to a pipeline running natural gas under Russian (non)maintenance, an explosion means that it’s Tuesday. Or Friday. Or another day of the week ending in “y”.
“But, LawDog,” I hear you say, “It was multiple explosions!”
Yes, 17 hours apart. No military is going to arrange for two pipes in the same general area to be destroyed 17 hours apart. Not without some Spec Ops guy having a fit of apoplexy. One pipe goes up in a busy shipping lane, in a busy sea, and everyone takes notice. Then you wait 17 hours to do the second — with 17 hours for people to show up and catch you running dirty? Nah, not buying it.
The Nord pipelines weren’t in use. To me, that means it’s time for maintenance! Hard to maintain pipes when product is flowing.
Pipelines running methane, under saltwater, require PMCS* quicker than you’d think, and more often than you’d believe.
I would bet a cup of coffee that any of the required weekly and monthly checks and services since the Russians took over have been pencil-whipped. (See Andreev Bay 1982.)
They officially shut it down in July of 2020 for maintenance, and had cornbread hell getting it back on-line, and “issues” with maintaining flow throughout the next year; shut it down again in July of 2021, with bigger “issues” — we say “issues” because the Russians won’t explain what these issues were — and even more problems, including unexplained, major disruptions in gas flow in Dec21/Jan22; Feb 22; and April 22.
Yeah, there’s problems with those lines. And these are the same folks that PMCS’d Chernobyl.
So. They’ve got pipelines with issues that are currently pressurised (with highly flammable, if not outright explosive, natural gas/methane), but not moving product. It’s time to find out what those issues are.
And they blew up. My shocked face, let me show you it. Next time, tell Sergei to put out the cigarette before pulling a pressure test.
Is there a possibility of sabotage? Yeah. Especially in the current world situation — but folks thought the Kursk went down because of hostile actions, too.
So, yes, hostile actions are a possibility, but mass amounts of explosive hydrocarbon gas + 300 feet down under salt water + shoddy Russian maintenance = “Nobody could have possibly seen this coming”, and yet another entry into the extensive Wikipedia page on “Soviet/Russian disasters”.
“But what issues could happen in an undersea pipeline that could cause ruptures?”
Oh, my sweet summer child. Many, many, many. You might go far as to ask, “What issues won’t cause a rupture in an undersea pipeline?” — It’d be easier to list.
However, in this case involving a natural gas pipeline under the pressure of 300 to 360 feet (8 atmospheres to 10 atm.) of water, I’d like you to turn your eyes towards a fun little quirk of nature called “methane hydrates”.
Well, actually, I’d like you to meditate upon “hydrate plug”, but give me a moment.
Under certain circumstances of pressure, temperature, and water presence natural gas/methane will form solid hydrates, with concomitant amounts of fun.
For the Chinese definition of fun, anyway.
Keeping hydrates from forming is a constant battle, requiring vigilance, expertise, diligence, and constant water removal. If any of these things slack at any time — you’re getting hydrate formation.
The presence of solid hydrates in a pipeline can cause flow issues (causing cracks), destabilize the pipe itself (more cracks), and cause fires (bad. Very Bad), but the big issue (pun intended) is when you form enough hydrates that it blocks the pipe entirely (see: Hydrate plug, above).
A hydrate plug is one massive pain in the tuchkiss to remove, and removal of said hydrate plugs is not a task to be undertaken by idiots, rank amateurs, morons, the terminally unlucky, or stupid people.
The Recommended Best Practice to clear a hydrate plug is a vvveeerryyy slllooowww depressurisation from BOTH ENDS, SIMULTANEOUSLY.
You really should read the whole article here… it’s pretty interesting.
Got to have oxygen to burn or explode. Once the natural gas is in the system, oxygen is so minut that combustion isn’t going to happen . Think propane tanks.
I think the author implied explosive decompression… not necessarily an explosion including fire. I posted this because I thought it was an interesting take, and one of several possible scenarios. I still favor the explanation Tom Finley posted some days back from MonkeyWerx: The Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Sabotage — MonkeyWerx
However, there are scenarios where the water can dissociate into its component atoms (H & O) under enough pressure that oxygen would be present… although not likely that it happened in this case.
Good article Hammers Thor, they could have also sent in a torpedo and set it next to the pipeline for the time delay. But anyway you take it, I do not believe in coincidence. They have underwater drones also, lasers work underwater.
Boyle’s Law -- Definition, Equation, & Facts with Examples This is something I learned in my trade school.
I note that even Lawdog (our resident pipeline expert) commented his opinion was one of many likely reasons and DID NOT Rule out US involvement.
https://news.yahoo.com/germans-call-nord-stream-2-050655816.html
Germans protesting that Nord stream must be reopened on September 26th as their tone deaf politicians say we don’t need it.
Oddly September 27 or 28th (differing reports here) Dear Nord stream went boom.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11264547/Who-DID-blow-Nord-Stream-gas-pipelines-Russia-America.html
A most regretful BUT Timely accident, eh?
I could post links to a lot of foolish statements by American “leadership” and European leaders that rather strongly point out the US soiled its White Hat (Again, if you remember Gulf of Tonkin, Iraqi “Weapons of Mass Destruction” and so on).
cui bo·no?
[kwē ˌbōnō]
EXCLAMATION
who stands, or stood, to gain (from a crime, and so might have been responsible for it)?
If Germanys citizens are about to force their government to make nice to the Russians so they DON’T Freeze in the dark the whole NATO alliance is in shambles and the Proxy War (Of GRIFT) in the Ukraine shudders to a stop.
I DO Wonder about the most recent 12.2 BILLION Dollar Ukrainian “Aid Package”. How rich a Grift pile it must be for the CONgress (spelling intentional) critters and the 10% for the Big Guy Sockpuppet.
The goals of the World Economic Forum continue to be checked off one by one. Russia and the USA must be eliminated as the PanFamWar as Michael Yon calls it (Famine Wars as I simplify it) reduces the population for them. Starvation is a powerful tool to reduce and control.
Got food, heating, shelter, ability to repair it when planned chaos damages it and trusted friends?
All of the hot houses in a country in Europe, Netherlands I think, shut down today because they can’t afford the gas bill. The article stated that these hot houses provide Europe with 40% of their vegetables. Not good.
Take it from an oil man with more stamps in his passport than most airline pilots, oil men don’t talk that way and an oil man damn-sure didn’t write it. An offshore oil man is as familiar with hydrates as he is with the price of hookers in Thailand. They are a nuisance at worst and they are fixed every single day with methanol without so much as a second thought. In my personal experience, hydrates are more of a deep water problem where the pressure is high and the temperatures are low and there is free methane escaping from the sea bed and attaching to the subsea wellhead or BOP stack. It looks and feels like brown ice. It is not uncommon for it to survive the trip to surface so you can look at it and touch it. Pipelines are a controlled environment so there is likely to be methanol injection lines everywhere the engineers thought there could be a problem with hydrates. The most common problem it causes is freezing up mechanical stuff like valve handles and injection ports (see ROV section below) in similar fashion to ice freezing up your windshield wipers. Methanol injection is standard equipment on little gas wells in the po-dunk permian basin, let alone on big stuff like North Sea pipelines. We’ve only been piping natural gas for 100 years now. The North Sea is only a couple hundred feet deep (I know because I’ve personally drilled there) so I can only assume that little stretch of water ‘tween Scandinavia and Denmark is just as shallow. Hydrocarbons need oxygen to burn and a subsea pipeline can no more burn underwater because of hydrates than gasoline or gunpowder can burn underwater.
As for salt water and corrosion inside the pipe, that is fully nonsense. How do you think the pipe got down there in the first place? It was assembled in sections on a special boat by welding and slowly rolled off the tail end as it was welded, just as if it was a single big piece of cable. It is full of sea water the minute it goes over the side. I’ve only watched it being done everywhere from Angola to Alaska. If you didn’t let the water inside, the pressure at the bottom could crush the pipe as it’s being laid. Also, every single subsea wellhead I’ve ever set has been resting on a foundation of plain old carbon steel well casing. I’m not aware that any of them have rusted off yet.
Somebody broke that stuff on purpose.
Having said all that, the shallow depths in that part of the world are EASILY REACHABLE by a civilian ROV. A thing used to work at depths over 5,000’ every single day. They are usually piloted by a couple millenial kids sitting in an air-conditioned shipping container sitting on the deck of a rig/boat. Call up Oceaneering, I’m sure they’d rent you an outfit and a couple kids to run it. They’d cut holes in anything you told them to and never say a word.
Who knows, but we can trust our authority’s, can’t we?
From a non pipeline expert, but a long time mechanic. Once the pipe blows once, isn’t there a hole to release any further pressure? 17 hours, maybe there was an ultimatum? Do or blow? (tried that with the ex, with obvious results) This long winded Explanation sounds kinda trollish. FWIW.