EQUITRANS MIDSTREAM CORPORATION — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2019-01-29

Gas transmission and gathering incident in LUMBERPORT, HARRISON County, WV. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 17812 NATURAL GAS released, $15,000 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: 20190017.

Operator ID: 31604.

Reported incident date: 1/29/2019 11:30.

Location detail: 460+77

Cause detail: EARTH MOVEMENT, NOT DUE TO HEAVY RAINS/FLOODS

Cause detail: ON 1/29/19 A RUPTURE OCCURRED ON THE MAINLINE OF H312 PIPELINE. THE FAILURE WAS LOCATED AT A GIRTHWELD OF AN ELBOW AND MAINLINE PIPE. THE PIPE AND COATING INFORMATION IS IN PART C OF THIS REPORT. THE FITTING INFORMATION IS 12.75", 0.375 WT, Y52. THE COATING FOR THE WELD WAS DENSO 7200. THE ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION FOUND THAT A LANDSLIDE ABOUT 150 YARDS FROM THE RUPTURE MOVED THE PIPELINE FROM IT'S ORIGINAL LOCATION APPROXIMATELY 10 FEET AND PLACED STRESSED ON THE WELD AT THE ELBOW. THE WELD WAS SENT OUT FOR ANALYSIS. THE NDT READER SHEET SHOWS THE X-RAY FOR THE WELD PASSED. THE HYDROTEST PERFORMED DURING CONSTRUCTION WAS SUCCESSFUL. TIMELINE DATE: 1/29/2019 1:03 PM CYBERTEL (ANSWERING SERVICE FOR EMERGENCY NUMBER) CALLED OPERATION FIELD TECH ABOUT POTENTIAL LEAK 1:36 PM XTO CALLED INTO EQUITRANS GAS CONTROL ABOUT POTENTIAL LEAK ON H312 1:49 PM H312 PIPELINE ISOLATED 2:30 PM EQUITRANS MIDSTREAM COMPLIANCE DEPARTMENT NOTIFIED OF POTENTIAL LINE RUPTURE 2:51 PM EQUITRANS OPERATIONS FIELD PERSONNEL PERFORMED A VISUAL CONFIRMATION OF INCIDENT 4:25 PM NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER NOTIFIED OF INCIDENT METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS SHOWED HIGH APPLIED AXIAL STRESS (LAND/SOIL MOVEMENT) ACTING ON A GIRTHWELD. THE GIRTHWELD SHOWED SOME PRE-EXISTING HYDROGEN ASSISTED COLD CRACKS OR HYDROGEN EMBRITTLEMENT, WHICH FORMED OVER TIME AS A RESULT OF HYDROGEN IN THE WELD OR A COMBINATION OF THESE TWO PROCESSES. WITH CONSULTATION, THESE CRACKS WERE STABLE UNDER HOOP STRESS BUT BECAME UNSTABLE WITH THE ADDED AXIAL STRESS. A LANDSLIDE WAS OBSERVED APPROXIMATELY 100 YARDS FROM THE FAILURE LOCATION PERPENDICULAR TO THE PIPE ON A SIDE HILL.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — EARTH MOVEMENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $86,388 reported total cost, $80,959.923 in 1984 dollars, $108,166.333 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.