KINDER MORGAN TEJAS PIPELINE

Incident Narrative

ON 5/28/18 TEJAS GAS PIPELINE (TEJAS) GAS CONTROL RECEIVED A CALL FROM A LOCAL NEARBY RESIDENT AT APPROXIMATELY 10:30 AM LOCAL TIME WITH A REPORT OF GAS VENTING AT THE 3B COMPRESSOR STATION IN MATAGORDA COUNTY, TEXAS. AT APPROXIMATELY 10:35 AM LOCAL TIME, GAS CONTROL DISPATCHED TEJAS OPERATIONS PERSONNEL TO INVESTIGATE THE REPORT OF VENTING GAS. AT 11:12 AM LOCAL TIME, OPERATIONS PERSONNEL CONFIRMED, ISOLATED, AND STOPPED THE RELEASE OF NATURAL GAS. THEY DETERMINED THE GAS ORIGINATED FROM THE RELIEVE VALVE (PSV 2020) ON COMPRESSOR UNIT NO. 1. A TOTAL OF 13,911 MSCF OF NATURAL WAS RELEASED AND REPORTED TO THE NRC AND THE TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION. A COURTESY NOTIFICATION TO THE PHMSA ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION GROUP WAS ALSO PROVIDED. A REVISED NRC REPORT WAS SUBMITTED TO CORRECT THE COMPANY NAME AND LOCATION INFORMATION (NRC NO. 1213482) ON THE SAME DAY OF THE EVENT AND A 48-HOUR UPDATE WAS ALSO PROVIDED (NRC NO. 1213568) THE FOLLOWING DAY. PSV 2020 IS LOCATED ON 10' DIAMETER STATION DISCHARGE PIPING BETWEEN THE COMPRESSOR ENGINE AND THE COOLING FANS. UPON INVESTIGATION, IT WAS DETERMINED THE RELEASE OF GAS WAS CAUSED BY THE PSV 2020 ACTUATING BELOW ITS ESTABLISHED SET-POINT. THE PRESSURES OBSERVED DURING THE EVENT DID NOT EXCEED THE ESTABLISHED MAOP OF THE STATION OR DOWNSTREAM FACILITIES. A REVIEW OF OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE RECORDS FOR PSV 2020 SHOWED IT WAS LAST TESTED ON 3/26/18 AND REPORTED TO BE WORKING PROPERLY WITH NO PROBLEMS NOTED. THE EVENT WAS CLASSIFIED AS AN ABNORMAL OPERATION AND THE IMMEDIATE CAUSE OF THE RELEASE WAS IDENTIFIED AS DEFECTIVE EQUIPMENT: A DEFECTIVE O-RING IN THE PILOT VALVE HOUSING CAUSED THE PILOT VALVE TO OPEN THE RELIEF VALVE PRIOR TO THE ESTABLISHED SET POINT. THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE O-RING FAILURE WAS DETERMINED TO BE EXCESSIVE WEAR AND TEAR. THE EXISTING PILOT UNIT WAS REMOVED AND REPLACED WITH A NEW PILOT AND PSV 2020 WAS PLACED BACK INTO SERVICE ON 5/29/18.