BUCKEYE PARTNERS, LP

Incident Narrative

ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23RD, AT APPROXIMATELY 1303, A BUCKEYE EMPLOYEE WAS WALKING THE RIGHT OF WAY OUTSIDE OF THE TOLEDO PUMP STATION AND FOUND A PUDDLE OF PRODUCT WHICH SEEMED TO HAVE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF FUEL. LOCAL BUCKEYE PERSONNEL WERE IMMEDIATELY DISPATCHED TO INVESTIGATE THE FINDINGS, ALL PIPELINES IN THE AREA WERE SHUT DOWN AND MONITORED. LOCAL OSRO WAS NOTIFIED AND RESPONDED TO THE AREA TO ASSIST IN LOCATING THE SOURCE OF THE LEAK. THE NEAREST PIPELINE TO THE PRODUCT DISCOVERED WAS ENCASED IN CONCRETE, AFTER REMOVING THE CONCRETE, A WET SPOT WAS DISCOVERED ON THE XX211DS LINE AND WAS LEAKING AT THE CURRENT PRESSURE. THE RELEASE POINT WAS LOCATED ON A BEND, A TEMPORARY CLAMP WAS INSTALLED UNTIL THE PIPELINE COULD BE PURGED WITH NITROGEN AND REPLACED. THIS SECTION OF PIPING WAS ISOLATED FROM THE SYSTEM AND PERMANENT REPAIRS WERE MADE ON 10-4-2016. TOTAL RELEASE VOLUME IS ESTIMATED AT 2.38 BBLS OF DIESEL FUEL. REMEDIATION EFFORTS ARE ONGOING AT THIS TIME, PENDING THE RESULTS OF SOIL ANALYSIS. METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS IS BEING CONDUCTED BY A THIRD PARTY LABORATORY. 10-5-2018 THE RESULTS OF THE METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS INDICATE THAT THE CAUSE OF THE THROUGH-WALL LEAK WAS EXTERNAL PITTING CORROSION. THE MOST LIKELY MECHANISM FOR THE OBSERVED PITTING CORROSION IS COATING FAILURE AND LOCALLY INADEQUATE CP. THIS CORROSION MIGHT HAVE OCCURRED EARLY IN THE LIFE OF THE PIPELINE GIVEN THE TIME PERIOD BETWEEN PIPELINE CONSTRUCTION AND COMMISSIONING OF THE CP SYSTEM.