WILD GOOSE STORAGE LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2018-06-08

Gas transmission and gathering incident in GRIDLEY, BUTTE County, CA. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 5 NATURAL GAS released, $10,000 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: 20180072.

Operator ID: 31287.

Reported incident date: 6/8/2018 15:22.

Location detail: NON-APPLICABL

Cause detail: OTHER EQUIPMENT FAILURE

Cause detail: THIS INCIDENT OCCURRED ON STORAGE WELL 24HZ DURING A TUBING AND PACKER INSTALLATION WORKOVER WITH A SERVICE RIG, AFTER ATTEMPTING TO UNSEAT AND PULL THE SUB-SURFACE SAFETY VALVE (SSSV) PACKER FROM THE WELL. 0730 HRS. SERVICES ARRIVE ON LOCATION. THE CONSULTANT SUPERVISORS CONDUCT THE SAFETY MEETING, JOB PROCEDURE AND JSA'S WITH ALL PERSONNEL. 0800 HRS. REPLACE TUBING HANGER HOLD DOWN SCREWS WITH NEW. PREPARE TO KILL TUBING. CLOSE ANNULAR PREVENTER. PRESSURE UP ON TUBING AND OPEN TIW VALVE. 1130 HRS. PUMP DOWN TUBING WITH 25 BBL OF WEIGHTED HEC POLYMER PILL AND 30 BBL OF 8.7 #/FT. BRINE. TP - VACUUM. SICP - 1100 PSI. EQUALIZE BOP STACK WITH CASING PRESSURE. RETRACT HOLD DOWN SCREWS. 1200 HRS. WITH SSSV MANUFACTURING COMPANY REPRESENTATIVE PRESENT, ATTEMPT TO RELEASE THE SSSV PACKER. MANUFACTURER PROCEDURE IS TO PICK UP ON PACKER, THIS OPENS THE EQUALIZING PORTS AND PULLING 10,000 # ( +/- 28,000 # ) IN EXCESS OF THE TUBING WEIGHT, THE SSSV PACKER SHOULD RELEASE. FOLLOWING ATTEMPTS AT PULLING TO 100,000 # TOTAL TENSION WITHOUT THE PACKER RELEASING, CALCULATIONS WERE MADE BY THE CONSULTANT SUPERVISORS TO CONFIRM THAT PULLING WEIGHT COULD BE INCREASED. THE SUPERVISORS HAD A TAILGATE VERBAL SAFETY MEETING WITH ALL PERSONNEL ON SITE DIRECTING THE DRILLER TO INCREASE PULL UP TO 110,000 #. WHILE PULLING TOWARDS 110,000 #, THE SSSV PACKER APPEARED TO RELEASE AT 105,000 #. THE TUBING JUMPED UP APPROXIMATELY 10 FT, WEDGING THE TUBING HANGER INTO THE BOTTOM ELEMENT OF THE ANNULAR BAG. 1430 HRS. PUMP DOWN CASING WITH 25 BBL OF BRINE AND RIG PUMP BEGAN TO PRESSURE UP. PUMP AN ADDITIONAL 10 BBL WHILE OPENING TIW VALVE TO CHECK FOR FLOW. FLUID COMING FROM TUBING. THIS LED THE SUPERVISORS ON LOCATION TO BELIEVE THAT TUBING ABOVE THE SSSV MAY HAVE PARTED. THE SUPERVISORS THEN BLED THE CASING PRESSURE TO 0 PSI TO HELP ASSESS THE SITUATION AND PRESSURE DID NOT INCREASE. THIS WAS ANOTHER INDICATION THAT THE TUBING MAY HAVE PARTED AND THE SSSV PACKER FAILED TO RELEASE AND EQUALIZE. THE SUPERVISORS AND PERSONNEL ON SITE THEN HAD ANOTHER VERBAL TAILGATE SAFETY MEETING, INSTRUCTING THE BOP OPERATOR TO BE READY TO SHUT IN IF REQUIRED. AFTER DISCUSSIONS BETWEEN SUPERVISORS ON SITE, THE HEAD SUPERVISOR MADE THE DECISION TO OPEN THE ANNULAR BAG OF THE BOP AND GET A WEIGHT MEASUREMENT ON THE TUBING. WHEN THE ANNULAR BAG OPENED, THE TUBING STRING IMMEDIATELY BEGAN TO EJECT OUT OF THE HOLE. 16 JOINTS OF TUBING ABOVE THE SSSV SYSTEM WITH 1/4" CONTROL LINE WERE EJECTED FROM THE WELL IN AN ESTIMATED 5 TO 7 SECONDS BEFORE THE BOP'S ANNULAR BAG AND PIPE RAMS CLOSED ON TUBING AND REGAINED CONTROL OF THE WELL. NOTIFICATIONS OF THE INCIDENT WERE MADE TO THE CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS, COMPANY MANAGEMENT AND REGULATORY AUTHORITIES. EJECTED TUBING WAS CUT ABOVE THE PUP JOINT COLLAR SO THAT THE WELL COULD BE SECURED FOR THE NIGHT WITH A TIW SAFETY VALVE. WELL WAS SECURE WITH RAMS AND ANNULAR CLOSED AND TIW VALVE ON THE TUBING.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — OTHER EQUIPMENT FAILURE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $10,297 reported total cost, $5,054.231 in 1984 dollars, $12,104.544 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.