SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS CO — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2013-01-06

Gas transmission and gathering incident in PLAYA DEL REY, LOS ANGELES County, CA. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1540 NATURAL GAS released, $650,000 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: 20130009.

Operator ID: 18484.

Reported incident date: 1/6/2013 11:43.

Cause detail: OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION

Cause detail: ORIGINAL REPORT: AT THE PLAYA DEL REY UNDERGROUND STORAGE FACILITY, AN UNINTENTIONAL AND MOMENTARY OPENING OF A BLOCK VALVE ALLOWED A RELEASE OF HIGH-PRESSURE GAS INTO LOWER-RATED PRESSURE PIPING. THIS RESULTED IN UNPLANNED RELEASE OF GAS THROUGH THE RELIEVING VALVE SYSTEM AND AN OVER PRESSURE OF CERTAIN STATION PIPING. THE GAS EMITTED THROUGH THE RELIEF SYSTEM IGNITED. THE PROBABLE SOURCE OF IGNITION WAS A STATIC CHARGE. THE SYSTEM WAS ISOLATED AND FIRE EXTINGUISHED. THE SOOT FROM THE BURNED GAS CAUSED MIST DAMAGE TO NEIGHBORING HOMES, LANDSCAPING AND VEHICLES. FACILITY IS CURRENTLY SHUTDOWN DURING ON-GOING INVESTIGATION AND INSPECTION OF PIPELINE FACILITIES. THE INCIDENT IS STILL UNDER INVESTIGATION. A SUBSEQUENT REPORT WILL BE FILED WHEN INVESTIGATION IS COMPLETE AND FACILITIES ARE BACK IN SERVICE. NO INJURIES OR EVACUATIONS OCCURRED AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. SUPPLEMENTAL/FINAL REPORT - INVESTIGATION OF THE INCIDENT IS COMPLETE AND DETERMINED PROBABLE CAUSE OF THE EVENT WAS THE UNINTENTIONAL OPERATION OF A BLOCK VALVE. SINCE THE INCIDENT, ADDITIONAL MEASURES HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED TO AVOID A SIMILAR EVENT IN THE FUTURE.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: INCORRECT OPERATION — OTHER INCORRECT OPERATION.

PHMSA indexed costs: $959,750 reported total cost, $499,118.686 in 1984 dollars, $1,219,930.197 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.