KOCH PIPELINE COMPANY, L.P.

Incident Narrative

ON AUGUST 15, 2017, KOCH PIPELINE COMPANY'S CONTRACTOR, TDW, WAS PERFORMING A HOT TAP ON THE INV-ORANGE 4"" SEGMENT LINE IN ORANGE COUNTY, TEXAS. ONCE THE WELD WAS MADE ON THE TOR, KOCH PIPELINE THEN FOLLOWED THE PROCEDURE TO PRESSURE TEST THE WELD AND THE HOT TAP MACHINE. OPERATIONS PERSONNEL VERIFIED THAT THE PRESSURE HELD. TDW THEN TAPPED THE LINE. FOLLOWING THE TAP AND VERIFICATION OF PRESSURES, OPERATIONS PERSONNEL BLOCKED IN THE VALVE AND DE-PRESSURED THE TAPPING MACHINE. TDW THEN TOOK THE MACHINE OFF OF THE VALVE AND INSERTED THE PLUG TO PLUG TO TOR. ONCE TDW REINSTALLED THE MACHINE BACK TO THE VALVE, PERSONNEL TRIED TO OPEN THE VALVE TO THREAD THE PLUG IN. AT THIS POINT, PRODUCT BEGAN TO LEAK OUT OF THE STEM. THE LINE WAS THEN BLOCKED IN AND ISOLATED. PRESSURED DROPPED SUFFICIENTLY TO SAFELY THREAD THE PLUG IN, WHICH STOPPED THE PRODUCT FROM LEAKING. THE 2-INCH BALL VALVE WAS VISUALLY EXAMINED AND FOUND TO HAVE NO SIGNIFICANT EXTERNAL MECHANICAL OR CORROSION DAMAGE. THE VALVE WAS DISASSEMBLED AND THE INDIVIDUAL PARTS WERE VISUALLY EXAMINED, DOCUMENTED, AND COMPARED TO THE SPECIFIED MATERIALS OF THE MANUFACTURER'S PRODUCT CATALOG. A DISCREPANCY OBSERVED DURING DISASSEMBLY WAS THE ABSENCE OF A PACKING WASHER IN THE PACKING GLAND. ANALYSIS OF THE POLYMERIC COMPONENTS REVEALED DISCREPANCIES IN THE SPECIFIED MATERIALS OF THE STEM PACKING SEALS. AN ANALYSIS REPORT CONCLUDED THAT THE CAUSE OF THE PACKING LEAK WAS MOST LIKELY DUE TO THE COMBINATION OF 1) THE ABSENCE OF A PACKING WASHER IN THE PACKING GLAND, AND 2) THE PTFE MATERIAL USED FOR THE PACKING SEAL CONTAINED NO DETECTABLE REINFORCING MATERIAL VIA FTIR SPECTROSCOPY (FTIR - FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED). NO OTHER DISCERNABLE DAMAGE, WEAR, OR UNEVEN LOADING WAS OBSERVED IN THE VALVE COMPONENTS.