SUNOCO PIPELINE L.P.

Incident Narrative

ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 AFTER STATION PIPING MAINTENANCE WAS COMPLETED BACKFILLING OF THE AREA WAS BEING COMPLETED BY CONTRACTORS WITH HAND TOOLS. DURING THE COURSE OF THIS ACTIVITY THE STRAINER DRAIN VALVE WAS INADVERTENTLY PARTIALLY OPENED BY HAND EQUIPMENT CONTACTING IT. THE STRAINER DRAINS TO THE SUMP AND ONCE THIS VALVE WAS PARTIALLY OPENED SOME PRODUCT BEGAN TO FILL THE SUMP. AT THE TIME THE STATION MAINLINE UNTIL WAS RUNNING SO THE FLOW TO THE SUMP TANK AND THE SUMP TANK MOTOR COULD NOT BE AUDIBLY DETECTED. WHEN THE SUMP HIHI ALARMED IN SCADA THE THE MAINLINE UNIT AUTOMATICALLY SHUT DOWN AND THE CONTROLLER CONTACTED COMPANY FIELD PERSONNEL TO INVESTIGATE. COMPANY PERSONNEL THEN CONTACTED THE CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL ONSITE. CONTRACTOR PERSONNEL CONFIRMED WITH COMPANY PERSONNEL THAT THE SUMP WAS RUNNING AND THEN IDENTIFIED THE OPEN STRAINER DRAIN VALVE AS THE SOURCE OF THE SUMP FILL AND CLOSED THE VALVE. ONCE FLOW INTO SUMP TANK WAS STOPPED THE SUMP PUMP WAS ABLE TO PUMP PRODUCT LEVEL DOWN TO NORMAL LEVELS. COMPANY PERSONNEL ARRIVED ONSITE APPROXIMATELY 30 MINUTES LATER. CONTAMINATED SOIL WAS REMOVED FROM THE AREA AND IS BEING REMEDIATED ON SITE. THE STRAINER DRAIN VALVE HANDLE HAS BEEN SECURED TO PREVENT INADVERTENT OPERATION AND OTHER STATIONS IN THIS PIPELINE SYSTEM WILL BE INSPECTED FOR SIMILAR STRAINER DRAIN VALVE INSTALLATION AND LOCATION AND IF FOUND WILL BE SECURED AS NECESSARY TO PREVENT INADVERTENT VALVE OPENING.