But that doesn’t mean the storm spared mid-stream natural gas infrastructure from harm.

'Certain companies can choose to do even more for their use,” Fontenot said. “Up north they bury pipelines deeper in areas that stay frozen for months on end because the ground stays frozen down to a point. It kind of depends on where you are and where that typical frost depth is. This could be up to 6 feet in the northern U.S.”Īn Energy Transfer spokesperson asserted that the company’s pipeline in Texas “never stopped operating” during the winter storm. In many northern states, pipeline companies bury pipelines well below the federal minimum standard to dip below frozen ground. Department of Transportation’s minimum depth standard of 3 feet, the company said.Īlthough this depth requirement is primarily meant to protect pipelines from damage or interference incurred from agriculture or digging, burying pipelines can serve a dual purpose of keeping temperatures stable. Department of Transportation, and all of Energy Transfer’s 43,500 miles of Texas pipeline meet the U.S. It’s also true that natural gas pipelines are required to be buried underground by the U.S. “As a rule, natural gas does not freeze.” “It’s just a misunderstanding of the system,” said Chuck Fontenot, vice president of operations at WSP USA, an energy management and consultancy firm whose clients have included Energy Transfer. 'To take it as literal, that natural gas is frozen in the pipelines, would require temperatures that I don't think have ever been found on the surface of this earth, outside of a cryogenic process,” said Tony Scott, managing director of analytics at the industry research group BTU Analytics. For instance, to turn methane - a fuel commonly used to power gas-fired electricity plants - from a gas to a liquid state would require temperatures around negative 83 degrees Celsius. The process of freezing natural gasses to a liquid state using cryogenics is common for transporting gas products in large tankers, experts said. Oil and gas pipeline experts all agree that even the sustained freezing temperatures Texas experienced last month couldn’t freeze gas in pipelines the same way water would. 1 'automatically' register every welfare recipient to vote? Natural gas doesn’t freeze It's frozen at the transmission line.’”ĭid gas pipelines freeze during Texas historic winter storm? As with many things in the energy sectors, the answer to this question is tangled in technical complexity.įact-check: Does H.R.

“Their answer is: ‘It's just frozen right now. 'My team has been talking to all the natural gas producers and suppliers in the state of Texas all afternoon to accelerate the process of their ability to get (gas),” Abbott said.

Texas freeze 2021