428 PIPELINES FAIL TESTING

Most oil and gas pipelines near occupied buildings in the state passed tests ordered by Colorado officials after a fatal home explosion in Firestone.

Most oil or gas pipelines located near occupied buildings in Colorado passed integrity testing ordered by Colorado regulators in the wake of a fatal home explosion in Firestone, but about 430 of the pipelines failed.

Colorado regulators on Wednesday posted the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission’s data on the integrity testing. The data showed that of the 120,814 pipeline segments within 1,000 feet of a building, 107,297 passed the integrity testing. Operators reported that 428 pipelines did not pass the testing.

A failed integrity test can mean a faulty valve, flange or a fitting that needs to be tightened, or it’s the result of corrosion in a pipe that results in a pinhole leak.

The status of another 13,090 pipelines near buildings still is unclear, and regulators are working with the operators to get more information on those pipelines.

“We’d prefer the number of failed tests be zero, but considering the volume of flowline segments under review (120,000+), it represents 0.35 percent of lines in the review,” COGCC spokesman Todd Hartman wrote in an e-mail.

He said regulators are following up with operators on all failed tests to ensure issues are addressed. Companies are required to annually conduct pipeline-integrity testing.

The order to pressure test all pipelines in Colorado within 1,000 feet of buildings in the state was issued by COGCC, which regulates the oil and gas industry, after a fatal April 17 home explosion in Firestone. Killed in the blast were Mark Martinez and Joey Irwin, who were replacing the home’s hot water heater. Martinez’s wife, Erin, was traumatically burned.

Investigators have said an abandoned return flowline connected to a well owned by Anadarko was cut. Gas seeped from the cut pipeline and entered the home through a sump pump and French drains.

Investigators have said the line linked to the explosion should not have been connected to the well and should have been capped.

Colorado regulators also are considering changes to oil and gas pipelines rules in Colorado.

A draft of those new rules will be released by the COGCC on Oct. 15. The commission then will consider those rules later in the year.