Ruptured

A six-foot section of a 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission system that ruptured Dec. 11 in West Virginia had wall thickness measured as low as 0.078 inches, significantly thinner than the nominal wall thickness of 0.281 inches when the pipeline was installed in 1967, according to a preliminary report issued Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

A six-foot section of a 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission system that ruptured Dec. 11 in West Virginia had wall thickness measured as low as 0.078 inches, significantly thinner than the nominal wall thickness of 0.281 inches when the pipeline was installed in 1967, according to a preliminary report issued Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The wall thickness of a section of pipe on the 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission system that ruptured Tuesday in West Virginia was significantly deteriorated, said National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators Thursday. There also was a pressure drop on the line, but the magnitude of the decrease is unknown as was whether drop was the result of the rupture or its cause.

The wall thickness of a section of pipe on the 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission system that ruptured Tuesday in West Virginia was significantly deteriorated, said National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators Thursday. There also was a pressure drop on the line, but the magnitude of the decrease is unknown as was whether drop was the result of the rupture or its cause.

The wall thickness of a section of pipe on the 20-inch diameter Columbia Gas Transmission system that ruptured last Tuesday in West Virginia was significantly deteriorated, said National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigators Thursday.

A 10-inch diameter natural gas gathering pipeline owned by Copano Energy LLC ruptured several miles north of Alice, TX, Thursday afternoon. There were no injuries or damage to property in the rural area except for a small grass fire, Copano spokesman Craig Brown told NGI. The pipeline was moving less than 5,000 Mcf/d of gas at the time at less than 500 psi operating pressure. A small amount of production from the field being served by the line is shut in. An investigation is to be conducted into the cause of the explosion, Brown said. Alice is 239 miles southwest of Houston.

Two days after a portion ruptured in a hydrostatic pressure test, replacement work was completed Wednesday on a one-mile segment of Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) 34-inch diameter transmission pipeline (Line 300B) that is part of a link to southwestern supply basins.

Bad information in the Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) recordkeeping system for the segment of natural gas transmission pipeline that ruptured in San Bruno, CA, last September did not affect the utility’s risk management analysis or assessment methodology for the flawed segment (180) on PG&E Line 132, the utility concluded in a report filed Monday with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC).

Even though water and sewer lines run parallel to the natural gas transmission pipeline that ruptured last September in San Bruno, CA, city officials, including the fire chief, were generally unaware of the gas line before the incident, according to testimony Wednesday in the second of three days of fact-gathering hearings in Washington, DC, by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).