# Memo: Internal — Pipeline Safety Interpretation

**Citation:** PI-94-017  
**Type / status:** guidance / guidance  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 1994-04-12

PI-94-017 response to Memo: Internal concerning 192.1.

## Document text

<<<PAGE 1>>>

April 12, 1994
INFORMATION: Helium Plant Jurisdiction
Cesar DeLeon, DPS-10
Richard Sanders, DTI-60
Regarding your memo of February 18, 1994, we have considered whether a helium plant that
receives natural gas from a 16-inch transmission line is subject to Part 192. We also considered
whether natural gas pipelines entering, inside, and exiting the plant are subject to Part 192.
According to your memo, the helium plant uses LNG facilities to refine natural gas to produce
helium. The remaining natural gas is then returned to the 16-inch transmission line. Those plant
facilities directly involved in the production of helium are not subject to Part 192, because they
are not related to the transportation of gas or the treatment of gas during its transportation.
Similarly, the plant’ s LNG facilities are not subject to Part 193 because the facilities are not used
in the pipeline transportation of gas that is subject to Part 192.
The natural gas pipeline that enters the helium plant comes under Part 192 if it is a transmission
line or regulated service line. Part 192 does not apply to the entering line if it is an unregulated
customer-owned service line. The pipeline exiting the plant that returns natural gas to the 16-inch
transmission line comes under Part 192, since the exiting line is not a rural gathering line. Other
natural gas lines inside the plant do not have to meet Part 192 as long as they do not relate to the
transportation of gas or the treatment of gas during its transportation.
#
dal/192.1
94-04-12.doc

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/legacy/interpretations/Interpretation%20Files/Pipeline/1994/PI94017.pdf>
- Source ID: `phmsa`
- SHA-256: `e649d0a65ba4138e6b78d57ad9a11759c66a75d950e7d735402acd2dbb1ebd67`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T00:59:31.977Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T12:57:06.149Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-interpretation-pi-94-017`

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```