Pipelines International has been launched following the merger of two companies with long histories of publishing in the pipeline and energy fields – Scientific Surveys and Great Southern Press. By combining their strengths we believe we will benefit of readers and the industry as a whole. The new company, which will be known as Great Southern Press, will build upon the successes and the strengths of the companies that formed it.

For a number of months, headlines around the world have been focusing on the economic situation and the immense difficulties the downturn has imposed on individuals and companies in many industrial sectors. There is no denying the fact that huge changes are underway, and the world as a whole is having to readjust to the new regime that these changes are introducing. Many might therefore see this as a poor choice of time to launch a new industry publication. The hydrocarbons pipeline industry is, however, particularly buoyant currently, and forecasts for the next five years are tremendously positive for both onshore and offshore pipeline construction.

Fuelled, of course, by the world’s burgeoning need for energy, gas pipeline projects have never been of greater significance, and are focusing on transporting reserves from more technically challenging areas than ever before. Oil, too, is in high demand, and requires transport over longer distances and through terrain of increasing complexity and environmental sensitivity.

Two recently published authoritative reports highlight the strength of the pipeline industry and its forecast growth over the next few years. Looking offshore, Infield Systems has identified 81,293 km of pipeline, in all water depths, that are to be installed by 2013. When adding in the approximately 22,150 km of control lines also planned, this represents an investment over five years of $US265 billion.

As far as the onshore industry is concerned, Douglas Westwood’s report points out that around 157,000 km of pipelines are planned up to 2013, at a cost of over $US178 billion, which is a 15 per cent increase in length installed and a 27 per cent increase in investment relative to the previous five-year period.

Gas pipelines will make up 95,341 km, and oil pipelines 35,034 km of the total, in which LNG transportation will also play a significant role. Some specific projects that will contribute to these totals are featured in this issue, among which are reviews of various aspects of the twin 1,220 km, 48 inch diameter Nord Stream Pipelines, which will be the longest subsea pipelines in the world when commissioned in 2011 and 2012.

Two further articles discuss the issues surrounding the design and engineering of pipelines in the Arctic, a region that is becoming of great significance. As a testament to this, the proposed pipeline to bring Alaskan gas to markets in the southern United States is expected to cost over $US30 billion, and the latest published cost estimate for the Mackenzie Gas Pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta area is $US16 billion. Many other projects are also underway or planned, as our news items show, all of which are contributing to the strength of our industry.

Pipelines International will be present at several major industry events in the next few months. Starting at the Rio de Janeiro Pipeline Conference in September, the list includes the Pipeline Technology Conference in Ostend, Belgium and our own Evaluation and Rehabilitation of Pipelines Conference in Pittsburgh, United States (organised jointly with Clarion Technical Conferences) in October, and Pemex’ biennial pipeline integrity meeting in Monterrey, Mexico, in November. The strength and of these events, and their importance, also form a bellwether for the industry as a whole, and we look forward to reporting on them in the next issue.

John Tiratsoo Editor-in-Chief