Interpretation Response #PI-16-0007 ([Ms. Jill S. Pierce] [Bradley Steele and Pierce, LLP])
Below is the interpretation response detail and a list of regulations sections applicable to this response.
Interpretation Response Details
Response Publish Date:
Company Name: Ms. Jill S. Pierce
Individual Name: Bradley Steele and Pierce, LLP
Location State: TX Country: US
View the Interpretation Document
Response text:
Ms. Jill S. Pierce
Attorney at Law
Bradley Steele and Pierce, LLP
3120 Central Mall Drive
Port Arthur, TX 77642
Dear Ms. Pierce:
In a May 27, 2016, letter to the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, (PHMSA) Southwest Region, you requested an interpretation of 49 CFR Part 192 as it applies to the Chevron South Marsh Island 207 platform and piping. You stated that you represent a client whose husband was killed on September 13, 2014 while working on a valve on a platform owned by Chevron Midstream Pipelines LLC and operated by Chevron Pipeline Company. You stated that the fatal injury occurred on Chevron's South Marsh Island 207, Platform A (located in state waters), and that you believe the platform should be subject to federal pipeline safety regulations. You stated that the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources does not exercise jurisdiction over this platform because the gas is coming from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Therefore, you request confirmation that the platform is regulated by PHMSA.
You stated that the “incoming pipelines that had to be shut-in to isolate the valve and blow down the line after the accident are located at South Marsh Island 217-A (Tiger Shoal) Platform and South Marsh Island 239-D Platform which originate in the OCS and contained natural gas.” You stated that the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) “has designated these pipelines as Transportation in their database.” Also, you enclosed a copy of a Chevron flow diagram which identifies the location of the relevant pipelines.
At a request by PHMSA for additional information, on a July 1, 2016, you explained that the pipeline has been designated by the operator as an offshore gas gathering line. Also, the valve that your client’s husband was working on when he was killed is not a valve related to protection from pressure but is merely a valve used for controlling the flow through the pipeline.
PHMSA staff searched the BSEE database and found that the pipeline at issue is not listed as a pipeline subject to PHMSA’s regulations.
Sections 191.1(b) and 192.1(b) of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, exempt pipelines that are “offshore gathering of gas in State waters upstream from the outlet flange of each facility where hydrocarbons are produced or where produced hydrocarbons are first separated, dehydrated, or otherwise processed, whichever facility is farther downstream.” Also, pipelines on the OCS that are producer operated and cross into State waters without first connecting to a transporting operator’s facility on the OCS, upstream (generally seaward) of the last valve on the last production facility on the OCS are exempt from the Part 192 regulations. The pipeline at issue is exempt from PHMSA regulations under §§ 191.1(b)(1) and 192.1(b)(1) because it is an offshore gathering line located in Louisiana State waters upstream from the outlet flange of the platform facility where hydrocarbons are produced or where produced hydrocarbons are first separated, dehydrated, or otherwise processed.
Safety equipment protecting PHMSA-regulated pipeline segments is not excluded; however, per your July 1, 2016, email, the valve that your client’s husband was working on when he was killed is not a safety valve protecting a PHMSA regulated pipeline and is accordingly also exempt from the Part 192 regulations. Therefore, the platform is not currently subject to PHMSA regulations.
If we can be of further assistance, please contact Tewabe Asebe at 202-366-5523.
Sincerely,
Cameron H. Satterthwaite
Acting Director, Office of Standards
and Rulemaking