DEVELOPMENT OF A THIRD-PARTY DAMAGE PREVENTION PLAN

Transportadora de Gas del Norte- TGN

Fernando Shigihara - fernando.shigihara@tgn.com.ar

INTRODUCTION

World statistics show that the main cause of accidents and emergencies related to gas pipelines are excavations
carried out by third parties without a proper coordination of the works. It is therefore important to carry out
damage prevention plans to raise awareness of the risks of performing excavations, ditches and earthworks within
the gas pipeline safety zone without prior notice, authorization of TGN—and the presence of TGN at the site—
among both state owned and private companies and the general public .
For a harmonious interaction between the activities of third parties and our gas pipelines, it is important that third
parties know the pipeline exact route as well as TGN’s Safety and Emergency Control plans.
That is the main reason why we want to share our experience in the development of our Third-Party Damage
Prevention Plan, expose the main actions carried out, the lessons learned in the implementation of the plan, the
results obtained, and the future actions.

The Company

TGN operates and maintains more than 9100 km of gas pipelines and 20 compressor stations with an installed
capacity of 375,620 HP, which allow the Neuquina, Northwest and Bolivian basins to be connected with 8 of the
9 distributors, industries and thermal power plants located in 15 Argentine provinces.
TGN is currently responsible for the transportation of 40% of the gas injected into Argentine trunk pipelines,
which represents 18% of the Argentine energy matrix.
Threats in the industry

The main threats to the integrity of the pipelines are identified as follows:

UnknownSCC
Other 4% 1%
7%
Operation Errors
7% Third Party Damage
33%
Internal Corrosion
7%

Equipment Failure
8%

Material Defects External Corrosion

10%
Acts of Nature 12%
11%

 Internal corrosion + external + SCC 22%

 Acts of nature 11%
 Third Party damage 33%

Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration - U.S. Department of Transportation

Examples in Argentina

In Argentina, we have different examples of third-parties causing damage to pipelines: the cleaning of rural roads
or ditches and the deepening of channels and canals are some of them.

Cleaning of rural roads – Ditches - Province of Santa Fe

 Cleaning of rural roads – Ditches - Province of Santa Fe

Deepening of channels and canals - Province of Buenos Aires

 Accident on a 4 " distribution gas pipeline – Province of Córdoba

Consequently, an incident caused by a third party can generate:

 Loss of human life or serious injuries
 Loss of equipment
 Interruption of public service
 Property damage
 Impact to the environment: methane release and loss of natural resources. In case of fire: noise
nuisance, loss of soil, alteration of the fertile layer and herbaceous cover among others.
 Legal consequences
 High remediation costs
 Loss of jobs

TGN Third-Party Damage Prevention Plan

For this reason, at TGN we are concerned about the prevention of emerging risks by third-party contact with
buried pipelines and, therefore, we have developed the Third-Party Damage Prevention Program, which focuses
on the following:
 Prevent and mitigate those threats that pose risks, and have a safe and reliable operation of the gas
pipelines.
 Prevent involuntary damage to TGN facilities that could lead to injury or death of people, as well as
damage to property or the environment.
 Comply with the requirements established in the Regulatory Framework for Natural Gas Activity,
section 614 of NAG 100.
Since throughout the natural gas transport system there are differences in the characteristics of the gas
installations, as well as in the probable consequences in case of incidents, population density, urban development,
excavation activities, etcetera, the Public Awareness activities are also different.
Bearing in mind that these differences exist, it has been decided that a series of Basic Public Awareness activities
will be implemented for the entire TGN transmission system. Moreover, complementary activities to the basic
ones will be developed for some specific areas, in accordance with the criteria adopted by TGN for addressing
particular issues, such as risk analysis, history of incidents derived from damages by third parties, potential
dangers, population density, etc.
We aim to eliminate or minimize the risk of damage to the population and to property originated by involuntary
actions by third parties to gas pipelines by means of the following:
  Raise awareness about the risks of working in the vicinity of our facilities without proper coordination.
 How to identify the presence of buried gas pipelines.
 How to communicate with TGN to coordinate the necessary prevention actions.

Consequently, within the framework of the Third-Party Damage Prevention Program, we are performing the
following activities:

Interaction with public and private organizations

 Municipalities and Communes

 National and Provincial Road Administration Agencies
 Utilities companies (water, electricity, etc.)
 Excavation contractors
 Gas distribution companies
 Ministries and Secretariat of Water and Environment
 Cooperatives and agricultural contractors
 Associations of Road Consortia.

Meeting at the Association of Road Consortia of Córdoba

Awareness talks
Awareness talks on damage prevention are given to different public and/or private organizations, educational
entities, etc.
Visits and meetings are held with directors of governmental agencies that perform activities on gas pipelines.
 Directorate of Water Resources of Tucumán School N°4406 Nuestra Señora del Valle - Salta

Training
Internal training is organized to adopt unified criteria on the Prevention Plan and to share experiences to seek
continuous improvement.

Technical advice Management Meeting

Dissemination in media
We developed a radio program to be broadcasted in the localities near the high exposure areas. We are also give
interviews in different media.

The objective of these campaigns is focused on the dissemination of our call-free telephone number, for third
parties to contact TGN.

In addition, advertising in different graphic media (construction magazines, local newspapers, publications of
professional associations, etc.) is arranged.
Participation in farmer’s fairs and congresses

In addition to distributing prevention materials, these fairs are used to carry out censuses and surveys of
landowners residing near the pipelines.

Meeting campaign

In order to establish and strengthen relationships with officials who can approve projects that may affect the
impact of gas pipelines, damage prevention posters are distributed. Drawings and cartography of our pipelines are
also delivered to municipalities and other public agencies.

In the same way, damage prevention materials (leaflets, key rings, watches, gloves, etc.) are handed out to
landowners that reside in the vicinity of the pipelines.

Door-to-door campaigns

Understanding that the current social situation in the geographical areas where the company operates requires a
socially responsible management, which is independent from the simple compliance of technical standards, and
since this project seeks to generate actions that allow the articulation with the different players of the society,
fostering mutually beneficial relationships among the stakeholders and the company, the campaign has the
following objectives:
  Generate actions with the different stakeholders, tending to prevent interventions of third parties on TGN’s
facilities.
 Ensure the diligent management of the company in the role of communication and monitoring of
prevention measures to the different members of the community.
 Provide information to neighbors about the existence of gas pipelines and other facilities in the nearby area.
 Communicate to neighbors the preventive security measures related to the transportation of natural gas and
other hydrocarbons.
 Provide additional information about the service provided by the public utility companies.
 Learn the neighbors´ opinion about the service provided by public utility companies.
 Create and manage a database of the neighbors contacted.

We developed the Juntos program for elementary school students

Educational workshops are held for all students in schools located near our gas pipelines.
The first part of the workshop includes an introduction about natural gas, its use and importance and how it is
transported.
This brief introduction serves as a support to begin to develop the topic in question: the prevention of accidents.
The last part is intended almost exclusively to present prevention actions and warning elements, which is done
fostering the participation of students in games especially designed for that purpose.
The talk ends with a feedback on the use of this energy source and the safety of the people.
The structure of the workshops is based on an interactive, entertaining and participative talk, starting from the
previous knowledge of the students. We try to raise awareness mainly about the prevention of accidents related to
gas and its transport (gas pipelines) by adopting the correct use of the protection measures.
Survey of sensitive areas
Terrestrial surveys and review of the existence of constructions near the gas pipelines are executed and the data
are loaded in the Database.
Monitoring processes of the Sensitive Areas are carried out.
Intervention plan in areas with high population density
Understanding the social problems and the real estate pressure that exist on the safety area of gas pipelines, a plan
was launched for the opening of streets and construction of 1740 meters of kerb, parallel to the gas pipelines in
the town of Alderetes - Tucumán, in area defined as CT 3 and therefore as high consequence area.
Starting from a risk analysis in the whole area under the existing conditions and then contemplating the openings
of streets, it was concluded that said work diminished the risk, in addition it would prevent the advance of
constructions and fixed structures within the operational distance of the gas pipelines (7 , 5 meters on both sides
of the pipelines).

Protection and signaling works

Aiming at minimizing and decreasing, as much as possible, the risk of rupture, dents, bumps, scratches, etc., that
may be infringed upon the gas pipelines by those who, when excavating within the safety area, can directly
impact the gas pipelines, protection and signaling works where executed.
In this regard, we coordinate campaigns to identify sites where additional mechanical protection is required
(guard rail, slabs, meshes, warning tape, others)
We also implemented the installation of new mechanical protection systems through the use of HDPE (high
density polyethylene) plates.
Installation of recycled plastic stakes
Given the need to increase the signaling along different sector of our gas pipelines, we launched campaigns for
the installation of stakes and landmarks.
In order to avoid theft and vandalism, it was decided that these elements should be made of a resistant material
and, if possible, of recycled material, and it was concluded that the best option was recycled plastic, since it
fulfills the aforementioned requirements and, at the same time, it implies both an energetic saving—as opposed to
the manufacture from virgin materials—and the use of a material that otherwise would be wasted.
So far 500 landmarks have been installed in the Vaca Muerta area, 300 landmarks in Villa Mercedes, San Luis
Province and soon we will be installing 400 landmarks in Tartagal, Salta Province, in order to test the quality and
effectiveness of these new signaling elements.
Interaction with other gas transamission and distribution companies (BAN, Litoral Gas, others)

In search of continuous improvement and understanding the benefits of sharing experiences with companies that
have the same problem, we have an active participation in work groups of organizations such as the IAPG
(Instituto Argentino del Petróleo y el Gas) or ARPEL (Asociación Regional de Empresas del Sector Petróleo, Gas
y Biocombustibles en Latinoamérica y el Caribe).

Management of Interference of third-party projects with our facilities

These actions are included in TGN's Damage Prevention Plan, since we understand that establishing the necessary
procedures and resolving requests for information from third parties regarding the location of the pipeline
facilities, prevent third parties from carrying out activities without the proper coordination of tasks.
 We believe it is very important to establish the confidence of third parties so that they do not hesitate in
requesting information about interferences and, in this way, TGN is able to monitor the activities that are carried
out within the safety area of TGN’s gas pipelines.

In addition, we are developing new systems, such as:

 Satellite photographs to monitor buildings, high consequence areas and class location.
 Drones for data gathering.
 Optical fiber to monitoring third-party activities.
 New signaling systems.