Gulf Natural Gas Pipeline’s Leaky Joined Back In Work

A leaky joint in a pipe that connects the world's deepest offshore platform to a 134-mile seabed pipeline has been repaired, allowing production of up to 2 percent of the nation's natural gas to resume.

Enterprise Products Partners, owner of the Independence Trail pipeline and majority owner of the Independence Hub natural gas platform, announced today that an O-ring gasket in a flex joint on the pipe has been replaced and initial tests show it is operating normally.

Volumes at the Independence Hub are flowing at reduced rates while crews finish final testing, the company said. Enterprise said the platform should be able to ramp up to full capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day by mid-June.

Enterprise shut down the pipeline on April 9 upon finding the leak and expected repairs to take up to a month. Repairs turned out to be more complicated and took longer to complete.

The flex joint that contained the faulty gasket allows the pipe to withstand the floating platform's movements.

Michael Creel, Enterprise's president and CEO, complimented engineers, divers, contractors and other personnel who worked to fix the problem as quickly as possible.

The Independence Hub, operated by Anadarko Petroleum Corp., sits in 8,000 feet of water about 185 miles southeast of New Orleans. The Trail leads to another pipeline system closer to shore that brings natural gas to market.

Two days after the shutdown, Enterprise declared force majeure, which protects the company from penalties for failing to fulfill contracts because of an uncontrollable problem.

Anadarko didn't take that step. Instead, the independent oil and gas producer's marketing staff bought natural gas on the open market to cover contracts during the shutdown, spokesman John Christiansen said.

The Independence Hub started production in July last year and had almost reached its full capacity when the leak forced the shutdown.