ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2011-02-24

Gas transmission and gathering incident in OZONA, CROCKETT County, TX. Reported cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3120 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: 20110035.

Operator ID: 31618.

Reported incident date: 2/24/2011 13:00.

Location detail: 9.00

Cause detail: EXCAVATION DAMAGE BY THIRD PARTY

Cause detail: EXCAVATION ISSUE

Cause detail: IMPROPER BACKFILLING PRACTICES

Cause detail: THERE ARE THREE ONE-CALL TICKETS THAT ARE INVOLVED WITH THIS INCIDENT; ONE FROM MEADOR CONSTRUCTION (TICKET 110246447 ON 24JAN2011) AND TWO FROM CUSTOM TRENCH (TICKET 110271657 ON 27JAN2011, AND TICKET 110446923 14JAN2011). EACH TICKET HAS THE SAME SCOPE OF WORK AND START & END GPS COORDINATES. IN RESPONSE TO THESE ONE-CALL TICKETS, THE ENTERPRISE PIPELINE WAS NOT MARKED BECAUSE THE ENTERPRISE LINE LOCATOR WAS INFORMED BY EXCAVATOR EMPLOYEES THAT THE PLANNED EXCAVATION WOULD REMAIN ON THE ADJACENT ROW, AND WOULD NOT ENCROACH UPON THE ENTERPRISE ROW. THE ROUTE FOR A NEW APPROXIMATELY 6 MILE DCP PIPELINE HAD BEEN SURVEYED AND STAKED IN ROW THAT IS IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO THE ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS ROW. WHEN THE FIRST ONE-CALL WAS MADE (TICKET 110246447), THE ENTERPRISE LINE LOCATOR MET WITH MEADOR CONSTRUCTION REPRESENTATIVE MATTHEW LLOYD AND DCP CONSTRUCTION REP MIGUEL FLYNN ON 26JAN2011 TO DISCUSS THE PLANNED EXCAVATION AND WAS INFORMED THE EXCAVATION WOULD PARALLEL THE EXISTING ENTERPRISE PIPELINE, BUT REMAIN 40 FEET AWAY FROM THE ENTERPRISE PIPELINE AND ON THE ADJACENT ROW AND WOULD FOLLOW THE STAKED SURVEY ROUTE. THE ENTERPRISE LOCATOR VERIFIED THE STAKED ROUTE WAS 40' FROM THE EXISTING ENTERPRISE PIPELINE FOR THE ENTIRE 6 MILE LENGTH OF THE NEW SURVEY ROUTE. WHEN THE SECOND ONE-CALL WAS MADE (TICKET 110271657), THE ENTERPRISE LINE LOCATOR CALLED CUSTOM TRENCH EMPLOYEE STEVEN MORRIS ON 27JAN2011 TO DISCUSS THE PLANNED EXCAVATION. ON 14FEB2011 THE THIRD ONE-CALL (TICKET 110446923) WAS MADE BY CUSTOM TRENCH TO REFRESH THE SECOND ONE-CALL FOR THIS PROJECT, AT WHICH TIME THE ENTERPRISE LINE LOCATOR RETURNED TO THE EXCAVATION SITE AND VERIFIED CUSTOM TRENCH WAS STILL ON THE ADJACENT ROW AND NOT ON THE ENTERPRISE ROW. CUSTOM TRENCH CONTINUED TO FOLLOW THE SURVEYED ROUTE WITH THEIR EXCAVATION UNTIL THEY DECIDED TO RELOCATE TO THE EAST END OF THE WORK AREA TO BEGIN ANOTHER EXCAVATION. AT THE EAST END LOCATION THE EXCAVATOR DEVIATED FROM THE WORK PLAN WITHOUT NOTIFYING ENTERPRISE AND BEGAN EXCAVATING OUTSIDE OF THE SURVEYED AND STAKED ROUTE, AND ONTO THE ENTERPRISE ROW. ON 24FEB2011 THE EXCAVATOR STRUCK THE ENTERPRISE PIPELINE WITH A TRENCHING MACHINE. ENTERPRISE WAS NOT NOTIFIED OF THE CHANGE IN PLANS, NOR DID THE ACTIVE ONE-CALL TICKET INDICATE A CHANGE IN CUSTOM TRENCH'S SCOPE OF WORK.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EXCAVATION DAMAGE — THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $22,100 reported total cost, $13,852.887 in 1984 dollars, $23,632.381 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.