COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION CORP — Gas transmission and gathering — incident on 2009-11-16

Gas transmission and gathering incident in SANDYVILLE, JACKSON County, WV. Reported cause: 15. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, $5,167 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: 20090132.

Operator ID: 2616.

Reported incident date: 11/16/2009.

Cause detail: COMPONENT

Cause detail: ON NOVEMBER 16, 2009 AT 16:40, A CALL WAS REPORTED TO COLUMBIA GAS TRANSMISSION MONITORING CENTER VIA A PASSER-BY WHO REPORTED A GAS LEAK ON A WELL LINE IN RIPLEY STORAGE FIELD. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS ON SITE SECURING THE NEARBY ROAD. THE VALVE WAS ISOLATED TO STOP THE RELEASE OF GAS. COMPANY PERSONNEL REPORTED TO THE SITE WITHIN 20 MINUTES. THE STORAGE LINE WAS ISOLATED AND THE LEAK WAS DETERMINED TO BE FROM A PIG VALVE. NO FIRE WAS INVOLVED IN THIS EVENT. FURTHER FIELD INVESTIGATION INDICATED THAT FOUR CAPSCREWS ASSOCIATED WITH THE TRUNNION PLATE OF THE 4� SHUT-OFF STYLE PIG VALVE HAD FAILED. THE MANUFACTURER OF THIS VALVE WAS NOTIFIED, THE FAILED VALVE WAS REMOVED FROM THE SITE AND THE STORAGE LINE WAS PLUGGED AND CAPPED AT BOTH ENDS. THE FAILED VALVE AND THE RECOVERED CAPSCREWS WERE SENT TO A LABORATORY FOR FURTHER ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF THE FAILURE. LABORATORY ANALYSIS DISLPAYED THAT THE CAPSCREWS WERE NOT PROPERLY TEMPERED TO THE REQUIRED TEMPERATURE LEVEL, EVEN THOUGH THEY MET THE CHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND TENSILE PROPERTY REQUIREMENTS. THERE WERE NO INDICATIONS OF ELONGATION, FRETTING OR THREAD DEFORMATION INDICATIVE OF OVER TORQUING THE SCREWS DURING INSTALLATION. THE METALLURGICAL FAILURE ANALYSIS OF PIG VALVE BOLTS REPORT WAS SUBMITTED TO THE WVPSC.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD — JOINT/FITTING/COMPONENT.

PHMSA indexed costs: $5,167 reported total cost, $2,861.412 in 1984 dollars, $6,921.073 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.