The Department of Transportation’s Office of Pipeline Safety(OPS) yesterday gave El Paso Natural Gas the go-ahead to restoreservice to its Line 1110 from Keystone Station through the PecosRiver Compressor Station in southeast New Mexico at restrictedlevels.

El Paso immediately announced that 200 MMcf/d would be scheduledthrough the two points during its intra-day scheduling cycleTuesday, and would rise to 400 MMcf/d for Wednesday’s eveningscheduling cycle (Cycle 2). The 400 MMcf/d rate would continueuntil further notice, the pipeline said. It also noted that flowsouth from Plains would not be scheduled until today’s eveningcycle.

The OPS has restricted El Paso’s Line 1110 to 80% of theoperating pressure of Line 1103 at the time it ruptured, accordingto OPS spokeswoman Debbie Hinz. She said this would put the line ata pressure of about 538 pounds per square inch.

The restoration of service couldn’t come soon enough for El Pasocustomers who have been scrambling for transportation capacity eversince federal investigators and regulators closed down the threeoperational lines on El Paso’s South Mainline following the Aug. 19explosion and fireball that killed 11 people and critically injuredone. El Paso and its customers have been using stored gas to makeup for some of the lost transportation capacity. El Paso NaturalGas also has been relying on an El Paso Field Services pipeline andhas been helped by demand reductions by several of its largecustomers in the east-of-California market.

The Department of Energy has set up a task force to evaluate theeffects of the explosion and shutdown on the gas market.

The OPS-ordered shutdown of Line 1110 lasted 10 days, duringwhich the agency ordered El Paso to conduct extensive hydrostatic,ultrasound and X-ray tests to determine its safety, and to submit aplan for restoring service to the line.

El Paso quickly moved to restore the flow on the 30-inch Line1110, which was the least affected of the three lines that togetherfeed 1 Bcf/d to the California gas market. The other two lines,1103 and 1100, were “greatly damaged,” said Hinz, who added thetimetable for returning them to service remained uncertain at best.El Paso has a fourth pipeline on its South system, but the smalldiameter line has been out of service for some time.

El Paso has told FERC one option it is studying is installing atemporary line around the affected Pecos River area to restoreservice until a permanent repair plan is developed. El Paso saidyesterday the inspection and repair work on the 26-inch Line 1100that was ordered by the OPS is ongoing. “A notice will be posted assoon as we receive approval to place Line 1100 in service,” it toldcustomers. The ruptured Line 1103 will not be repaired untilfurther investigation by the National Transportation Safety Boardand the OPS has been completed, the pipeline said.

The NTSB has cited internal corrosion as potentially one of thecauses for the deadliest pipeline explosion in more than a decade.However, internal corrosion on large-diameter, long-distancepipelines is rare, according to an “Analysis of Internal CorrosionIncidents” issued by the Interstate Natural Gas Association ofAmerica (INGAA).

The consulting firm Kiefner & Associates reports that of1,376 total incidents on transmission and gathering pipelines filedwith the OPS since July 1984, only 180 incidents (13.1%) werecaused by internal corrosion, the INGAA analysis said. Of those, 18(1.3%) occurred on long-distance pipelines of 24 inches or more indiameter, and there were no injuries or fatalities.

El Paso alone has had 40 ruptures on its pipeline system since1984, according to DOT’s Hinz. Prior to that, an explosion in 1975on El Paso led to three fatalities, and another fatality wasreported in a 1973 incident, she said.

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