As Gas-Gathering Reporting Looms, Here’s How Pipeline Operators Can Be Prepared
A new gas-gathering rule that has been issued by the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will soon expand oversight to all onshore gas-gathering pipelines, including about 425,000 miles of lines that had not previously been documented in annual reporting.
As an ever-increasing amount of gas is extracted and carried through pipelines, along come more reports of serious pipeline incidents. A new gas-gathering rule that has been issued by the US Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) will soon expand oversight to all onshore gas-gathering pipelines. The goal: To make all processes associated with pipelines safer. The new rule includes about 425,000 miles of lines that had not previously been documented in annual reporting.
The newly targeted pipelines were traditionally low-pressure lines in rural areas, but with modern frackuring and different drilling methods that have increased pressures in gathering lines—similar to that of transmission lines—the new rule is crucial to ensuring the safety of the public and the environment. Though annual reporting will not be required until March 2023, the effective date of the final rule was 16 May 2022. This means all pipeline incidents and events that occur after this date must be reported, as well as all the assets that are in place.
