VENOCO, INC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2002-10-15

Gas transmission and gathering incident in PITTSBURG, CONTRA COSTA County, CA. Reported cause: 9. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $24,000 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: 20020088.

Operator ID: 31296.

Reported incident date: 10/15/2002.

Cause detail: THIRD PARTY EXCAVATION DAMAGE

Cause detail: A THIRD PARTY CONTRACTOR WAS INSTALLING A WATER PIPELINE FOR A LOCAL WATER DEPARTMENT IN THE GENERAL VICINITY OF THE VENOCO GAS PIPELINE, BUT NOT NEAR THE PIPELINE. THE CONTRACTOR WAS MADE AWARE OF THE GAS PIPELINE LOCATION BY A VENOCO EMPLOYEE PERFORMING ROUTINE PIPELINE SYSTEM MONITORING. THE GAS PIPELINE LOCATION WAS DESCRIBED AND IDENTIFIED BY THE VENOCO EMPLOYEE TO THE CONTRACTRO SUPERVISOR ON SITE. PERMANENT PIPELINE MARKERS WERE IN PLACE IN THE IMMEDIATE AREA AND WERE POINTED OUT AS WELL AS A PIPELINE DESCRIPTION PROVIDED TO THE CONTRACTOR SUPERVISOR. FOLLOWING THE ABOVE EVENTS, THE CONTRACTOR BUILT A STAGING AREA DIRECTLY ABOVE THE VENOCO GAS PIPELINE FOR SLURRY MIXING OPERATIONS TO SUPPORT THE WATER PIPELINE PROJECT. THIS STAGING AREA WAS AWAY FROM THE TRENCHINGAND EXCAVATING ACTIVITIES DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH LAYING THE WATER PIPELINE. DEVELOPMENT OF THE STAGING AREA INCLUDED TOPPIN A SMALL KNOLL WITHIN THE STAFING AREA TO ENABLE A LEVEL WORK LOCATION. THE GAS PIPELINE RAN DIAGONALLY THROUGH THE STAGING AREA FOLLOWING THE LOCAL TOPPGRAPHY. EXCAVATION BY THE CONTRACTOR OF THE ELEVATED AREA REMOVED APPROXIMATELY 9 FEET OF EARTH ABOVE AND PROTECTING THE PIPELINE. THE FINISHED ELEVATION OF THE STAGING AREA LEFT APPROXIMATELY 6" OF EARTH PROTECTING THE HIGHEST POINT OF THE PIPELINE. APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS AFTER COMPLETION AND USE OF THE STAGING AREA VENOCO'S CONTRACTOR FOR HANDLING UNDERGROUND SERVICE ALERT (USA) NOTIFICATIONS RESPONDED TO A USA NOTIFICATION REGARDING A WATER LINE INSTALLATION NEAR THE VENOCO GAS PIPELINE. THE VENOCO CONTRACTOR VISTED THE USA LOCATION, BUT THE ACTUAL WATER PIPELINE WORK WAS NOT NEAR THE VENOCO GAS PIPELINE. AT THAT TIME VENOCO'S CONTRACTOR TALKED WITH THE WATER PIPELINE PROJECT SUPERVISOR ON-SITE REGARDING THE LOCATION OF THE GAS PIPELINE INCLUDING THE PIPELINE LOCATION WITHIN THE WATER PROJECT STAGING AREA. A MATERIAL PILE EXISTED IN THE STAGING AREA TO SUPPORT A PUG MIXER AND SLURRY OPERATIONS. THE MATERIAL PILE WAS LOCATED DIRECTLY ABOVE THE GAS PIPELINE. A FRONT END LOADER WAS BEING USED TO MOVE MATERIAL FROM THE PILE TO THE PUG MIXER. OVER A PERIOD OF TIME, WHILE MOVING MATERIAL TO THE PUG MIXER THE FRONT END LOADER WAS ALSO REMOVING ADDITIONAL EARTH ABOVE THE PIPELINE. EVENTUALLY, WHILE SCRAPING THE GROUND MOVING INTO THE MATERIAL PILE FOR ANOTHER LOAD THE FRONT END LOADER BUCKET TORE A 4" X 6" HOLE IN THE GAS PIPELINE. THE PIPELINE AUTOMATICALLY ISOLATED ON LOW PRESSURE. THE WORKER EVACUATED THE AREA, THE AREA WAS SECURED AND ISOLATED BY THE CONTRACTOR UNTIL VENOCO RESPONDERS ARRIVED. DAMAGED SECTION WAS CUT OUT AND REPAIRED.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $24,000 reported total cost, $19,917.582 in 1984 dollars, $32,476.39 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.