Rupture

Nearly two years after the deadly San Bruno, CA, natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) is still having trouble taking full control of its 50,000-mile transmission and distribution system covering the central and northern expanses of California.

Nearly two years into the wake of the deadly San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) is still having trouble taking full control of its 50,000-mile transmission and distribution system covering the central and northern expanses of California. An internal memo from the San Francisco-based combination utility has revealed more than 120 incidents of over-pressuring on portions of its system since the Sept. 9, 2010 San Bruno tragedy.

When the payouts and penalties are totaled on the aftermath of the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) transmission pipeline rupture and explosion in San Bruno, CA, almost two years ago, the utility may pay as much as $2 billion, PG&E CEO Tony Earley told news media at a press conference Monday in San Francisco.

While Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) continues to pay a heavy price in state regulatory penalties and fines for its response to the San Bruno natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion, the San Francisco-based utility still struggles with an intensive effort to modernize its gas system recordkeeping.

The cost to Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) shareholders to deal with the aftermath of the deadly San Bruno natural gas pipeline rupture and explosion in September 2010 is approaching $1.5 billion, senior executives at the utility said Thursday.

Still stung from federal rebukes of its past natural gas pipeline safety oversight in the wake of the San Bruno, CA, pipeline rupture in 2010, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is looking at ways to elevate safety considerations in all of its proceedings, including rate cases.

The ramifications of California’s natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion last year are still largely unknown until federal and state efforts to address stepped up safety measures are fully fleshed out, two gas industry analysts at Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) told NGI Monday.

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) faces longer-term costs in excess of $1 billion related to its fatal natural gas transmission pipeline rupture and explosion last year in San Bruno, CA, the combination utility’s new CEO Anthony Earley told reporters Monday.

El Paso Corp.’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC (TGP) declared a force majeure following a rupture of a line near Batesville, MS, on Nov. 21. “About 8:30 [p.m.] one of the station operators at our Station 63 noticed a pressure change in the line…We immediately activated our emergency response plan, isolated the lines and began our regulatory notifications,” El Paso spokeswoman Gretchen Krueger told NGI. About 20 homes were evacuated; there were no injuries. The line was shut in, and an investigation was ongoing. The force majeure affects the line from MLV (Main Line Valve) 63-1 to MLV 64-1, Tennessee said in a customer notice.