EPIC CONSOLIDATED OPERATIONS, LLC

Incident Narrative

ON FEBRUARY 20, 2021, AT APPROXIMATELY 7AM, A THIRD-PARTY OPERATOR WITH A PIPELINE SYSTEM IN THE SHARED RIGHT-OF-WAY NOTIFIED EPIC OPERATIONS THAT THERE WAS A POSSIBLE LEAK ON EPIC'S NGL PIPELINE SYSTEM. PRIOR TO NOTIFYING EPIC THE THIRD-PARTY OPERATOR THOUGHT THE LEAK WAS ON THEIR SYSTEM AND MOBILIZED TO THE SITE AND BEGAN INVESTIGATING THE LEAK. AFTER INVESTIGATING THE LEAK MOST OF THE NIGHT OF FEBRUARY 20TH, THEY NOTIFIED EPIC THAT THEY HAD INVESTIGATED THEIR LINE AND DETERMINED THAT THEIR SYSTEM WAS NOT LEAKING AND THAT THE LEAK WAS ON EPIC'S PIPELINE SYSTEM. AT THE TIME THERE WERE NO INDICATIONS OF A LEAK ON THE EPIC PIPELINE SYSTEM THROUGH SCADA. EPIC IMMEDIATELY MOBILIZED OPERATIONS PERSONNEL TO THE SITE AND BEGAN INVESTIGATING THE LEAK ORIGIN. EPIC SHUT IN THE PIPELINE SYSTEM AND ISOLATED THE SEGMENT WHERE THE LEAK WAS LOCATED. AS A RESULT OF THE LEAK INVESTIGATION EPIC DETERMINED ON FEBRUARY 21ST THAT THE LEAK WAS ON THEIR PIPELINE SYSTEM. A PLAN WAS DEVELOPED TO INSTALL STOPPLES AT A SAFE DISTANCE UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OF THE AFFECTED AREA, BLOW-DOWN THE SEGMENT, AND SAFELY EXCAVATE THE AREA TO DETERMINE THE CAUSE OF LEAK AND MAKE REPAIRS TO THE PIPELINE SYSTEM. AFTER THE SITE WAS EXCAVATED, A CRACK ON THE BOTTOM OF A GIRTH WELD WAS FOUND TO BE THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK. EPIC CUT-OUT AND REPLACED THE SECTION OF PIPE WITH THE CRACK. THE SECTION OF PIPE WITH THE CRACK WAS SENT TO A METALLURGICAL LABORATORY TO BE ANALYZED FOR THE CAUSE OF THE CRACK. AN UPDATE WILL BE PROVIDED ONCE THE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION IS COMPLETE. UPON COMPLETION OF THE INVESTIGATION EPIC WILL DETERMINE MITIGATION TO MINIMIZE FUTURE RE-OCCURRENCE OF SIMILAR ACCIDENTS. UPDATE: UPON COMPLETION OF THE FAILURE ANALYSIS EPIC HAS DETERMINED THE CAUSE WAS A CRACK IN A WELD REPAIR AREA OF THE GIRTH WELD. A METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS BY A THIRD-PARTY LABORATORY DETERMINED THE ROOT CAUSE WAS CONTRIBUTED TO A BRITTLE FRACTURE DUE TO POOR TOUGHNESS PROPERTIES OF THE WELD METAL DEPOSITED IN THE ROOT REGION CONTAINING SLAG INCLUSIONS AS THE PRINCIPAL CAUSE OF THE CRACKING IN THE WELD REPAIR. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS COULD ALSO INVOLVE A HIGH-LOW FIT-UP CONDITION AND HIGH WELD RESTRAINT DUE TO THE WELD BEING A TIE-IN WELD. THE WELD DISCONTINUITIES, SLAG INCLUSIONS, AND HIGH-LOW FIT-UP WERE NOT CONSIDERED DEFECTS OR REJECTABLE, AS THEY MET ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA PER API 1104, 20TH EDITION, SECTION 7.2 (ALIGNMENT) AND 9.3.8.1 (SLAG INCLUSIONS). TO MITIGATE FUTURE RE-OCCURRENCE OF THE SAME TYPE OF FAILURE EPIC REVIEWED AND ANALYZED ALL THE DATA COLLECTED DURING THE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION AND DETERMINED THERE WERE MULTIPLE CHARACTERISTICS THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THE FAILURE. THESE CHARACTERISTICS WERE THEN USED TO PERFORM A REVIEW OF EPIC'S SYSTEM TO DETERMINE IF THE POTENTIAL THREAT EXISTED AT OTHER SITES. THERE WERE NO OTHER SITES IDENTIFIED DURING THE REVIEW.