SUNOCO PIPELINE L.P.

Incident Narrative

ON 6/13/21 AT 1:00PM CST THE OPERATOR NOTICED THE FIRE DEPARTMENT ON THE CAMERA AT THE PIPELINE FILTER AREA. A PASSERBY NOTICED WHAT LOOKED LIKE A LEAK AND CALLED 911. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS RESPONDING TO THE 911 CALL. OPERATOR WALKED OUT TO INVESTIGATE THE FIRE DEPARTMENT VISIT AND OBSERVED THE LEAK AT THE FILTER. OPERATOR MADE THE NOTIFICATIONS TO MANAGEMENT. TERMINAL MANAGER ARRIVED ON SITE AND ASSESSED THE SITUATION WITH THE FIRE DEPARTMENT AND THEN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT LEFT THE SCENE. A CALL WAS PLACED TO THE NRC AT 2:42PM (NRC # 1307674). AN OSRO COMPANY WAS CALLED OUT TO START CLEANUP. LOCAL PERSONNEL ISOLATED THE FILTER AND PLACED ABSORBENT MATERIAL TO RECOVER THE PRODUCT IN SECONDARY CONTAINMENT. COMPANY ENGINEERS CALCULATED APPROXIMATELY 17 GALLONS OF REFINED PRODUCT HAD BEEN RELEASED. ON 6/18/21 AN UPDATE CALL WAS PLACED TO THE NRC (NRC # 1308172) TO UPDATE THE VOLUME RELEASED. UPON INVESTIGATION, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE FAILURE WAS CAUSED BY MISALIGNMENT AND THERMAL STRESS (EXPANSION) ON THE O-RING. THE FILTER ELEMENTS AND O-RING HAD BEEN REPLACED A FEW MONTHS EARLIER WHILE THE WEATHER WAS COOLER. THE FILTER WAS OPERATED OVER 2 MONTHS WITHOUT ISSUES. UPON DISASSEMBLY THERE WAS NO APPARENT DEFECT OBSERVED WITH THE O-RING. AT THE TIME OF THE RELEASE THE PIPELINE WAS BETWEEN OPERATING CYCLES. THE PIPELINE WAS NOT ACTIVE AT THE TIME OF THE RELEASE. IT IS BELIEVED THAT DUE TO MUCH WARMER WEATHER THAT THE O-RING BECAME MISALIGNED AND LEAKED. THE O-RING WAS REPLACED, AND THE FILTER WAS PLACED BACK INTO SERVICE.