# SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2016-10-25 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20160091 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2016-10-25 **Published:** 2016-11-18 Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, CLARKE County, MS. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 12781 NATURAL GAS released, $3,110 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 Not Within a Municipality, CLARKE County, MS. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 12781 NATURAL GAS released, $3,110 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: 20160091. Operator ID: 18516. Reported incident date: 10/25/2016 3:50. Location detail: MILEPOST 67.2 Cause detail: MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT Cause detail: 10/25/2016; 3:50 AM, EMPLOYEE WHO LIVES NEAR THE COMPRESSOR STATION, AWAKENED BY A NOISE, CALLED GAS CONTROL; EMPLOYEE LEARNS THERE IS AN ESD ALARM AND THE COMPRESSOR STATION IS RUNNING; EMPLOYEE LEAVES HOME TO CHECK THE COMPRESSOR STATION; WHILE IN ROUTE EMPLOYEE CALLS OTHER EMPLOYEES TO COME ASSIST AS NEEDED; EMPLOYEE ARRIVES AT COMPRESSOR STATION AT 3:58 AM AND FINDS ENGINES RUNNING AND THREE STATION YARD BLOW-OFFS VENTING; 4:03 AM GAS CONTROL CONFIRMS OTHER EMPLOYEES ARE IN ROUTE; 4:05 AM ANOTHER EMPLOYEE ARRIVES AT COMPRESSOR STATION; 4:06 AM EMPLOYEES BEGIN TAKING COMPRESSOR ENGINES OFF-LINE; 4:07 AM AS THE FIRST ENGINE WAS BEING TAKEN OFF-LINE, ALL REMAINING ENGINES WERE IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN BY THE STATION CONTROL SYSTEM; WITH ALL ENGINES SHUT DOWN, EMPLOYEES BEGIN TO ADJUST VALVES AS NEEDED TO BYPASS STATION; IN DOING SO EMPLOYEES NOTICE TWO 8-INCH STATION YARD BLOW-OFFS HAD STOPPED VENTING; EMPLOYEES FOUND MAIN LINE VALVES IN THE STATION YARD HAD PROPERLY OPENED FOR STATION BYPASS DURING THE EVENT AND NEEDED NO INTERVENTION; 4:25 AM EMPLOYEES CLOSED STATION VALVES WHICH CEASED THE GAS SUPPLY TO A 4-INCH STATION YARD BLOW-OFF; AT THIS TIME, EMPLOYEES THOUGHT THE GAS RELEASE WAS BELOW 3,000 MCF; AS PERSONNEL BECAME AVAILABLE TO CONSULT, MANAGERS DISCUSSED THE EVENT AND DETERMINED THE GAS RELEASE COULD BE A REPORTABLE VOLUME AND BEGAN CONTACTING OTHERS FOR INFORMATION AND REPORTING PURPOSES; 6:29 AM NRC TELEPHONE NOTIFICATION; DURING AND AFTER THE EVENT, CLARKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI EMA EMPLOYEES CONTACTED SNG EMPLOYEES CONCERNING THE EVENT AS THEY HAD RECENT TRAINING WITH A SNG EMPLOYEE; THE COMPRESSOR STATION RETURNED TO SERVICE 10/25/2016, 6:30 AM; INVESTIGATION LED TO THE INSTALLATION OF REBUILD KITS IN THE PILOT VALVE AND MANUAL SELECTOR BLOCK OF A CONTROL VALVE OPERATOR AS A SMALL LEAK IN EITHER COMPONENT WOULD HAVE CAUSED THE EVENT; REPAIR ALSO INCLUDED REPLACEMENT OF SAID VALVE OPERATOR'S ESD SWITCH. PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT. PHMSA indexed costs: $40,735 reported total cost, $40,925.749 in 1984 dollars, $52,898.62 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: `7f2c2310eeaae57438ad2e3b0b82f00eeb803bd81ee04b75e2717550e9db5c2a` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-24T09:49:27.610Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-cd1f70399f0433fab08313ce` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "gas_transmission_gathering", "datasetLabel": "Gas transmission and gathering", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20160091", "supplementalNumber": "17226", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2016-11-18", "receivedDateRaw": "11/18/2016" }, "operator": { "id": "18516", "name": "SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO" }, "incident": { "date": "2016-10-25", "dateRaw": "10/25/2016 3:50" }, "location": { "city": "Not Within a Municipality", "county": "CLARKE", "state": "MS", "postalCode": "39330", "latitude": 32.151145, "longitude": -88.843394, "type": "OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "MILEPOST 67.2" }, "facilityName": "ENTERPRISE COMPRESSOR STATION" }, "cause": { "category": "EQUIPMENT FAILURE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT", "NARRATIVE": "10/25/2016; 3:50 AM, EMPLOYEE WHO LIVES NEAR THE COMPRESSOR STATION, AWAKENED BY A NOISE, CALLED GAS CONTROL; EMPLOYEE LEARNS THERE IS AN ESD ALARM AND THE COMPRESSOR STATION IS RUNNING; EMPLOYEE LEAVES HOME TO CHECK THE COMPRESSOR STATION; WHILE IN ROUTE EMPLOYEE CALLS OTHER EMPLOYEES TO COME ASSIST AS NEEDED; EMPLOYEE ARRIVES AT COMPRESSOR STATION AT 3:58 AM AND FINDS ENGINES RUNNING AND THREE STATION YARD BLOW-OFFS VENTING; 4:03 AM GAS CONTROL CONFIRMS OTHER EMPLOYEES ARE IN ROUTE; 4:05 AM ANOTHER EMPLOYEE ARRIVES AT COMPRESSOR STATION; 4:06 AM EMPLOYEES BEGIN TAKING COMPRESSOR ENGINES OFF-LINE; 4:07 AM AS THE FIRST ENGINE WAS BEING TAKEN OFF-LINE, ALL REMAINING ENGINES WERE IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN BY THE STATION CONTROL SYSTEM; WITH ALL ENGINES SHUT DOWN, EMPLOYEES BEGIN TO ADJUST VALVES AS NEEDED TO BYPASS STATION; IN DOING SO EMPLOYEES NOTICE TWO 8-INCH STATION YARD BLOW-OFFS HAD STOPPED VENTING; EMPLOYEES FOUND MAIN LINE VALVES IN THE STATION YARD HAD PROPERLY OPENED FOR STATION BYPASS DURING THE EVENT AND NEEDED NO INTERVENTION; 4:25 AM EMPLOYEES CLOSED STATION VALVES WHICH CEASED THE GAS SUPPLY TO A 4-INCH STATION YARD BLOW-OFF; AT THIS TIME, EMPLOYEES THOUGHT THE GAS RELEASE WAS BELOW 3,000 MCF; AS PERSONNEL BECAME AVAILABLE TO CONSULT, MANAGERS DISCUSSED THE EVENT AND DETERMINED THE GAS RELEASE COULD BE A REPORTABLE VOLUME AND BEGAN CONTACTING OTHERS FOR INFORMATION AND REPORTING PURPOSES; 6:29 AM NRC TELEPHONE NOTIFICATION; DURING AND AFTER THE EVENT, CLARKE COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI EMA EMPLOYEES CONTACTED SNG EMPLOYEES CONCERNING THE EVENT AS THEY HAD RECENT TRAINING WITH A SNG EMPLOYEE; THE COMPRESSOR STATION RETURNED TO SERVICE 10/25/2016, 6:30 AM; INVESTIGATION LED TO THE INSTALLATION OF REBUILD KITS IN THE PILOT VALVE AND MANUAL SELECTOR BLOCK OF A CONTROL VALVE OPERATOR AS A SMALL LEAK IN EITHER COMPONENT WOULD HAVE CAUSED THE EVENT; REPAIR ALSO INCLUDED REPLACEMENT OF SAID VALVE OPERATOR'S ESD SWITCH." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "NATURAL GAS", "release": "12781", "propertyDamage": 3110, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 1200, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": null, "ignition": "NO", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE": "12781", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "3110", "PRPTY": "40735" } }, "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": 1155, "rowSha256": "8b62df42be19591d0bba23b4c1d0d6a6387419b38273b0b26e3b66e478d600f9" }, "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": 40735, "in1984Dollars": 40925.74855260699, "currentYearDollars": 52898.62009682727 }, "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": 842, "rowSha256": "775feaf1e1e6ce9541acfa4e2531dcfd5cae780a43a0daea21ad7f53c213f75f" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "SOUTHERN NATURAL GAS CO" } ```