ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC

Incident Narrative

ON APRIL 17, 2013, ENTERPRISE INSTALLED A SPLIT TEE FOR THE PURPOSE OF ESTABLISHING AN INTERCONNECT TO ANOTHER PIPELINE. ON MAY 31 AT 11:20 AM WHILE HOT TAPPING THE SPLIT TEE, A CONTRACTOR NOTICED A LEAK FROM THE SPLIT TEE CIRCUMFERENTIAL WELD AS SOON AS THE PILOT BIT PENETRATED THE INNER SURFACE OF THE CARRIER PIPE. THE CONTRACTOR IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN THEIR EQUIPMENT AND NOTIFIED AN ON-SITE COMPANY EMPLOYEE WHO STOPPED THE WORK AND EVACUATED PERSONNEL FROM THE LEAK SITE. THE COMPANY EMPLOYEE NOTIFIED PL CONTROL WHO SHUT DOWN THE PIPELINE AT 11:30 AM. THE LINE SEGMENT WAS INITIALLY ISOLATED AT MOCANE STATION (SOUTH OF THE LEAK SITE) AND THE LINE PRESSURE WAS REDUCED TO APPROXIMATELY 300 PSIG. THE LEAK SITE WAS THEN ISOLATED BY CLOSING THE MAINLINE BLOCK VALVE APPROXIMATELY 11 MILES NORTH OF MOCANE STATION. ON JUNE 1, WORK WAS INITIATED TO INSTALL STOPPLES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LEAK. ON JUNE 4, THE STOPPLES WERE SET AND LEAK SITE WAS ISOLATED, THEN BLOWN DOWN. ON JUNE 5, A CUT OUT WAS MADE AND REPLACEMENT PIPE WAS INSTALLED ALONG WITH A NEW TEE. ON JUNE 6, THE STOPPLES WERE RETRACTED AND THE PIPELINE WAS PURGED TO ALLOW THE LINE TO RETURN TO SERVICE. METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FAILURE SEGMENT IDENTIFIED A CRACK IN THE CIRCUMFERENTIAL WELD OF THE SPLIT TEE WHERE THE LEAK OCCURRED. MATERIAL ANALYSIS OF THE WELD MATERIAL IDENTIFIED THE FILLER MATERIAL CONTAINED MORE CHROMIUM THAN APPROPRIATE. ENTERPRISE BELIEVES THAT THE WELDING PROCEDURE IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH APPLICABLE REGULATIONS AND IS TECHNICALLY SOUND, HOWEVER RECOGNIZES THAT THE PROCEDURE CAN BE IMPROVED TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL CLARITY WHEN SELECTING WELDING CONSUMABLES FOR CERTAIN JOBS AND IS TAKING ACTION TO PROVIDE THAT CLARIFICATION.