ENBRIDGE ENERGY, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP

Incident Narrative

ON MARCH 2 AT APPROXIMATELY 8:00 AM CST, A SMALL AMOUNT OF OIL WAS DISCOVERED WEEPING FROM FIELD BOOSTER (FB) #3, BETWEEN THE CONCRETE BASE AND THE CAN. THE BOOSTER PUMP WAS NOT RUNNING AT THE TIME. ON MARCH 3, FB #3 WAS LOCKED OUT AND ISOLATED IN PREPARATION FOR PULLING THE PUMP AND CAN. ON MARCH 5, THE PUMP WAS PULLED AND THE CAN WAS REMOVED ON MARCH 6. APPROXIMATELY 2,077 GALLONS OF WATER/OIL MIX THAT HAD LEAKED BETWEEN THE CONCRETE BASE AND CAN, OF WHICH 4.8 BARRELS ESTIMATED TO BE CRUDE OIL, WAS RE-INJECTED BACK INTO THE SYSTEM. EXTENSIVE CLEANING AND TESTING OF THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE OF THE PUMP CAN DETERMINED THAT OIL IN THE BOOSTER CULVERT DID NOT COME FROM THE PUMP CAN. FURTHER INVESTIGATION DETERMINED THAT THE GASKET FAILED DUE TO EXCEEDING ITS USEFUL LIFE OF 10-20 YEARS. THE GASKET IN FB #3 HAS BEEN IN OPERATION FOR 24 YEARS. THE EXTERIOR OF THE BOOSTER CAN HAS BEEN PAINTED AND THE GASKET WILL BE REPLACED WHEN FB #3 IS PLACED BACK INTO SERVED, WHICH IS ANTICIPATED TO BE BY THE END OF 2015. THE NRC WAS CALLED ON MARCH 30 WHEN IT BECAME APPARENT THAT THE COSTS WOULD EXCEED THE INITIAL ESTIMATE DUE TO THE CAUSE NOT BEING READILY IDENTIFIED AS ORIGINALLY ANTICIPATED. INITIALLY, IT WAS THOUGHT THAT ONCE THE PUMP AND CAN WERE REMOVED THE CAUSE WOULD BE APPARENT. WHEN IT WAS NOT, A PLAN WAS DEVELOPED FOR FURTHER TESTING OF THE CAN, WHICH TOOK MORE TIME THAN EXPECTED, AND INCREASED THE COSTS OF THE INCIDENT SIGNIFICANTLY.