About 3:45 a.m. on March 15, 1974, the Southern Union Gas Company's 12-inch natural gas transmission pipeline ruptured in a desert near Farmington, New Mexico. Natural gas at almost 500-psig pressure escaped, ignited, and burned several hundred feet high. An 8-foot section of the 12-inch pipeline blew out, digging a crater 40 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 10 feet deep. Three persons driving down a road adjacent to the pipeline died and the earth within a 300-foot diameter was charred. At 5 a.m., the valves on both sides of the break were closed, isolating the failed section within 8.9 miles. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the brittle fracture of a longitudinal flash weld that had been weakened by localized crevice corrosion.


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    Title :

    Southern Union Gas Company Gas Transmission Pipeline Failure Near Farmington, New Mexico, March 15, 1974


    Publication date :

    1975


    Size :

    30 pages


    Type of media :

    Report


    Type of material :

    No indication


    Language :

    English




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