MID-CONTINENT MARKET CENTER

Incident Narrative

ON 8/11/22, AN INCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE MCMC 1204 PIPELINE. OPERATIONS RESPONDED AND DISCOVERED A PIPELINE RUPTURE APPROXIMATELY 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF KINGMAN, KS. THE PIPELINE WAS ISOLATED, BLOWN DOWN, AND DAMAGED SECTION OF PIPE REMOVED FOR METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS. GAS LOSS WAS CALCULATED AT 4.11 MMCF. UPDATE: THE THIRD PARTY FAILURE ANALYSIS REPORT ON THE RUPTURED PIPE SEGMENT INDICATED WITHIN THE PIPE BODY MATERIAL, THERE WERE INTERNAL DEFECTS AND AREAS WITHIN THE MICROSTRUCTURE OF LOW MATERIAL PROPERTIES. THESE WERE MOST LIKELY DUE TO VINTAGE STEEL MAKING PROCESSES AND PIPE MANUFACTURING METHODS (ESTIMATE PIPE MANUFACTURED IN THE 1940S). THE DEFECTS AND CRACKS SEEN TODAY PROBABLY EITHER INITIATED AND / OR BECAME BIGGER DURING THE PIPE'S CRUDE OIL SERVICE PRIOR TO 1955 IN UNKNOWN OPERATING CONDITIONS. THESE INTERNAL DEFECTS, WHILE NOT AN ISSUE AT THE START OF THE PIPELINE NATURAL GAS SERVICE IN 1955, WERE EITHER ALREADY INTERNAL CRACKS OR WERE INTERNAL CRACK INITIATION SITES. OVER THE COURSE OF ALMOST SEVENTY YEARS, THE NORMAL FLUCTUATION IN PIPELINE PRESSURES GREW AND / OR INITIATED INTERNAL CRACKS TO THE POINT THAT THE EFFECTIVE PIPE WALL THICKNESS WAS NOT ENOUGH TO CONTAIN NORMAL OPERATING PRESSURES. THIS LED TO THE PIPE WALL BULGE THAT CREATED CRACK INITIATION SITES ON THE INTERNAL PIPE SURFACE THAT BECAME CRACKS PROPAGATED BY FATIGUE AND EVENTUALLY LED TO THE PIPE SEGMENT RUPTURE. THE LAP WELD SEAM DID NOT APPEAR TO BE A FACTOR IN THIS INCIDENT. SUBMITTED BY BRENT THEEDE 3/15/2023.