HARVEST PIPELINE COMPANY

Incident Narrative

THE CONTROL ROOM RECOGNIZED A POTENTIAL PROBLEM WITH THE PIPELINE AND SHUT IT IN AT APPROXIMATELY 14:55. A HPC FIELD OPERATOR WAS NOTIFIED AND SENT TO INVESTIGATE THE POTENTIAL LEAK LOCATION. THE HPC OPERATOR ARRIVED ONSITE AND CONFIRMED THERE WAS A LEAK ASSOCIATED WITH THE PIPELINE AT 15:45 (THIS IS TIME OF DISCOVERY). AT THIS TIME, THE FIELD OPERATOR WAS ABLE TO CONFIRM / ESTIMATE THE NUMBER OF BARRELS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SPILL AND MADE THE APPROPRIATE AGENCY NOTIFICATIONS. THE RRC WAS NOTIFIED AT 16:15 AND THE NRC WAS THEN NOTIFIED AT 16:34. THE SECTION OF PIPELINE ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEAK WAS ISOLATED AND THE REMAINDER OF THE SYSTEM STARTED BACK UP ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2017 AT APPROXIMATELY 18:40. THE ROOT CAUSE OF THIS ACCIDENT WAS DUE TO MISCOMMUNICATION BETWEEN SUBCONTRACTOR EXCEL TRENCHING AND THE CONTRACT SUPERVISOR MIDWAY ENERGY SERVICES (BOTH COMPANIES CONTRACTED BY TEXAS AMERICAN RESOURCES TO INSTALL FLOWLINES IN AREA). EXCEL AND MIDWAY WERE INSTRUCTED BY HPC OPERATOR RESPONDING TO ONE CALL TICKETS TO REQUEST AN HPC REPRESENTATIVE ON SITE WHEN CROSSING HPC UTILITIES. LINE LOCATE MARKINGS WERE DAMAGED BY THIRD PARTY ACTIVITY ON ROW AND EXCEL FAILED TO REQUEST THE LINE BE RELOCATED. EXCEL'S TRENCHER OPERATOR CONTINUED TRENCHING INTO HPC'S ROW WITHOUT WAITING FOR HPC REPRESENTATIVE TO ARRIVE ONSITE OR RE-MARK THE PIPELINE. IN EFFORT TO KEEP AN ACCIDENT OF THIS TYPE FROM REOCCURRING, HPC WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE PIPELINE ROW'S AND STRESS TO CONTRACTORS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTACTING OPERATORS WHEN WORKING IN AND/OR NEAR THEIR PIPELINE ROW'S.