DOW PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

THE LEAK WAS DISCOVERED AT APPROXIMATELY 11:15 A.M. WHEN OPERATIONS PERSONNEL WERE PERFORMING ROUNDS AT WINFREE PUMP STATION AFTER HURRICANE HARVEY PASSED THE AREA. PERSONNEL NOTICED THE FLARE APPEARED TO HAVE A SMALL AMOUNT OF WASTE GAS FLOW, AND THEY BEGAN INVESTIGATING THE CAUSE. DURING INSPECTION OF THE PUMP STATION, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE MATERIAL GOING TO THE FLARE WAS FROM ETHANE PUMP P615A, WHICH HAD BEEN ISOLATED PRIOR TO THE HURRICANE DUE TO A PUMP SEAL LEAK. OPERATIONS DETERMINED THAT THE VALVE ISOLATING THE PUMP WAS LEAKING-BY TO THE PUMP, AND THE PUMP SEAL WAS LEAKING TO THE CAPTURE-SYSTEM THAT GOES TO THE FLARE. OPERATIONS IMMEDIATELY ISOLATED THE SEGMENT, INCLUDING THE VALVE AND THE PUMP, THEN CONTACTED THE CONTROLLER. THE PIPELINE ENGINEER REVIEWED FLARE FLOW TRENDS AND DETERMINED THAT FLOW TO THE CAPTURE SYSTEM INITIATED AT APPROXIMATELY 05:30 A.M. THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF EMISSIONS RELEASED FROM THE FLARE WERE ESTIMATED TO BE 20.9 POUNDS OF ETHANE, POST COMBUSTION. ALTHOUGH THE PUMP WAS ISOLATED, THE SUCTION MOV ON P615A WAS PASSING WHICH IS WHY THERE WAS A FLOW TO THE FLARE STARTING AT 5:30 A.M. THE VALVE WAS PULLED, BUT THE INSPECTION REPORT HAS NOT YET BEEN ISSUED. OPERATIONS HAS NOT YET DETERMINED THE CAUSE OF THE VALVE LEAK, AS THE ROOT CAUSE INVESTIGATION IS ON-GOING.