HARVEST MIDSTREAM COMPANY

Incident Narrative

"ON NOVEMBER 28, AN OPERATOR AT THE SOUTHWEST PASS 24 TERMINAL ENTERED THE PUMP ROOM TO UNLOCK PUMPS AND DRAIN THE SUMP. THE SUMP'S AUTO-LOCKOUT FEATURE HAD ENGAGED DUE TO A HIGH LIQUID LEVEL. UPON ENTRY, THE OPERATOR OBSERVED THAT THE DRIP PAN FOR PUMP 4 WAS FULL, INDICATING A LEAK CAUSED BY A SEAL FAILURE. FURTHER INSPECTION REVEALED THAT OIL HAD SPILLED ONTO THE FLOOR AND A LIMITED AMOUNT ENTERED THE WATER THROUGH THE FLOOR DRAINS. THE OPERATOR DETERMINED THAT APPROXIMATELY 3.5 GALLONS OF OIL HAD SPILLED ONTO THE PUMP ROOM FLOOR, AND 1.5 GALLONS HAD ENTERED THE WATER WITHIN THE BOOMED-OFF CONTAINMENT AREA. IMMEDIATE CONTAINMENT AND CLEANUP MEASURES WERE INITIATED AND SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED. THE INCIDENT WAS THEN REPORTED TO THE NRC DUE TO THE RELEASE OF OIL INTO WATERS. NO INJURIES OR FATALITIES OCCURRED AS A RESULT OF THIS INCIDENT. FOLLOWING AN INCIDENT INVESTIGATION, THE SEAL FAILURE WAS IDENTIFIED AS THE ROOT CAUSE. CORRECTIVE ACTIONS INCLUDED REPAIRING AND REPLACING THE PUMP SEALS AND ADDING A SECONDARY CHECK VALVE TO ENHANCE RELIABILITY. ADDITIONALLY, THE TEAM IS EVALUATING OPERATIONAL LIMITATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH ELEVATION DIFFERENCES, IMPROVEMENTS TO SUMP LEVEL ALARMS, AND OPTIMIZATION OF SUMP CAPACITY UTILIZATION. THESE MEASURES AIM TO PREVENT RECURRENCE AND IMPROVE SYSTEM INTEGRITY MOVING FORWARD. THE INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THAT THE SUMP WAS NOT PUMPED OUT BEFORE REACHING CAPACITY BECAUSE THE SUMP HIGH HIGH-LEVEL ALARM TRIGGERED A PUMP LOCK-OUT DURING THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. THE ALARM SHUTDOWN WAS ACKNOWLEDGED AT THE START OF THE DAY SHIFT AND IMMEDIATELY CONFIRMED IN THE FIELD. WHILE THE ALARM TRIGGERED THE APPROPRIATE SHUTDOWN, THE ABSENCE OF A DATA HISTORIAN FOR THE SUMP LEVEL IN THE SCADA SYSTEM HINDERED REAL-TIME MONITORING AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF SUMP LEVELS, WHICH COULD HAVE PROVIDED EARLIER WARNINGS AND PREVENTED THE OVERFILL. THESE FACTORS CONTRIBUTED TO THE SUMP REACHING CAPACITY AND ESCALATING THE INCIDENT. IMPROVEMENTS TO THE ALARM SYSTEM AND THE ADDITION OF REAL-TIME MONITORING CAPABILITIES ARE CURRENTLY BEING EVALUATED TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES."