bc2008: Sabotage fears flow around B. C. pipelines

Sabotage fears flow around B. C. pipelines

Nathan Vanderklippe
Financial Post
November 11, 2008

Companies reviewing how to protect assets

VANCOUVER - The recent attacks on EnCana Corp. natural-gas infrastructure in northeastern B. C. have created skittishness across the industry, as other companies scramble helicopters to respond to perceived threats and consider design changes to bolster the security of future pipelines in the area.

"We're going to be looking for ways in our design to limit sabotage or anybody gaining access to [a proposed new pipeline]," said Darren Marine, president of SemCAMS, a Calgary-based sour-gas processor that is seeking National Energy Board approval to build a 150-kilometre pipeline near the area where the attacks have occurred.

In October, two explosions were triggered near interconnection points on EnCana pipelines near Tomslake, B. C., a tiny highway settlement hugging the Alberta border. A third explosion at an En-Cana wellhead was discovered on Halloween. It took nearly three days to stop the escape of gas, which contained trace amounts of deadly hydrogen sulfide.

The attacks followed a menacing letter published in a local newspaper demanding EnCana "and all other oil and gas interests" cease operating in the area, which has seen a huge boom in drilling and pipeline building in recent years.

That boom, however, continues, although those who are operating projects in the area now say they are re-examining how to protect their assets. EnCana has hired private security workers to help protect its assets while Spectra Energy Corp., which has built and operated gas infrastructure in the area for more than five decades, has put its employees on high alert. It is also taking reports of intruders far more seriously.

In the past, the company would send a truck to check out an unknown vehicle reported near a compressor station or pipeline right-of-way, a common occurrence this time of year as hunters frequent the backwoods. Now it is dispatching helicopters.

"We're reacting certainly more quickly to anything that sounds out of the ordinary," said Al Ritchie, Spectra's vice-president of operations. "We try to get there as quickly as we can just to make sure that we're on top of this."

Both Spectra and Sem-CAMS have also examined what they can do to better protect new assets in the area. SemCAMS hopes to begin construction next year on its Redwillow Pipeline, and Mr. Marine said the company is now adapting its plans to a reality where it "could be a target at any time."

"Safety's always a very high concern for us, but this certainly has heightened our awareness," he said.

SemCAMS is now considering erecting chain-link fences and barbed wire around surface pipeline infrastructure, Mr. Marine said. Gas pipelines are typically buried, but connection points and emergency shut-off valves are often above-ground, where they are generally left unsecured for ease of access. In the past, when pipeline security meant planning for equipment malfunction or corrosion, that was sufficient, since the risk of sabotage was negligible.

"Other than Wiebo [Ludwig's] fight with the guys up in Grande Prairie country, there hasn't really been any vicious attacks on oil industry equipment in Canada," said Rod Phipps, the managing partner of Concise Design, a mid-sized engineering firm that designs gas pipelines.

RCMP have not announced any arrests in connection with the three attacks.

With the current threat, industry may consider using more security cameras or encasing above-ground connections in bunkers. That, however, brings the risk of creating dangerous confined spaces, Mr. Phipps said. Companies could even consider using thicker surface pipe, a more expensive -- and not necessarily effective-- solution.

"If someone is really interested in causing destruction to something, you can't make piping so that it can't be blown up," he said. "That's not physically possible. If it's a large enough explosive and [the bomber] does it right, he'll cause piping to fail."