MOJAVE PIPELINE OPERATING COMPANY

gas_transmission Incident — — December 24, 2015

Incident Information

Incident DateDecember 24, 2015
OperatorMOJAVE PIPELINE OPERATING COMPANY
CommodityNATURAL GAS
Pipeline Typegas_transmission

Location

State
Coordinates34.85139, -116.85036

Cause

CauseEQUIPMENT FAILURE
SubcauseCOMPRESSOR OR COMPRESSOR-RELATED EQUIPMENT

Casualties

Fatalities0
Injuries0

Costs

Property Damage$3,129
Emergency Response$0
Other Costs$0

Location Map

Incident Narrative

ON 12/24/15 AT 6:30 PM PST, THE DAGGETT FIRE DEPARTMENT NOTIFIED MOJAVE KM PERSONNEL OF AN ODOR COMPLAINT COMING FROM THE DAGGETT COMPRESSOR STATION. AT 6:39 PM: A TECHNICIAN WAS DISPATCHED TO INVESTIGATE THE COMPLAINT. AT 8:08 PM: THE TECHNICIAN ARRIVED ON SITE AND AFTER INSPECTING THE SITE HE DISCOVERED THAT THE UNIT VENT VALVE WAS OPEN AND VENTING GAS. AT 8:42 PM: THE TECH MANUALLY ISOLATED THE LEAK BY CLOSING THE LOADING VALVE. AT 10:12 PM: THE NRC WAS NOTIFIED OF THE RELEASE BY KM CODES AND STANDARDS PERSONNEL. AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION WAS PERFORMED AND IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE ROOT CAUSE FOR THIS INCIDENT INVOLVED A FAULTY LIMIT SWITCH THAT RESULTED IN A SUCTION VALVE NOT CLOSING PROPERLY. MOJAVE PERSONNEL WERE ATTEMPTING TO START THIS UNIT AT DAGGETT STATION AS A PART OF THEIR ANNUAL MAINTENANCE ON DECEMBER 22, 2015. DAGGETT STATION WAS OFFLINE AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. THE LIMIT SWITCH WAS REPLACED AND FREQUENCY OF INSPECTIONS/MAINTENANCE ON LIMIT SWITCHES AND VALVES HAVE BEEN INCREASED.

About This Pipeline Incident

Pipeline incident data is reported to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). All significant incidents involving fatalities, injuries, or property damage over $50,000 must be reported.

Back to All Incidents More Incidents in