TEXAS EASTERN TRANSMISSION, LP (SPECTRA ENERGY PARTNERS, LP) — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2016-04-29

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, WESTMORELAND County, PA. Reported cause: CORROSION FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 1 injuries, 208425 NATURAL GAS released, $624,000 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: 20160042.

Operator ID: 19235.

Reported incident date: 4/29/2016 8:13.

Location detail: 2.0

Cause detail: EXTERNAL CORROSION

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 8:13 A.M. EST ON APRIL 29, 2016, TETLP'S 30-INCH DIAMETER LINE 27 TRANSPORTING NATURAL GAS FROM DELMONT COMPRESSOR STATION TO ARMAGH COMPRESSOR STATION IN PENNSYLVANIA FAILED AT MP 2.07. THE FAILURE RESULTED IN AN EXPLOSION AND FIRE. TETLP PERSONNEL WERE IMMEDIATELY DISPATCHED TO CLOSE MAINLINE BLOCK VALVES WITHIN THE DELMONT COMPRESSOR STATION AND AT THE CONEMAUGH RIVER MAINLINE VALVES AT MP 15.45. FIRST RESPONDERS EVACUATED THE PUBLIC FROM 9 STRUCTURES. METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS CONCLUDED THE FAILURE OCCURRED AT THE 5:30 O'CLOCK ORIENTATION AT A REGION OF EXTERNAL METAL LOSS NEAR A GIRTH WELD THAT HAD BEEN COATED WITH POLYETHYLENE TAPE. THE FAILURE INITIATED IN THE AXIAL DIRECTION AND PROPAGATED AXIALLY AND CIRCUMFERENTIALLY. THE PRESENCE OF EXTERNAL CORROSION AT THE FAILURE LOCATION INDICATES THAT THE FIELD JOINT COATING WAS COMPROMISED. THIS NARRATIVE DESCRIPTION HAS BEEN UPDATED SINCE FILING OF THE ORIGINAL REPORT TO REFLECT THE COMPANY'S FAILURE ANALYSIS. SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT: TETLP HAS MADE THE DECISION TO ABANDON THE IDLED SECTION OF LINE 27. TETLP HAS COMMENCED WORK ON THE REQUIRED FERC ABANDONMENT FILING.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, serious incident.

PHMSA standardized cause: CORROSION — EXTERNAL.

PHMSA indexed costs: $3,436,400 reported total cost, $1,972,008.304 in 1984 dollars, $4,248,520.127 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.