ONEOK NGL PIPELINE, LLC

Incident Narrative

A FLASH FIRE OCCURRED ON JUNE 19, 2018, AT THE ONEOK NGL PIPELINE, STERLING III GROVETON PUMP STATION WHILE PERSONNEL WERE WELDING A FLANGE ON PUMP HEADER PIPING DURING CONSTRUCTION/MAINTENANCE WORK. THE FIRE WAS IMMEDIATELY EXTINGUISHED AND THERE WERE NO INJURIES. THE PUMP STATION PIPING HAD BEEN ISOLATED (AIR GAPPED); PRODUCTS EVACUATED, NITROGEN PURGED, AND THEN LEFT OPEN TO ATMOSPHERE FOR 24 HOURS PRIOR TO THE BEGINNING OF THE WORK. DURING THE COURSE OF THE WORK, CREWS HAD CUT THE PIPING GOING TO THE PUMP AND HAD SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED THE FIRST FLANGE. THE FIRE OCCURRED DURING THE INSTALLATION OF THE SECOND FLANGE ON THE SAME PIPING. THE FIRE IMMEDIATELY BURNED ITSELF OUT, AND THE FIRE WATCH DISCHARGED A FIRE EXTINGUISHER. THE INCIDENT OCCURRED SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH VALVE MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY THAT WAS OCCURRING IN CLOSE PROXIMITY. THE PIPE HAD BEEN EVACUATED AND, AS AN ADDITIONAL PRECAUTION, HYDROCARBON MONITORING WAS IN PLACE BOTH UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OF THE VALVE WORK, WITHOUT ANY HYDROCARBON DETECTION. HOWEVER, THE ADDITION OF THE VALVE WORK MAY HAVE RESULTED IN UNDETECTED HYDROCARBONS IMPACTING THE WELDING OPERATION. AFTER THE INCIDENT, ALL WORK WAS STOPPED AND THE WORK PROCEDURES WERE REVIEWED. THE HOT WORK WAS TERMINATED UNTIL THE VALVE MAINTENANCE WAS COMPLETED. UPON COMPLETION OF THE VALVE WORK, THE AREA WAS VERIFIED TO BE HYDROCARBON FREE, AND THE WELDING WAS COMPLETED WITHOUT INCIDENT. AS A RESULT OF THE INCIDENT, ONEOK HAS RE-EMPHASIZED THE HAZARDS OF SIMULTANEOUS WORK AND IS REVIEWING FUTURE SCHEDULED WORK ACTIVITIES IN ORDER TO BETTER MANAGE THE HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH SIMULTANEOUS WORK. UPDATED 8/20/18: UPDATED NUMBER OF COMPANY EMPLOYEES DRUG TESTED TO 6. ZERO TEST FAILURES.