NATURAL GAS PIPELINE CO OF AMERICA (KMI)

Incident Narrative

AT 10:12AM ON JUNE 1, 2019, OPERATIONS PERSONNEL WORKING AT THE NATURAL GAS PIPELINE COMPANY OF AMERICA (NGPL) RATLIFF CITY COMPRESSOR STATION 801 HEARD A LOUD NOISE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE YARD. EMPLOYEES SAW FLAMES ORIGINATE FROM AND ENGULF FILTER/SEPARATOR #3. OPERATIONS PERSONNEL IMMEDIATELY CALLED THEIR SUPERVISOR AND MUSTERED AT THE FRONT GATE. THERE WERE NO INJURIES. THE RATLIFF CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT ARRIVED ON SITE AFTER RECEIVING A CALL FROM A CONCERNED CITIZEN. HOWEVER, THEY DID NOT APPROACH OR FIGHT THE FIRE. AT THE TIME OF THE NRC CALL, 11:02AM, THE FIRE HAD DIED OUT. PRIOR TO THE EVENT, THE STATION WAS OFF-LINE AND ISOLATED FOR MAINTENANCE. THIS THEREFORE MINIMIZED THE AMOUNT OF GAS LOSS. THE INVESTIGATION IN TO THE INCIDENT WAS INCONCLUSIVE ON THE EXACT CAUSE OF THE INCIDENT. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE INCIDENT WERE DETERMINED TO INCLUDE THE PRESENCE OF A FLAMMABLE ATMOSPHERE AND IRON SULFIDE IN THE FILTER SEPARATOR AND INADEQUATE PROCEDURES. THE INVESTIGATION REVEALED THAT THERE WAS NEITHER A MANUFACTURERS NOR A SITE-SPECIFIC PROCEDURE FOR PURGING AND PACKING THE FILTER SEPARATOR UNITS. IN ADDITION, THERE WAS NOT A MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE FOR CLEANING OUT OF THE ACCESSIBLE SECTIONS OF THE FILTER SEPARATORS, LEADING TO AN EXCESSIVE AMOUNT OF SOLID BUILD UP, INCLUDING IRON SULFIDE. IN ORDER TO PREVENT A REOCCURRENCE, A PURGE VALVE WAS ADDED TO THE DOWNSTREAM SECTION OF FILTER SEPARATORS #1 AND #3 (ONE ALREADY EXISTED ON #2) TO MAKE THE PURGING SEQUENCE REQUIRED ON EACH SEPARATOR SIMILAR. THE EMPLOYEES HAVE BEEN RETRAINED ON PURGING AND PACKING, AND A SITE-SPECIFIC PROCEDURE TO ENSURE AN EFFECTIVE PURGE THROUGH THE ENTIRE FILTER SEPARATOR VESSEL WAS CREATED. IN ADDITION, NGPL EMPLOYEES ALSO REVISED THE SITE-SPECIFIC MAINTENANCE PROCEDURE TO INCREASE THE FREQUENCY OF FILTER ELEMENT REPLACEMENT AND CLEANING PARTICULATES OUT OF THE SUMP VESSEL.