NTSB Safety Recommendation Letter P-82-017

Page 1Official PDFNATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. I S S U E D : June 9, 1982 Mr. Raymond J. Hunt President and Treasurer Santa Fe Pipeline Company 1200 Thompson Building Tulsa, Oklahoma 74103 SAFETY RECOMMENDAT I ON ( S ) P-82-17 -------------r-- I ~ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A t 1:38 pm., c.d.t., on September 27, 1981, near Ackerly, Texas, the Chaparral Pipeline, a refined petroleum products 12-inch steel pipeline owned by the Santa Fe Pipeline Company, was damaged by a rathole drill bit; the wall of the pipe was weakened, and it ruptured under the 1,100 psig operating pressure. The ethane-propane mixture in the pipeline began to escape and was ignited by the drilling rig engine. The ensuing explosion and fire killed three persons; critically burned one person, who died 4 days later; destroyed the rathole drilling rig, a pickup truck, a road grader, a compactor, and 60 acres of cotton; and burned 12,749 barrels (535,458 gallons) of ethane-propane mixture. - 1/ The Chaparral pipeline's supervisory information and control system provided a nearly instantaneous alarm to the dispatcher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from the Ackerly Station located 4 miles downstream from the accident site, and then information confirming a line break from the San Andres Station located 46 miles upstream of the accident site. This allowed shutdown of the mainline at the downstream station within 4 minutes of the accident and shutdown of the upstream station within 10 minutes of the break. This isolated a 50-mile segment of pipeline in a timely manner; however, to further segment the pipeline and confine the rupture to a 5-mile interval, it w a s necessary to utilize a manually operated mainline valve which w a s closed 1 hour 7 minutes after the accident. This is not an isolated incident; there have been other similar pipeline accidents involving drilling activities: On September 4, 1981, a drilling rig, operated by a crew core-drilling for coal near Belle, West Virginia, punctured a 12-inch gas transmission line. The transmission line was operated by Columbia Gas Transmission Corporation and, at the time of the accident, was operating at a pressure of 600 psig. The rig operator was injured, the rig and a truck were destroyed, and an estimated volume of 3,433,000 cubic feet of gas was lost. - 1/ For more detailed information, read Pipeline Accident Report--"The Chaparral Pipeline, Explosion and Fire, Ackerly, Texas, September 27, 1981" (NTSB-PAR-82-2). 3498#

Page 2-2- On October 2, 1981, a rathole rig drilling near Andrews, Tex a crude oil gathering line. Sour crude oil escaped from the 1 was injured. On May 27, 1980, near Car pipeline operated by Santa Fe struck by a bulldozer which wa pipeline ruptured. Over 100 pe Over 500 rotary drilling rigs are currently operating in the Per Texas and New Mexico, where 12 percent of the drilling activity i takes place. A majority of the drilling is for development wells that are located in area densely underlain by pipelines, many of which are unmarked. The the jet well location, stated that he had staked and moved another location for the third time because of pipeline conflicts. The right-of-way were also indicative of th patrol report noted, "MP 171 Drilling rig postaccident patrol report stated: "MP 4 1/2 Drill pads on north edge of ROW." The Safety Board is concerned about the damage to pipeli activities and the use of outside excavation equipment since the lo be ascertained in several ways: on a title as a right-of-way encum used by the petroleum industry; from the property owner or others; as a trace on ground; by use of a pipe locator or metal detector; by the pipeline notification through use of a "one-call" system where one exist intersections with roads, in accordance with the requirements of 49 CFR 195.410. The effectivenes of the "one-call" notification system has been proven; however, statewide, "onecall" system exists in Texas. Current efforts by the pipeline industry formulate and implement a "one-call" system in the State of Texas merit the support the entire petroleum industry. As a result of its investigation, the National Trans recommends that the Santa Fe Pipeline Company: Support the pipeline industry's efforts to formulate and imple "one-call" notification system in the State of Texas. (Class E, Priorit Action) (P-82-17) BURNE'M', Chairman, GOLDMAN, Vice Chairman, and M Members, concurred in this recommendation. - 2/ "Pipeline Accident Report--Summary 82-1).#