PANTHER OPERATING COMPANY, LLC

Incident Narrative

ON 6/30/2022 @ APPROXIMATELY 11:46PM DIVING CREWS WERE WORKING ON THE SUBSEA MPOG VALVE INSTALLATION. AFTER INSTALLING THE120 FT 8"" O.D. BYPASS AND PURGING THE SECTION OF 18"" O.D. PIPE BETWEEN THE BYPASS, THE DIVERS STARTED TO CUT THE MAIN 18"" PIPELINE. AS THE PIPE WAS BEING CUT AND WAS APPROXIMATELY 65% COMPLETE THE PIPE SUDDENLY SEPARATED FROM SOME UNKNOWN STORED ENERGY MOVING EACH END (UPSTREAM/DOWNSTREAM) IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS OF THE CUT POINT. WITH THIS SUDDEN MOVEMENT THE 8"" BYPASS PIPING AND DOWNSTREAM HOT TAP BISEP LINE STOP ASSEMBLY TWISTED. DUE TO THIS UNEXPECTED TORSION/TENSION OF THE BISEP ASSEMBLY THE 8"" BY-PASS SHEARED AT A FLANGE CONNECTION AND RELEASED APPROXIMATELY 90 BARRELS OF CRUDE OIL INTO THE GULF OF MEXICO. AT THE TIME OF THE RELEASE THE THIRD COAST OPERATIONS CONTROL CENTER SAW A SIGNIFICATE PRESSURE DROP ON THE SYSTEM, AND THEY IMMEDIATELY CLOSED THE UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM MLVS AND CONTACTED ALL PRODUCER PLATFORMS TO ADDITIONALLY SHUT IN. ALL VALVES AND PLATFORMS WERE CLOSED WITHIN 8 MINUTES. DIVERS ALSO RESPONDED BY REPOSITIONING A PREVIOUSLY DEPLOYED POLLUTION DOME OVER THE LARGEST SUBSEA RELEASE POINT AND WERE ABLE TO CONTAIN PART OF THE RELEASE (27 BARRELS RECOVERED). THIRD COAST'S INCIDENT MANAGEMENT TEAM/FOREFRONT EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT WERE NOTIFIED IMMEDIATELY. ICS WAS MOBILIZED AND A COMMAND POST WAS ESTABLISHED, AND OFFSHORE OSROS CONTACTED AND MOBILIZED. CRITERIA FOR IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION WAS MET, AND A CALL WAS PLACED TO THE NRC AT 07/01/22 @ 1:23AM (NRC# 1340284). A CALL WAS PLACED TO BSEE AT 1:39AM. THE DIVE CREWS FURTHER INSPECTED THE HOT TAP BISEP LINE-STOPS, WHICH CONTINUED TO HOLD BUT SOME MINOR DAMAGE WAS NOTED. SIMILARLY, ALL TIE-IN LOCATIONS ALONG THE SYSTEM WERE CONFIRMED CLOSED OFF AND HOLDING. AFTER THE TIE-IN INSPECTIONS WERE COMPLETED AND NO ADDITIONAL PRODUCT WAS BEING RELEASED, THE DIVE CREWS REMOVED THE DAMAGED FLANGE PIECES AND INSTALLED BLIND SKILLETS TO SECURE THE PIPE FROM ANY FUTURE POSSIBLE RELEASES. THE MPOG SYSTEM REMAINED SHUT IN UNTIL THE SUBSEA VALVE INSTALLATION PROJECT WAS COMPLETED. A 48-HR. CALL WAS PLACED TO THE NRC AT 07/02/2022 @ 6:07PM, NRC# 1340452, TO UPDATE QUANTITY RELEASE, LOCATION, AND REMEDIATION EFFORTS. AERIAL MONITORING OF THE SHEEN WAS CONDUCTED MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY STARTING AT DAYBREAK ON 07/01/22. THE ICS DEMOBILIZED ON 07/04/22 WITH THE SHEEN NEARLY DISSIPATED, AND ANY FUTURE RELEASE SIGNIFICANTLY MITIGATED. AT THAT POINT, THE ORIGINAL PROJECT OF INSTALLING A SUBSEA VALVE WAS RESUMED. THE MPOG SYSTEM WAS RESTARTED ON 07/12/22 AT 6:00PM AFTER SYSTEM INTEGRITY CHECKS WERE COMPLETED AND THE ORIGINAL VALVE INSTALLATION PROJECT WAS COMPLETED. THE TEMPORARY 8"" BYPASS AND 18"" BISEP LINE-STOPS HAVE BEEN REMOVED AND THE HOT TAPS HAVE BEEN SECURED WITH BLIND FLANGES. AS AN ACTION TO PREVENT FUTURE SIMILAR DISCHARGES OF STORED ENERGY ON A THIRD COAST PIPELINE THAT IS UNDER SOME TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION WORK, ALL AVAILABLE HISTORICAL INFORMATION WILL BE THOROUGHLY REVIEWED TO DETERMINE IF THE POTENTIAL FOR AN INCREASE IN STORED ENERGY EXISTS, AND ADDITIONAL CONTROL MEASURE WILL BE IMPLEMENTED TO MITIGATE SUBSTANTIAL MOVEMENT OF THE PIPELINE PRIOR TO COMMENCING CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITIES.