According to a Reuters story, Canada’s National Energy Board announced in June it plans on setting new standards for pipeline parts after TransCanada Corp. and Enbridge discovered some parts they were using had been substandard. The Reuters story noted changes are unlikely to significantly affect pipeline operators, although parts manufacturers, the story said, may see some increased costs as they try to meet new requirements.

The story noted the NEB in April warned about parts from Technoforge, a subsidiary of Italy’s Valvitalia SpA, and Korea’s TK Corp., but did not name the companies using them. An internal memo seen be Reuters named TransCanada as the company using Technoforge fittings and an NEB official identified Enbridge as the company using TK Corp. fittings.

The NEB was to set out precise measures after a multi-party workshop in June. An NEB official told Reuters it would push for manufacturing processes where strength was determined at the design level through more calculations in coming up with attributes such as thickness and diameter. It also may push for further production processes, including heat treatment.