PVR MARCELLUS GAS GATHERING, LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2012-11-23

Gas transmission and gathering incident in DALLAS, MONROE TOWNSHIP County, PA. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 5400 NATURAL GAS released, $0 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: 20120127.

Operator ID: 32668.

Reported incident date: 11/23/2012 3:00.

Cause detail: MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT

Cause detail: ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 23RD AT 3:00 AM, A 4 INCH ANDERSON GREENWOOD PRESSURE RELIEF VALVE ON THE INLET SIDE OF THE CHAPIN DEHYDRATION FACILITY MALFUNCTIONED CAUSING NON-ODORIZED GAS TO BE RELEASED TO THE ATMOSPHERE. A PVR OPERATOR AND THE LOCAL FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONDED TO THE FACILITY. THE INCIDENT LASTED FOR APPROXIMATELY 30 MINUTES BEFORE THE LOCAL OPERATOR MANUALLY CLOSED THE BLOCK VALVE UNDER THE RELIEF VALVE TO STOP THE GAS FROM VENTING. SINCE NATURAL GAS IS LIGHTER THAN AIR, THE RELEASED VOLUME QUICKLY DISSIPATED WITHOUT ANY RISK TO THE PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENT, OR EMPLOYEES. AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION TEAM DETERMINED THAT THE PRESENCE OF ICE IN THE PILOT SENSING LINE OF THE VALVE WAS LIKELY THE CAUSE OF THE EQUIPMENT MALFUNCTION. THE VALVE WAS SENT TO A THIRD PARTY FOR FURTHER INSPECTION AND ANALYSIS. THE THIRD PARTY COULD NOT DEFINITIVELY DETERMINE WHETHER ICE RESULTED IN THE MALFUNCTION. HOWEVER, THE REPORT DOES STATE THAT ICE COULD HAVE VERY WELL BEEN THE PRIMARY CAUSAL FACTOR. DUE TO REDUNDANT OVERPRESSURE PROTECTION ON THIS SYSTEM, PVR DOES NOT PLAN TO REINSTALL A VALVE AT THIS LOCATION.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $21,060 reported total cost, $17,587.104 in 1984 dollars, $21,594.292 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.