HILAND CRUDE, LLC

Incident Narrative

ON JANUARY 23, 2018, HILAND CRUDE, LLC COMPLETED MAINTENANCE ON A FMC AIR-ELIMINATOR TANK (AE) ON THE DORE STATION INLET PIPING. THE MAINTENANCE INCLUDED INSTALLING AND SECURING A NEW GASKET ON THE AE'S ACCESS PORT DOOR. THE UNIT WAS THEN BROUGHT BACK INTO SERVICE. AT APPROXIMATELY 1:35 PM LOCAL TIME THAT SAME DAY, A HILAND CRUDE LLC OPERATOR ON DUTY OBSERVED THE CRUDE OIL LEAK FROM THE ACCESS PORT DOOR OF THE AE. OPERATIONS ESTIMATED THE TOTAL VOLUME OF CRUDE OIL SPILL TO BE 25.1 GALLONS WHICH REMAINED CONTAINED ON-SITE WITHIN THE IMMEDIATE AREA OF THE AE. ALL SOIL IMPACTED FROM THE 25.1 GALLON CRUDE OIL SPILL WAS PROMPTLY COLLECTED AND REMEDIATED BY BARCLAY CONSTRUCTION LLC. THE UNIT WAS ISOLATED AND DEPRESSURIZED. UPON INVESTIGATION, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK WAS THE FAILURE OF THE PORT DOOR GASKET DURING REINSTALLATION SINCE IT WAS DIFFICULT TO VISUALLY VERIFY THE PROPER POSITIONING OF THE GASKET SINCE DUE TO THE SMALL SIZE OF THE PORT DOOR. OBSERVATIONS OF THE FAILED GASKET SHOWED PINCH MARKS FROM THE PORT DOOR INDICATING THAT THE GASKET HAD SHIFTED DURING REINSTALLATION. AGAIN, ALL WORK WAS SUPERVISED AND APPROVED BY THE FMC REPRESENTATIVE ON SITE AND ALL COMPONENTS WERE PROPERLY RATED FOR SERVICE. HILAND CRUDE, LLC DETERMINED THAT EMPLOYEE DRUG TESTING WOULD NOT BE REQUIRED SINCE THE EMPLOYEES WERE FOLLOWING VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS AND GUIDANCE ON THE PROPER INSTALLATION OF THE INSPECTION PORT DOOR AND ASSOCIATED GASKET FROM THE ON-SITE FMC FACTORY REPRESENTATIVE.