PANHANDLE EASTERN PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

A LIGHTNING STRIKE CAUSED A TRANSDUCER SIGNAL TO SPIKE RESULTING IN A CROSS-BLEED VALVE 1386-4 THAT IT WAS PROVIDING THE SIGNAL FOR TO GO CLOSED. THIS VALVE CLOSURE CAUSED A PRESSURE REDUCTION THAT RESULTED IN ANOTHER DIFFERENT CROSS-BLEED VALVE 1328 3D-2D TO OPEN FULLY IN AN ATTEMPT TO MAINTAIN PRESSURE SET-POINT. WHEN THE TRANSDUCER FOR VALVE 1386-4 RECOVERED AND STARTED PROVIDING A TRUE SIGNAL, CROSS-BLEED VALVE 1386-4 OPENED INCREASING PRESSURE. THE PRESSURE INCREASE WAS TOO FAST FOR CROSS-BLEED VALVE 1328 3D-2D TO RECOVER AND CLOSE, BEFORE THE PRESSURE ROSE TO THE SET-POINT OF THE RELIEF VALVE, RESULTING IN THE RELIEF VALVE OPERATING TO BLEED OFF THE EXCESS PRESSURE. RECORDS INDICATE THAT THE RELIEF VALVE CYCLED OPEN AND CLOSED IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CROSS-BLEED VALVE, UNTIL EQUILIBRIUM WAS REACHED AND ALL CONTROLS RETURNED TO NORMAL. THE RELIEF VALVE DISPELLED SUFFICIENT GAS TO MAKE THE EVENT REPORTABLE, ONLY BECAUSE OF GAS LOSS. **THIS REPORT IS BEING SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO PHMSA'S REQUEST, (DOCKET ID PHMSA-2013-0028), FOR SUPPLEMENTAL REPORTS FROM OPERATORS WHO SUBMITTED REPORTS FOR INCIDENTS OCCURRING AFTER JANUARY 1, 2010, WITH ANY OF THE FOLLOWING: (1) ``PIPE GIRTH WELD'' WAS SELECTED AS THE ``ITEM INVOLVED IN INCIDENT'' IN PART C3 OF THE REPORT. THE REVISED REPORT COLLECTS DATA ABOUT THE PIPE ADJACENT TO THE GIRTH WELD. (2) ``FUNCTION OF PIPELINE SYSTEM'' IS NULL IN PART E5F OF THE REPORT. THE REVISED REPORT COLLECTS THE FUNCTION OF THE PIPELINE SYSTEM FOR ALL INCIDENTS.** PART E5F OF THIS REPORT HAS BEEN COMPLETED.