TESORO HIGH PLAINS PIPELINE COMPANY LLC

Incident Narrative

ON JANUARY 28, 2016, THE PIPELINE SUMP AT JOHNSON CORNER STATION OVERFILLED WHICH RESULTED IN CRUDE OIL BEING BACKED INTO THE LOW PRESSURE (LP) AND HIGH PRESSURE (HP) PUMP SEAL POTS WHICH OVERFLOWED INTO THE SECONDARY CONTAINMENT OF THE PUMP SKIDS IN THE LP AND HP BUILDINGS. THE OIL WAS CONTAINED IN THE BUILDINGS AND DID NOT REACH THE GROUND. 15.6 BARRELS REMAINED IN THE SUMP AND 6.5 BARRELS WERE RELEASED TO THE PUMP SKID FOR A TOTAL OF 22.1 BARRELS BEING UNINTENTIONALLY RELEASED THROUGH THE LAUNCHER DRAIN VALVE. UPON INVESTIGATION, IT WAS FOUND THAT A DRAIN VALVE ON THE PIG LAUNCHER HAD AN OBSTRUCTION THAT DID NOT ALLOW THE VALVE TO PROPERLY SEAT CAUSING THE OIL TO RELEASE TO THE SUMP, RESULTING IN OVERFILL. UPDATE: THE VALVE HAD BEEN LAST OPERATED ON JANUARY 27, 2016, WHEN A CLEANING PIG WAS LAUNCHED FROM JOHNSON CORNER TO KEENE SOUTH AT APPROXIMATELY 12:20 CST. THE TESORO OPERATOR WHO PERFORMED THE PIG LAUNCH CONFIRMED HE HAD CLOSED THE DRAIN VALVE UNTIL IT WAS ""TIGHT"" AND RECORDED IT ON THE EQUIPMENT ISOLATION PROCEDURE (EIP) USED TO PERFORM THE PIG LAUNCH. BASED ON A REVIEW OF SYSTEM DATA, THE SUMP LEVEL BEGAN TO RISE AT APPROXIMATELY 14:04 CST. AT APPROXIMATELY 21:11 CST, THE SUMP REACHED CAPACITY AND BEGAN BACKING UP INTO THE PUMP SEAL DRAIN SYSTEM, WHICH CAUSED CRUDE OIL TO OVERFLOW INTO THE SECONDARY CONTAINMENT OF THE PUMP SKIDS. THE SUMP'S HIGH LEVEL ALARM IMPROPERLY INSTALLED, AND THEREFORE DID NOT ALARM WHEN THE LIQUID BEGAN RISING WITHIN THE SUMP. TESORO TOOK IMMEDIATE ACTION AND CORRECTED THE ALARM SENSOR FOR THE SUMP