ONEOK WESTEX TRANSMISSION, LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2014-09-23

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, REEVES County, TX. Reported cause: CORROSION FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 38 NATURAL GAS released, $121,863 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: 20140127.

Operator ID: 31531.

Reported incident date: 9/23/2014 10:44.

Location detail: PECOS RIVER

Cause detail: EXTERNAL CORROSION

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 1044 HOURS ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2014, ONEOK WESTEX TRANSMISSION (OWT) WAS NOTIFIED BY THE PUBLIC OF A POSSIBLE GAS LEAK NEAR A PECOS RIVER CROSSING ON THE 12 INCH LINE 4001-000 ABOUT 14 MILES EAST OF PECOS, TX IN A CLASS I AREA. OWT PERSONNEL ARRIVED ON SITE AT APPROXIMATELY 1130 HOURS AND OBSERVED GAS BUBBLING UP IN WATER STANDING OVER THE PIPELINE. THE LOCATION IS VERY RURAL WITH AN OIL FIELD LEASE ROAD BRIDGE CROSSING THE RIVER ABOUT 150 FEET NORTH OF THE OWT PIPELINE. THERE WAS NO FIRE OR EXPLOSION ASSOCIATED WITH THE RELEASE. RECENT FLOODING AND CONTINUED RAIN IN THE AREA PREVENTED IMMEDIATE DIRECT ACCESS TO THE LEAKING SECTION OF PIPELINE. THE LINE SEGMENT WAS SHUT IN AND PRESSURE IN THE 17.5 MILE SEGMENT WAS REDUCED IMMEDIATELY UPON DISCOVERY OF THE LEAK. A POSITIVE PRESSURE IS BEING MAINTAINED ON THE ISOLATED SEGMENT TO KEEP WATER AND SILT OUT OF THE PIPELINE UNTIL PERSONNEL CAN SAFELY ASSESS THE PIPELINE. THE PIPELINE LEAK WILL BE ASSESSED AND REPAIRED ONCE THE FLOOD WATERS HAVE SUBSIDED. THIS WILL HOPEFULLY TO START SOON, PENDING SITE ACCESSIBILITY WITH EQUIPMENT. THIS INCIDENT REPORT WAS NOT FILED WITHIN THE 30 DAYS OF THE LEAK DISCOVERY AS IT WAS NOT EXPECTED TO MEET THE REPORTABLE INCIDENT CRITERIA AT THAT TIME. ONCE ACCESS TO THE SITE IMPROVED, A BETTER ESTIMATE FOR REPAIR WAS ESTABLISHED. THE NEW COST ESTIMATE IS MORE THAN $50,000 SO THIS INCIDENT REPORT IS BEING FILED. THIS INCIDENT REPORT IS MISSING INFORMATION THAT CAN ONLY BE DETERMINED ONCE THE LEAK IS ACCESSED AND REPAIRED. IT WILL BE UPDATED ONCE THE PIPE AND THE LEAK HAVE BEEN EVALUATED. UPDATE: THE LEAK WAS FINALLY ACCESSIBLE ON DECEMBER 8TH, 2014. EXCAVATION VIA HYDROVAC EXPOSED THE PIPELINE AND THE AREA OF THE LEAK. A 0.100' PIN HOLE WAS LOCATED AT THE 7 O'CLOCK POSITION OF THE PIPE. THE 17.57 MILE ISOLATED SECTION OF PIPELINE WAS BLOWN DOWN AND CONTRACTOR COMPLETED EXCAVATION ON DECEMBER 9TH, 2014. APPROXIMATELY 115' OF THE PIPELINE WAS CUT OUT ON DECEMBER 10TH, 2014 AND NEW 12.75' OD X-42 0.250' WT FBE ERW PIPE WAS INSTALLED ON DECEMBER 10TH AND 11TH. THE PIPELINE WAS PURGED, PRESSURED UP AND RETURNED TO SERVICE ON DECEMBER 12TH, 2014 AT APPROXIMATELY 2:30PM. THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK WAS LOCALIZED EXTERNAL CORROSION.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: CORROSION — EXTERNAL.

PHMSA indexed costs: $149,266 reported total cost, $80,607.684 in 1984 dollars, $175,957.77 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.