ENERGY TRANSFER COMPANY — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2023-03-15

Gas transmission and gathering incident in LAREDO, WEBB County, TX. Reported cause: CORROSION FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 15.12 NATURAL GAS released, $150,000 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: 20230034.

Operator ID: 32099.

Reported incident date: 3/15/2023 15:15.

Location detail: 0+00

Cause detail: INTERNAL CORROSION

Cause detail: ON MARCH 15, 2023 AT APPROXIMATELY 3:10 PM, ENERGY TRANSFER PERSONNEL IDENTIFIED A LEAK IN THE B3LTE FACILITY (28.069311 -99.923707) ON THE B3LTE SUCTION WEBB A PIPELINE. THIS IS A 12-INCH TYPE C GAS GATHERING LINE IN A RURAL AREA LOCATED IN WEBB COUNTY NEAR LAREDO, TX. OPERATIONS PROCEEDED WITH LINE ISOLATION AND UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM VALVES WERE LOCKED OUT AND TAGGED OUT BY 3:20 PM. PIPE REPLACEMENT WAS MADE ON APRIL 26, 2023 AT 5:32 PM. LINE WAS PUT BACK IN SERVICE AS OF 3:30 PM ON APRIL 28, 2023. INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THE APPARENT CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT WAS DUE TO INTERNAL CORROSION (MIC). TO PREVENT REOCCURRENCE, ENERGY TRANSFER COMPANY WILL WORK WITH SM ENERGY (PRODUCER) TO REVIEW GAS ANALYSIS AND MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AS NEEDED TO ENSURE BIOCIDE TREATMENT IS ADEQUATE. AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT, REPORTING CRITERIA WAS NOT MET. AFTER FURTHER CALCULATIONS AND INVESTIGATING, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE PROPERTY DAMAGE AND REPAIR COST WAS GOING TO EXCEED THE $129,300 REPORTING CRITERIA. ON MARCH 20, 2023, THIS INCIDENT WAS TELEPHONICALLY REPORTED TO THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER (NRC) AT 5:22 PM. A COURTESY CALL WAS ALSO MADE TO THE TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION AT 5:30 PM. PHMSA AID / CURTIS HUFF REQUESTED WE UPDATE A4 TO MATCH THE TIME IN A13, BUT WE DECLINED TO MAKE THAT CHANGE BECAUSE IT WOULD BE INACCURATE. HERE, THE FAILURE WAS IDENTIFIED (A13) FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE INCIDENT BECAME REPORTABLE (A4). UPON IDENTIFICATION OF THE FAILURE, IT WAS REASONABLE TO BELIEVE IT WAS NOT REPORTABLE AS THE PROPERTY DAMAGE REPORTING THRESHOLD WOULD NOT BE EXCEEDED FOR THIS PINHOLE LEAK. IT WAS NOT UNTIL 5 DAYS LATER THAT IT WAS DETERMINED THAT LIQUIDS RELEASED WITH THE GAS LEFT COMPANY PROPERTY AND AT THE RESULTING INCREASE IN THE REPAIR COST ESTIMATES THEN WERE DETERMINED TO FAR EXCEED WHAT WAS EXPECTED, CAUSING REPORTABILITY TO BE TRIGGERED AT THAT TIME. AFTER SUBMITTING THE FINAL REPORT, AID/HUFF AGAIN CAME BACK AND REQUIRED THAT A4'S DATE BE CHANGED, AND HE QUOTED THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FORM FOR TYPE R GATHERING INSTEAD OF TYPE C AS IS PRESENT HERE. BECAUSE AID WILL NOT ALLOW US TO CLOSE THE REPORT WITHOUT MAKING THE CHANGE, A4 WAS UPDATED AS REQUIRED BY AID TO REFLECT THE SAME TIME AS A13.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: CORROSION — INTERNAL.

PHMSA indexed costs: $350,107 reported total cost, $147,934.666 in 1984 dollars, $364,283.34 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.