The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Unexplained Kashagan pipeline leaks are costing money for Shell, Eni:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303997604579238382282728074

To inspect the entire faulty pipeline, the consortium has dug out the onshore section over 20 miles, they said. Several sections of the pipe have been cut and shipped to a U.K. research laboratory specializing in corrosion problems, these people said.

Experts from Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp., which supplied the pipes and the welding metal, have been called for help, while special pipe-inspection devices, known in the industry as "smart pigs," have been brought in...

Technicians are focusing on the possibility that the specific grade of quenched and tempered steel that makes up the welds and the pipeline became brittle when it was exposed to H2S, a phenomenon known as "stress cracking."