EXXONMOBIL PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

ON 11/3/2018 A TANK MIXER SEAL FAILED ON TANK 1995 SPILLING CRUDE OIL INTO THE TANK DIKE. THE OIL LEAKED THROUGH A PIPE ON THE TANK DIKE DRAIN SYSTEM AND MIGRATED TO A DITCH INTO A LOCAL RETENTION POND. ALL OIL WAS CONTAINED ON SITE. CREWS PERFORMED CLEANUP ACTIVITIES TO THE IMPACTED AREAS. TANK 1995 CRUDE OIL WAS PUMPED DOWN, ISOLATED AND THE MIXER SEAL WAS REPLACED WITH A TUNGSTEN SEAL AS RECOMMENDED BY JENSON MIXER COMPANY AND THE TANK DIKE DRAIN LINE WAS REPLACED. THE SPILL VOLUME WAS CALCULATED TO BE 8 BARRELS WITH .6 BARRELS IMPACTING THE LOCAL RETENTION POND. ALL OIL WAS RECOVERED FROM THE IMPACTED AREAS. THE SITE INCREASED WALK AROUND INSPECTIONS TO DAILY MONDAY THROUGH FRIDAY OF TANK DIKES AREAS. THE GEARBOX FAILURE WAS DETERMINED TO BE THE GEARBOX OIL BEING CONTAMINATED WITH WATER FOLLOWING HURRICANE HARVEY FLOODING. AFTER HURRICANE HARVEY, EMPCO OPERATIONS CONTACTED THE MANUFACTURE FOR GUIDANCE ON HOW TO BEST ADDRESS MIXERS THAT HAD BEEN FLOODED. MANUFACTURE'S ACCEPTABLE PRACTICE AND GUIDANCE WAS TO FLUSH THE GEAR BOX OIL, REPLACING WITH NEW OIL, WHICH EMPCO DID. EMPCO CONTACTED THE MANUFACTURE UPON THIS FAILURE AND HAS DECIDED, AS A FUTURE STEP TO PREVENT REOCCURRENCE, IS TO FULLY REPLACE ALL GEARBOXES FLOODED DURING HURRICANE HARVEY. ADDITIONALLY THE SEVERE WEATHER PLANS WILL BE UPDATED TO REFLECT RESPONSE PROCEDURES TO GEARBOX FLOODING. THE VOLUME RECOVERED IS BASED ON VISUAL OBSERVATIONS AND NO RESIDUAL OIL IS PRESENT. NOTE THAT .6 BBL'S WENT TO WATER BUT IN PART D, 5B, THE SELECTION DOES NOT ALLOW FOR AN AMOUNT BELOW 1 BBL, SO 1 BBL WAS SELECTED. 3/18/19 - PART E #1, CHANGED ESTIMATED PRESSURE FROM 15 PSIG TO 0 PSIG. CLOSE AS FINAL.