GULF SOUTH PIPELINE COMPANY, LP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2017-08-03

Gas transmission and gathering incident in Not Within a Municipality, TERREBONNE PARISH County, LA. Reported cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 24 NATURAL GAS released, $418,000 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: 20170075.

Operator ID: 31728.

Reported incident date: 8/3/2017 15:11.

Location detail: 679+38

Cause detail: DESIGN-, CONSTRUCTION-, INSTALLATION-, OR FABRICATION-RELATED

Cause detail: ON AUGUST 3, 2017, GULF SOUTH PIPELINE, LP RECEIVED A REPORT OF AN UNDERWATER LEAK (17-FEET DEEP) WITH A SMALL AREA OF BUBBLING. GULF SOUTH RESPONDED, FLAGGED THE AREA, BEGAN TO ORGANIZE A DIVE CREW AND OBTAIN A LEAK CLAMP TO SECURE A POTENTIAL LEAK. WEATHER DELAYED THE ABILITY TO MOBILIZE. THE DIVE CREW BEGAN JETTING THE LEAK AREA ON AUGUST 7, 2017 AND DISCOVERED A LEAK IN WELDS AT TWO SITES. THE LINE WAS ALSO EXPOSED AND PARTIALLY SUSPENDED SO THE DETERMINATION WAS MADE TO BEGIN TO LOWER THE PRESSURE FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION. DISCOVERY OF AN INCIDENT OCCURRED AT THIS POINT. ONCE WE DISCOVERED THAT WE HAD LEAKS IN TWO WELDS, IT WAS RECOGNIZED THAT A SIGNIFICANT EXPENDITURE WOULD BE NECESSARY TO CORRECT THE ISSUE, THUS, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT AN INCIDENT HAD OCCURRED. SUSPECTED CAUSE OF WELD FAILURE IS EXCESSIVE STRESSES PLACED ON THE WELDS DUE TO THE PIPE NOT BEING FULLY SUPPORTED. A SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT WILL BE FILED ONCE COMPLETE ROOT CAUSE IS IDENTIFIED. 9-14-18 REVISED TO SUBMIT SUPPLEMENTAL REPORT; BECAUSE COSTS ARE ESTIMATES ONLY AT THIS POINT, A FINAL REPORT WILL BE REQUIRED. THE TIME SHOWN IN PART A, 15B REPRESENTS THE TIME ABANDONMENT WAS COMPLETE. GULF SOUTH ISOLATED ALL LATERALS FROM INDEX 295, INSTALLED A SUB-SEA PLIDCO FLANGE AND BLIND, PIGGED LINE SEGMENT AND FILLED WITH WATER. GULF SOUTH INTENDS TO FILE FOR FERC ABANDONMENT IN 2019. 12-6-18 GULF SOUTH HAS ABANDONED THIS PORTION OF ITS INDEX 295. UPDATED COSTS TO SUBMIT FINAL REPORT.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD — CONSTRUCTION, INSTALLATION OR FABRICATION-RELATED.

PHMSA indexed costs: $459,104 reported total cost, $226,354.498 in 1984 dollars, $552,512.24 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.