Here's Why TransCanada's Keystone Pipeline Leaked Again
According to a preliminary report, Keystone leaked that day because of a "weld anomaly." VICE News has found the section of pipe that leaked was manufactured overseas in India by a company known in the past to make leaky, substandard pipe. TransCanada installed the section of pipeline in 2009 — the same year the US agency that monitors national pipelines warned there could be failures in that exact same type of pipe.
Initially, TransCanada reported a small leak this month of 187 gallons. Then it excavated the buried pipeline and updated that estimate to a whopping 16,800 gallons of oil — nearly 90 times what it first reported.
The section of pipe that failed is 30 inches in diameter and constructed with API 5L X-70 line pipe manufactured by Welspun. Based in India, Welspun manufactures pipeline and textiles including towels. The company has previously come under fire for producing substandard, leaky pipes.
On May 21, 2009 — the same year TransCanada installed the section of Keystone pipe that later leaked — the PHMSA issued an advisory bulletin to owners and operators of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines, telling these operators there was a potential for their pipes to "exhibit inconsistent chemical and mechanical properties."
"Yield strength and tensile strength properties that do not meet the line pipe specification minimums have been reported. This advisory bulletin pertains to microalloyed high strength line pipe grades, generally Grade X-70 and above."
According to the report, Kinder Morgan found sections of pipe produced by Welspun were substandard, and removed 7,100 feet of defective pipe joints. Kinder Morgan asked Welspun to investigate the substandard pipe joints and recertify them. Welspun did so, downgrading an unknown number of pipe joints from the API 5L X70 Standard to lower standards.
Welspun also provided 363 miles of pipe to Boardwalk Pipelines with a total of 485 expansion anomalies, "for a rate of over one anomaly per mile," the report stated.
"Globalization of steel pipe supply chains has made quality control more challenging and increased the need for greater domestic measures to ensure discovery of defective pipe," the report says. The group calls for the PHMSA to fully investigate the root causes of pipeline failures and better, more stringent regulation of large, high-pressure pipelines.
https://news.vice.com/article/heres-why-transcanadas-keystone-pipeline-leaked-again
According to a preliminary report, Keystone leaked that day because of a "weld anomaly." VICE News has found the section of pipe that leaked was manufactured overseas in India by a company known in the past to make leaky, substandard pipe. TransCanada installed the section of pipeline in 2009 — the same year the US agency that monitors national pipelines warned there could be failures in that exact same type of pipe.
Initially, TransCanada reported a small leak this month of 187 gallons. Then it excavated the buried pipeline and updated that estimate to a whopping 16,800 gallons of oil — nearly 90 times what it first reported.
The section of pipe that failed is 30 inches in diameter and constructed with API 5L X-70 line pipe manufactured by Welspun. Based in India, Welspun manufactures pipeline and textiles including towels. The company has previously come under fire for producing substandard, leaky pipes.
On May 21, 2009 — the same year TransCanada installed the section of Keystone pipe that later leaked — the PHMSA issued an advisory bulletin to owners and operators of natural gas and hazardous liquid pipelines, telling these operators there was a potential for their pipes to "exhibit inconsistent chemical and mechanical properties."
"Yield strength and tensile strength properties that do not meet the line pipe specification minimums have been reported. This advisory bulletin pertains to microalloyed high strength line pipe grades, generally Grade X-70 and above."
According to the report, Kinder Morgan found sections of pipe produced by Welspun were substandard, and removed 7,100 feet of defective pipe joints. Kinder Morgan asked Welspun to investigate the substandard pipe joints and recertify them. Welspun did so, downgrading an unknown number of pipe joints from the API 5L X70 Standard to lower standards.
Welspun also provided 363 miles of pipe to Boardwalk Pipelines with a total of 485 expansion anomalies, "for a rate of over one anomaly per mile," the report stated.
"Globalization of steel pipe supply chains has made quality control more challenging and increased the need for greater domestic measures to ensure discovery of defective pipe," the report says. The group calls for the PHMSA to fully investigate the root causes of pipeline failures and better, more stringent regulation of large, high-pressure pipelines.
https://news.vice.com/article/heres-why-transcanadas-keystone-pipeline-leaked-again
