ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2015-03-04

Current as of 2015-03-04 Government source

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety AdministrationOfficial agency material

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Gas transmission and gathering incident in BASTROP, BASTROP County, TX. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 6190 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: 20150046.

Operator ID: 31618.

Reported incident date: 3/4/2015 23:00.

Location detail: VALVE STATION

Cause detail: MALFUNCTION OF CONTROL/RELIEF EQUIPMENT

Cause detail: ON 3/4/2015 AT 23:00 THE 8 INCH RELIEF VALVE AT THE HILBIG REGULATOR STATION FOR LINE 36 PREMATURELY ACTUATED VENTING NATURAL GAS TO THE ATMOSPHERE. A NEARBY RESIDENT REPORTED THE EVENT TO ENTERPRISE PIPELINE CONTROL AT 23:08 AND AN ENTERPRISE TECHNICIAN WAS DISPATCHED TO THE HILBIG REGULATOR STATION. UPON TECHNICIAN'S ARRIVAL AT 00:05 ON 3/5/2015, THE TECHNICIAN FOUND THE RELIEF VALVE HAD RESET ITSELF. UPON FURTHER INVESTIGATION, IT WAS DISCOVERED THAT THE RELIEF VALVE OPERATED PREMATURELY BELOW ITS SET POINT. THE CAUSE FOR THE PREMATURE ACTUATION WAS DUE TO HYDRATES FREEZING IN THE PILOT REGULATOR/SENSING LINE. LATER ON 3/5/2015, THE RELIEF VALVE WAS TESTED SEVERAL TIMES AND FUNCTIONED PROPERLY EACH TIME AT THE DESIRED SET POINT. THE CORRECTIVE ACTION TO PREVENT FUTURE RECURRENCE INCLUDES REPLACING PILOT WITH ONE MORE SUITABLE FOR COLDER TEMPERATURES AND INSTALLING A KNOCK-OUT CYLINDER IN SENSING LINE. CORRECTIVE ACTION TAKEN: INSTALLED NEW REGULATOR WITH FILTER.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

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

PHMSA indexed costs: $18,560 reported total cost, $17,081.721 in 1984 dollars, $21,159.602 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.

This material provides agency context. It does not replace binding regulatory text, and its legal effect depends on the underlying authority and facts.