# ENERGY TRANSFER COMPANY — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-09-28 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20180107 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2018-09-28 **Published:** 2018-10-26 Gas transmission and gathering incident in ROBSTOWN, NUECES County, TX. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, 0.1 NATURAL GAS released, $1,500 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident. ## Document text Gas transmission and gathering incident in ROBSTOWN, NUECES County, TX. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, 0.1 NATURAL GAS released, $1,500 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. Report number: 20180107. Operator ID: 32099. Reported incident date: 9/28/2018 7:45. Location detail: ROBSTOWN CS Cause detail: DEFECTIVE OR LOOSE TUBING OR FITTING Cause detail: ON 9-28-18, A PIPELINE OPERATOR HEARD A LEAK FROM A DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE AT APPROXIMATELY 7:15 AM, HE THEN PROCEEDED TO ISOLATE THE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT BY CLOSING THE SUPPLY VALVES. THE PIPELINE OPERATOR THEN NOTIFIED AN I&E TECHNICIAN WHO THEN ARRIVED ON SITE TO TROUBLESHOOT THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE. AT APPROXIMATELY 7:45 AM, THE I&E TECHNICIAN OPENED THE SUPPLY SENSING NEEDLE VALVES TO THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE ABOUT ONE TURN TO LISTEN FOR LEAKING GAS. AS HE WAS CLOSING THE NEEDLE VALVES, THE GAUGE COVER RUPTURED STRIKING THE EMPLOYEE IN THE ARM. THE RESULTING INJURY WAS A LACERATION ON THE EMPLOYEES LEFT ARM JUST BELOW THE ELBOW. THE EMPLOYEE WAS RUSHED INTO THE EMERGENCY ROOM AND ADMITTED OVERNIGHT. HE RECEIVED STITCHES TO THE LACERATION BUT DID NOT HAVE ANY BROKEN BONES OR ADDITIONAL SIGNIFICANT INJURIES. THE ROOT CAUSE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF THE TUBING TO THE HI PORT ON THE BACK OF THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE. THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE AND THE HOUSING ASSEMBLY CAME DIRECTLY FROM THE MANUFACTURER ALREADY MOUNTED ON THE DISCHARGE FILTER VESSEL. ETC DID NOT ASSEMBLE THE COMPONENTS. THIS SYSTEM IS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE TX RRC AS INTRASTATE. THIS INCIDENT WAS TELEPHONICALLY REPORTED TO THE TX RRC ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 A 48 HR. NRC UPDATE WAS MADE ON OCTOBER 1, 2018 AT 08:50 HRS. INCIDENT REPORT # 1226171 PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident. PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — DEFECTIVE OR LOOSE TUBING/FITTING. PHMSA indexed costs: $1,500 reported total cost, $716.534 in 1984 dollars, $1,764.602 in current-year dollars. PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings. ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents` - SHA-256: `fa940d238cb549347296d259d8054459702a4d595c5169fd956036a36240b4bc` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-22T23:55:28.172Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-5299803f203da546ef215d07` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20180107", "supplementalNumber": "31486", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2018-10-26", "receivedDateRaw": "10/26/2018" }, "operator": { "id": "32099", "name": "ENERGY TRANSFER COMPANY" }, "incident": { "date": "2018-09-28", "dateRaw": "9/28/2018 7:45" }, "location": { "city": "ROBSTOWN", "county": "NUECES", "state": "TX", "postalCode": "78380", "latitude": 27.7061111, "longitude": -97.8652778, "type": "OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "ROBSTOWN CS" }, "facilityName": "ROBSTOWN COMPRESSOR STATION" }, "cause": { "category": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "DEFECTIVE OR LOOSE TUBING OR FITTING", "NARRATIVE": "ON 9-28-18, A PIPELINE OPERATOR HEARD A LEAK FROM A DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE AT APPROXIMATELY 7:15 AM, HE THEN PROCEEDED TO ISOLATE THE PIECE OF EQUIPMENT BY CLOSING THE SUPPLY VALVES. THE PIPELINE OPERATOR THEN NOTIFIED AN I&E TECHNICIAN WHO THEN ARRIVED ON SITE TO TROUBLESHOOT THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE. AT APPROXIMATELY 7:45 AM, THE I&E TECHNICIAN OPENED THE SUPPLY SENSING NEEDLE VALVES TO THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE ABOUT ONE TURN TO LISTEN FOR LEAKING GAS. AS HE WAS CLOSING THE NEEDLE VALVES, THE GAUGE COVER RUPTURED STRIKING THE EMPLOYEE IN THE ARM. THE RESULTING INJURY WAS A LACERATION ON THE EMPLOYEES LEFT ARM JUST BELOW THE ELBOW. THE EMPLOYEE WAS RUSHED INTO THE EMERGENCY ROOM AND ADMITTED OVERNIGHT. HE RECEIVED STITCHES TO THE LACERATION BUT DID NOT HAVE ANY BROKEN BONES OR ADDITIONAL SIGNIFICANT INJURIES. THE ROOT CAUSE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED AS IMPROPER INSTALLATION OF THE TUBING TO THE HI PORT ON THE BACK OF THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE. THE DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE GAUGE AND THE HOUSING ASSEMBLY CAME DIRECTLY FROM THE MANUFACTURER ALREADY MOUNTED ON THE DISCHARGE FILTER VESSEL. ETC DID NOT ASSEMBLE THE COMPONENTS. THIS SYSTEM IS UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE TX RRC AS INTRASTATE. THIS INCIDENT WAS TELEPHONICALLY REPORTED TO THE TX RRC ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2018 A 48 HR. NRC UPDATE WAS MADE ON OCTOBER 1, 2018 AT 08:50 HRS. INCIDENT REPORT # 1226171" } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 1, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "0.1", "propertyDamage": 1500, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 0, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "1", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "0.1", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "1500", "PRPTY": "1500" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8", "archiveFilename": "Gas Transmission & Gathering Incident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "fe0b136ca4b00ac987a8bc2e195098accf910d97512c5fc3b59e62d9da5f674e", "memberPath": "incident_gas_transmission_gathering_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "b435f2a25718cf54c54e00294e6788c4f9c6860e02fb86355e75d294c243c4dd", "rowNumber": 930, "rowSha256": "b077a51c73dfca6de011d87f16fe91f53f9288078c1bdf3db12672a7553a456e" }, "caveat": "Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.", "operatorReported": true, "finalAgencyFinding": false, "flaggedAnalysis": { "dataAsOf": "2026-07-31", "flags": { "fireFirst": null, "significant": true, "serious": true }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "MATERIAL/WELD/EQUIP FAILURE", "sevenSubcategory": "DEFECTIVE OR LOOSE TUBING/FITTING", "eightCategory": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE", "eightSubcategory": "DEFECTIVE OR LOOSE TUBING/FITTING" }, "costs": { "reported": 1500, "in1984Dollars": 716.533647741702, "currentYearDollars": 1764.6018501723195 }, "caveat": "PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.", "provenance": { "sourceUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/data_statistics/pipeline/PHMSA_Pipeline_Safety_Flagged_Incidents.zip", "landingPageUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files", "catalogUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Pipelines-and-Hazmat/Pipeline-Incident-Flagged-Files/qdme-9bbm", "retrievalMode": "official_live", "archivedAt": null, "archiveSha256": "317e6a3e16d60b9b677efe391dc40258b5dd7ead83fb8bea74cb553cedfbbdec", "workbook": "gtggungs2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "gtggungs2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 1067, "rowSha256": "432016ded14b7069930d23a5f73dceed276374b5c54036621a5e6079d3e68263" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "ENERGY TRANSFER COMPANY" } ```