DEVON GAS SERVICES LP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2003-05-28

Gas transmission and gathering incident in NEW FAIRFAX (DECATUR), WISE County, TX. Reported cause: 21. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $1,378,460 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: 20040058.

Operator ID: 31304.

Reported incident date: 5/28/2003.

Cause detail: THREADS STRIPPED, BROKEN PIPE COUPLING

Cause detail: THE INCIDENT WAS REPORTED INITIALLY BY TELEPHONE AT THAT TIME THE EXTENT OF DAMAGE WAS UNKNOWN. DEVON DETERMINED ITS LOSS TO BE $100.00 IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THIS DOLLAR VALUE DID NOT TRIGGER THE LEVEL DICTATING A REPORT BE FILED FOR THE INCIDENT. AFTER IDENTIFYING THE DAMAGE THAT OCCURRED TO THE COMPRESSION RENTAL COMPANY, (HANOVER COMPANY) WE REEVALUATED AND ARE NOW SUBMITTING A REPORT. HANOVER PROVIDED THE ATTACHED REPORT MARKED ATTACHMENT 1 CONCERNING THEIR FIRE AT OUR B-117 STATION. ATTACHMENT 1 1. It id believed that at some point between 10:45 and 18:55, a ?" nipple supplying the pre/post lube system fractured. This nipple is located on the starting system supply manifold with 120 lb pressure of continuous natural gas flow (it is normal for start systems to have no safety shut-off protection).The nipple was downstream of a 1 1/2" tee bushed down to a 1 1/2" and connected to the pre/post lube regular. 2. There is no evidence of gas accumulation and any explosion. It is believed that the leaking gas ignited immediately with the failure of the ?" nipple. 3. We believed this leaking nipple and ensuing fire created a torching effect to the area above this 1 1/2" nipple thus potentially torching the ignition system and /or any surrounding wiring and probably causing unit shutdown. (Note - Fire severely destroyed the unit's safety panel, so exact determination of what actually caused unit to shut down is unknown.) 4. We also believe the 1/2" nipple completely separated at rapid rate. With full separation there was a stream of 1/2" 120 psi gas supplying the fire. 5. There are signs of natural gas "blowing against the coupling guard. (Unlit gas left the separated nipple at 120 psi and ignited after striking the coupling guard 18" away. The fact that the coupling guard was not distorted and molten aluminum was everywhere but in that area leads us to this conclusion.) 6. This ricocheting flame created heat stress on two cast aluminum starter relay valves (SRV's) and other parts of the unit in the surrounding area. 7. Heat continued and the SRV's failed due to heat distortion thus allowing both 1 1/2" starter supplies (120 psi) to fuel the fire. 8. At some point in this process, heat distorted the GSOV thus releasing another 1 1/2" line at 45 psi to fuel the fire. (Note: This was the auto shut-off valve for fuel gas supply to the engine.) 9. Other gas leaks from process cylinder valve cap o-rings and packing probably occurred as the fire continued. 10. The fire continued to burn until discovered and was shut off with the inlet valve to the station by Jeff Murphy (Devon employee).

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — THREADED CONNECTION/COUPLING FAILURE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $1,378,460 reported total cost, $878,555.193 in 1984 dollars, $2,163,527.674 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.