Forties crack fixed; flow limits lifted

Dec. 28, 2017
Ineos has completed mechanical repair of the hairline crack in its 575,000-b/d Forties crude oil pipeline system in the UK and lifted restrictions on oil and gas flow from the North Sea fields it serves.

Ineos has completed mechanical repair of the hairline crack in its 575,000-b/d Forties crude oil pipeline system in the UK and lifted restrictions on oil and gas flow from the North Sea fields it serves.

The company shut the system, including the Kinneil terminal and gas processing plant, on Dec. 11 when a routine inspection disclosed the crack on an onshore part of the system about 10 miles southwest of Aberdeen (OGJ Online, Dec. 12, 2017).

On Dec. 28 Ineos said it had partly restarted the Kinneil facility and would increase operations when gas flow allowed.

It said it expected the pipeline and terminal to be operating at normal rates about Jan. 1.