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In This Issue

  1. Public Awareness and Engagement Workshop/USA Definition Meeting
  2. PHMSA Public Meeting to Solicit Input for 2020 Emergency Response Guidebook
  3. PHMSA Sends Gas Transmission Rule to OMB
  4. Proposed Pipeline Safety Act Modifications
  5. Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Incident Findings Published
  6. American Gas Association Recommends Adoption of API RP 1173 Pipeline Safety Management Systems
  7. AGA White Paper for Natural Gas Systems
  8. Fundamentals of Pipeline Operations Workshop
  9. California Proposed One Call Changes
  10. Illinois Gas Regulations Update
  11. Job Opening – Executive Director of the Pipeline Safety Trust
  12. 2019 Summer Industry Conference Schedule

Aliso Canyon Gas Storage Incident Findings Published

The California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) and the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) published their findings for the Southern California Gas Company, Aliso Canyon Gas Storage SS-25 Incident. The report concludes the ruptured production casing was due to external microbial corrosion.  Root cause analysis findings included:

  1. Risk assessments were not conducted to assess the wells for integrity
  2. Previous casing failures were not investigated
  3. Casing wall thickness inspections were not required by regulations and were not routinely performed in all wells
  4. Well flow rate was underestimated for well SS-25
  5. Well kill modeling was not conducted for the first 6 kill attempts
  6. No well surveillance at Aliso Canyon
  7. Single barrier production casing

The report does indicate that new regulations from DOGGR and Southern California Gas Company’s current integrity management practices address most of the root causes. The report, and a really interesting video that summarizes the history of SS-25 and the events leading up to and immediately after the failure, can be found on the CPUC website.

Underground Gas Storage
RCP is the market leader for underground gas storage integrity and risk management.  We have unmatched industry leaders, including Rick Gentges, Steve Nowaczewski, Terry Rittenhour, Phil Baker and more available to assess your program and provide practical feedback and recommendations for improving your gas storage integrity and risk programs.  For more information about RCP’s underground gas storage integrity management and risk analysis services, visit our website  or contact Jessica Foley.