American Gas Association releases guide to avoid over-pressurized gas lines

The American Gas Association (AGA) today released a guide for natural gas utilities to help avoid over-pressurization in a natural gas system.

The report, titled “Leading Practices to Reduce the Possibility of an Over-Pressurization Event,” was developed with input from stakeholders and experts across the industry, with the focus on developing leading practices that can be used to help prevent incidents, such as the one that occurred in Massachusetts in September when gas lines to 39 homes exploded due to over-pressurization.

“Soon after the natural gas incident in Massachusetts we had information about the role of over-pressurization, which allowed us to work to identify practices and procedures that can help avoid a similar devastating incident in the future,” Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of AGA, said. “Our thoughts are with the families who were impacted by the tragic incident in September, and we will continue to work to help ensure nothing like this happens again.”

The guide includes common over-pressure protection designs and equipment, and operating procedures and practices, including system monitoring, records and damage prevention. It also considers human factors, including management of change, operator qualification and field oversight, and management of the risk of an over-pressurization event, including addressing over-pressurization under the operator’s distribution integrity management plan. The guide also provides tips on working with stakeholders to upgrade utilization pressure systems.