Washington (Platts)--17Mar2011/208 pm EDT/1808 GMT
A ball of flame from a CenterPoint Energy natural gas distribution pipeline ripped through the pavement at a busy intersection in south Minneapolis Thursday morning, the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety said. The fire was reported at 8:55 a.m. CDT at the intersection of 60th Street East and Nicollet Avenue, agency spokeswoman Kristine Chaplin said. The fire was extinguished an hour later, Chaplin said. No one was injured by the fire and damage was confined to the pipeline and a roadway, she added. The pipeline safety office is investigating the cause and is declining to speculate why the line ruptured, Chaplin said. She said the 20-inch pipeline is made of steel and was under 175 PSI of pressure. Alicia Dixon, a spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy, said the line is part of a two-way feed and customer service in the area was not affected. --Rodney White, rodney_white@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Gas Daily. See more information at http://bit.ly/GasDaily