Pipeline Safety

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Agenda

• New Mexico Gas Company

• Pipeline Basics • Damage Prevention • Leak Recognition • Hazard Awareness • Pipeline Safety • Properties of Natural

Gas

• Formed on January 30, 2009

• Purchased Natural Gas Assets from PNM • TECO Purchased NMGC September 3, 2014

• Approximately 510,000 customers throughout NM – 55% of total population

• 22 Regional Offices throughout NM – Approximately 730 employees

• 11,000+ Miles of Transmission/Distribution Pipelines

•New Mexico Gas Company - Overview

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Pipelines

• Energy used to – Heat homes and water – Cooking – Outdoor BBQ

• Safest, cleanest, most economical way to move natural gas

• Transport energy, improving quality of our lives

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Pipeline Regulation

• Department of Homeland Security • Office of Pipeline Safety • Bureau of Land Management • Federal Energy Regulatory Commission • Occupational Safety and Health

Administration • Environmental Protection Agency • New Mexico Public Regulation

Commission

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Department of Transportation Regulation Pipeline Integrity Management

• “…specifies regulations to assess, evaluate, repair and validate through comprehensive analysis the integrity of pipeline segments that, in the event of leak or failure, could affect populated areas, areas unusually sensitive to environmental damage and commercially navigable waterways. …”

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• “…The Office of Pipeline Safety is requiring that an operator develop and follow an integrity management program that provides for continually assessing the integrity of all pipeline segments that could affect these high consequence areas, through internal inspection, pressure testing, or other equally effective assessment means. …”

DOT Regulation Pipeline Integrity Management

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Pipeline Integrity Management

• Regular integrity tests – Smart pigs – Magnetic sensing

devices – Pressure tests – Electronic methods

of corrosion prevention • Maintenance to repair

and replace anomalies

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Pipeline Integrity Management

• Right-of-way patrol • Visual

inspections

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Pipeline Integrity Management

• Satellite and other remote communication technologies monitor operating conditions to pipeline control center

• Early leak detection and repair

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Pipeline Trivia

• How many miles of pipeline do you think run through the United States?

• How many miles of pipeline runs through New Mexico?

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Miles and Miles of Pipeline

• 2.1 million miles of pipeline in U.S.

• 40,000 miles of regulated pipeline in New Mexico

• 11,500 miles New Mexico Gas Company – 10,000 miles distribution – 1,500 miles of transmission

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Pipeline Infrastructure

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Pipeline Facts

• Reliable • Safe • Cost efficient • Environmentally friendly

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Pipelines In Your Community

• Mostly underground • Located in the right-of-way • Sections above ground

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Pipelines Markers

• Markers identify approximate location

• Includes information on: – Approximate location – Material transported – Emergency phone number – Pipeline operator

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Pipelines in Your Community: Direction

• Not always in straight line between markers

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Pipeline Trivia

Question: What is the greatest threat to safe, reliable pipeline

operation?

Answer: • Third-party damage releases the largest amount of

product from a pipeline

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Damage Prevention Law

• New Mexico Excavation Law: – “Every owner or operator of a pipeline facility shall be a member of a one-call notification system…” – Excavate means “the movement or removal of earth using mechanical excavating equipment or blasting, and includes auguring, backfilling, digging, drilling, grading, plowing in, pulling in, ripping, scraping, trenching, tunneling and directional boring…”

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New Mexico One-Call

• Statewide system established to prevent third-party damage

• Enables operator to mark pipelines for excavators

• CALL NMOC before you dig – New Mexico 811

at 811, or – 1-800-321-ALERT, or – 1-800-321-2537

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Report Trouble

• Suspicious activities near pipeline ROW (i.e. loitering, digging, construction)

• Damage to pipeline facilities or markers • Exposed pipe in washes, ditches or streams

Leak Recognition

If you suspect a leak

• Use your senses • Report suspected leaks

to pipeline operator • Call

1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak If you See

• Dead vegetation, for no reason • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak If you See

• Bubbling water • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak If you See

• Cloud of vapor or mist • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak If you See

• Dirt blowing into the air • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak If you See

• Cloud of vapor or mist • Fire or explosion near or involving a pipeline • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak if You Hear

• Cloud of vapor or mist • Hissing, whistling or roaring sounds • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

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Suspect a Leak if You Smell

• Cloud of vapor or mist • Skunk, rotten egg or petroleum scents • Call 1-888-NM-GAS-CO

Mixture of Hydrocarbons Gases

Mainly Methane 70-90% & includes Ethane, Propane, Butane, and Pentane

Composition Varies

•What is Natural Gas

•Production

Hydrocarbons and fluids are removed to get pure natural gas or “Pipeline Quality Gas” at a Gas Processing Plant.

Clean Burning

Environmentally Sound

Natural Gas ⁻ Colorless ⁻ Shapeless ⁻ Odorless

Combustible ⁻ ≈ 4-14% Natural Gas to

Air Ratio

Provides Energy w/few Emissions

Clean Burning

•What is Natural Gas

Refined Natural Gas Has Four Major Components:

Methane 89.92% Ethane 4.34% Propane .70% Butane .08 % Note: Actual content varies from sample to sample, so total does not equal 100%.

Characteristics of Natural Gas

• Colorless • Tasteless • Odorless

– Odorant (Mercaptan) is added – Should be Detectable at 0.1% to 0.8% – Odorant is not foolproof

• Non-Toxic

What does Toxic mean?

• Natural Gas is non-toxic. • Toxic means that a substance would harm you if

you breathe the vapors or contacted them on your skin.

• Then What Harms You? l Natural Gas Displaces Oxygen in Air l Natural Gas is Flammable, within Limits

Flammability Limits

• Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) = 4% Gas to Air mixture

• Explosive Range 4% to 14%

• Ideal Combustion 10%

• Upper Flamm. Limit (UEL) = 14%

• Ignition Temperature = 1,100° F

•0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 •Percent

•Gas-in-Air

•14%

•4%

•Thank You

•And now the Explosion Chamber!