ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC

Incident Narrative

ON 9/17/2013, A THIRD PARTY OPERATOR NOTIFIED ENTERPRISE PIPELINE CONTROL OF AN ICE BALL ON THE 10"" SOUTH LEG LOOP LINE VALVE. AN ENTERPRISE TECHNICIAN WAS DISPATCHED AND CONFIRMED A PIN HOLE LEAK ON THE VALVE BODY. THE PIPELINE WAS NOT RUNNING AT THE TIME. TWO VALVES WERE CLOSED TO BLOCK THE LEAKING SEGMENT AND FLARES WERE SET UP TO DISPLACE THE LINE. ONCE DISPLACED, THE LEAKING VALVE WAS CUT OUT AND REPLACED WITH ANOTHER VALVE. THE LINE WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE ON 9/26/2013 UPON COMPLETION OF THE REPAIRS. METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS IDENTIFIED THE FAILURE WAS CAUSED BY A POOR QUALITY WELD REPAIR. WELD DEFECTS THAT WERE OBSERVED INCLUDE A SMALL SECTION OF UNMELTED FILLER ROD OR WIRE THAT WAS INADVERTENTLY LEFT IN THE WELD, POROSITY, LACK OF FUSION, MECHANICAL NOTCHES, AND SEVERE GOUGING OF THE BASE METAL. THESE CONDITIONS CONSTITUTED LATENT DEFECTS THAT EVENTUALLY RESULTED IN CRACK PROPAGATION TO FAILURE AND LOSS OF CONTAINMENT. NOTE: THE NAME PLATE ON THE VALVE IDENTIFIES IT WAS REBUILT IN 1/17/1992 AND THE REPAIR PROCEDURES AND INSPECTION RECORDS ARE NOT AVAILABLE.