In the rush to accommodate shifting US natural gas supply patterns, there are worries that pipeline safety could get short shrift in companies’ plans to reverse flows or switch to oil and liquids transportation, particularly as federal standards do not specifically address such changes, observers say. “We’re in the era of multi-billion-dollar projects,” Richard Kuprewicz, president of pipeline safety consultant Accufacts, told this week’s Pipeline Safety Trust annual meeting in New Orleans. And that can lead to what he calls the “Space Shuttle syndrome,” in which the “pressure to launch can overcome safety considerations.” “Pipelines are undergoing a fundamental rebalancing” in North America as large volumes of shale gas come online, he said. And converting an older gas pipeline to a new purpose, such as carrying natural gas liquids from the Marcellus Shale south to the Gulf Coast or reversing the flow […]