# EL PASO NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-09-16

**Citation:** PHMSA Report 20130091  
**Type / status:** incident / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** 2013-09-16  
**Published:** 2013-10-15

Gas transmission and gathering incident in LORDSBURG, HIDALGO County, NM. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7800 NATURAL GAS released, $100 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: not significant, not serious.

## Document text

Gas transmission and gathering incident in LORDSBURG, HIDALGO County, NM. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7800 NATURAL GAS released, $100 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: 20130091.

Operator ID: 4280.

Reported incident date: 9/16/2013 8:15.

Location detail: 341

Cause detail: MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT

Cause detail: REGULATOR FAILED CAUSING RELIEF VALVE TO OPEN. DID NOT EXCEED MAOP PLUS ALLOWABLE BUILDUP. A MOONEY FLOWGRID REGULATOR FAILED BECAUSE OF A DIAPHRAM THAT RUPTURED DUE TO LOSS OF FLEXIBILITY. THE REGULATOR FAILURE TRIGGERED THE RELIEF VALVE TO OPEN. THE RELIEF VALVE FUNCTIONED PROPERLY. THE MOONEY FLOWGRID REGULATOR IS SIZE 2 INCH WITH A CAPACITY OF 535.956 MCF PER HOUR. THE AGCO RELIEF VALVE HAS AN INLET SIZE 3 INCHES AND OUTLET SIZE 4 INCHES WITH A CAPACITY OF 611.206 MCF PER HOUR. THE REGULATOR WAS REBUILT WITH A NEW DIAPHRAM AND PLACED BACK IN SERVICE 9/16/2013.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $31,300 reported total cost, $25,305.822 in 1984 dollars, $31,135.576 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: <https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge/files/2b05c2d8-d14a-4c56-ac1c-7d23a4bc31c8?download=true&filename=Gas%20Transmission%20%26%20Gathering%20Incident%20Data%20-%20January%202010%20to%20present.zip>
- Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents`
- SHA-256: `4a0063bb24460f1211f5a1b02269ef580cb30257681e965242a2d2143aebe233`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z
- Exported: 2026-08-25T05:21:24.427Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-incident-8dc857d31f5210aa9aae2ac9`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "recordKind": "pipeline_incident",
  "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering",
  "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering",
  "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present",
  "report": {
    "number": "20130091",
    "supplementalNumber": "16332",
    "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL",
    "receivedDate": "2013-10-15",
    "receivedDateRaw": "10/15/2013"
  },
  "operator": {
    "id": "4280",
    "name": "EL PASO NATURAL GAS CO"
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2013-09-16",
    "dateRaw": "9/16/2013 8:15"
  },
  "location": {
    "city": "LORDSBURG",
    "county": "HIDALGO",
    "state": "NM",
    "postalCode": "88045",
    "latitude": 32.31555,
    "longitude": -108.60888,
    "type": "OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY",
    "details": {
      "DESIGNATED_NAME": "341"
    },
    "facilityName": "LORDSBURG COMPRESSOR STATION"
  },
  "cause": {
    "category": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE",
    "details": {
      "CAUSE_DETAILS": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT",
      "NARRATIVE": "REGULATOR FAILED CAUSING RELIEF VALVE TO OPEN. DID NOT EXCEED MAOP PLUS ALLOWABLE BUILDUP. A MOONEY FLOWGRID REGULATOR FAILED BECAUSE OF A DIAPHRAM THAT RUPTURED DUE TO LOSS OF FLEXIBILITY. THE REGULATOR FAILURE TRIGGERED THE RELIEF VALVE TO OPEN. THE RELIEF VALVE FUNCTIONED PROPERLY. THE MOONEY FLOWGRID REGULATOR IS SIZE 2 INCH WITH A CAPACITY OF 535.956 MCF PER HOUR. THE AGCO RELIEF VALVE HAS AN INLET SIZE 3 INCHES AND OUTLET SIZE 4 INCHES WITH A CAPACITY OF 611.206 MCF PER HOUR. THE REGULATOR WAS REBUILT WITH A NEW DIAPHRAM AND PLACED BACK IN SERVICE 9/16/2013."
    }
  },
  "consequences": {
    "fatalities": 0,
    "injuries": 0,
    "commodity": "NATURAL GAS",
    "release": "7800",
    "propertyDamage": 100,
    "estimatedOperatorCost": 0,
    "estimatedEmergencyCost": 0,
    "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null,
    "ignition": "NO",
    "explosion": "NO",
    "evacuated": 0,
    "raw": {
      "FATAL": "0",
      "INJURE": "0",
      "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "7800",
      "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "100",
      "PRPTY": "31300"
    }
  },
  "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": 1560,
    "rowSha256": "9ee3985ed50e8c69ea3b56002b6cfd4c41f236fb1069a6020c5bf77837cbbc25"
  },
  "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": false,
      "serious": false
    },
    "standardizedCause": {
      "sevenCategory": "MATERIAL/WELD/EQUIP FAILURE",
      "sevenSubcategory": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT",
      "eightCategory": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE",
      "eightSubcategory": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT"
    },
    "costs": {
      "reported": 31300,
      "in1984Dollars": 25305.82182132548,
      "currentYearDollars": 31135.575686253043
    },
    "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": 430,
      "rowSha256": "baff5808344991984c8007e56f6ea5cfe233cc8c54e038769eda56fd77d06e40"
    }
  },
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "EL PASO NATURAL GAS CO"
}
```