ONEOK NGL PIPELINE, LLC

Incident Narrative

AS A RESULT OF AN INLINE INSPECTION (ILI) ON FEB 12, 2012, THIS SEAM WELD ANOMALY WAS SELECTED FOR A DIRECT EXAMINATION AND EVALUATION. THE FEATURE AT THIS SITE WAS PREDICTED TO BE 16% WALL LOSS. BECAUSE THE ANOMALY WAS LOCATED INSIDE A CASING, A PROJECT WAS PUT IN PLACE TO CUT OUT THE ANOMALY AND REPLACE THE SECTION WITH NEW PIPE, AND WITH EVALUATION OF THE ANOMALY TO BE PERFORMED AFTER THE REPLACEMENT WAS COMPLETED. ON OCTOBER 31, 2012, THE AREA OPERATIONS EMPLOYEE VISITED THE PROPOSED DIG SITE AT WOLF ROAD PIPELINE CROSSING TO EVALUATE THE SCOPE OF WORK FOR THE UPCOMING ANOMALY INVESTIGATION. WHILE ON SITE, THE EMPLOYEE IDENTIFIED STAINING ON THE VENT PIPE AND DID A LEL TEST, WHICH TESTED POSITIVE FOR HYDROCARBONS. INITIAL SAMPLES WERE GATHERED BY SIPHONING A SAMPLE FROM THE VENT PIPE AND ANALYZED BY A THIRD PARTY. THE ANALYSIS IDENTIFIED CHARACTERISTICS CONSISTENT WITH NAPTHA, WHICH WAS NOT A PRODUCT BEING TRANSPORTED BY THAT PIPELINE. WITH THIS INFORMATION, ONEOK PROCEEDED WITH THE PREPARATION FOR THE ANOMALY EXCAVATION. ON NOV. 1, THE PIPELINE WAS SHUTDOWN AT APPROXIMATELY 1:00 A.M. AND PURGED WITH NITROGEN TO ALLOW THE REMOVAL OF THE PIPE IN THAT CASING AND EVALUATE THE ANOMALY. ALTHOUGH ONEOK DID NOT BELIEVE AT THE TIME THAT THERE HAD BEEN A RELEASE FROM ITS PIPELINE, THE CONTAMINATED SOIL FROM THE EXCAVATION WAS LOADED INTO ROLL-OFF CONTAINERS AND SENT TO A DISPOSAL SITE. ON NOV. 3-4, THE PIPELINE SECTION CONTAINING THE ANOMALY WAS REMOVED FROM CASING AND NEW PIPE INSTALLED THROUGH THE EXISTING CASING. THE PIPELINE WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE AT 12:00 P.M. ON NOV. 4. A THIRD PARTY CONTRACTOR WAS RETAINED TO REMOVE THE ASBESTOS COATING FROM THE CUT-OUT SECTION, WHICH WAS COMPLETED ON NOV. 5. ON NOV. 6, ONEOK'S CONTRACT INSPECTOR ARRIVED AND COMPLETED NDE OF THE ANOMALY. THE CONTRACTOR DETERMINED THE DEFECT WAS THROUGH-WALL AND NOT 16% WALL LOSS, AS HAD BEEN INDICATED IN THE ILI REPORT. BASED ON THIS NEW INFORMATION, THE LAB ANALYSIS WAS RE-EVALUATED ON NOV. 7, AND IT WAS DETERMINED THAT THE CHARACTERISTICS WERE SIMILAR ENOUGH TO THE ONEOK PRODUCT IN THE PIPELINE TO CONSIDER IT A MATCH. ON NOV. 8, THE ONEOK ENVIRONMENTAL GROUP NOTIFIED THE ONEOK COMPLIANCE GROUP THAT COSTS TO REMOVE AND DISPOSE OF THE CONTAMINATED SOIL WOULD EXCEED $50,000. BASED ON THIS INFORMATION, ALONG WITH THE EVALUATION IDENTIFYING THE THROUGH-WALL CRACK IN THE REMOVED SECTION, ONEOK IMMEDIATELY MADE A REPORT TO NRC. THE PIPE SAMPLES WERE SUBMITTED TO KIEFNER & ASSOCIATES FOR METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS. THE ANALYSIS DETERMINED A MILL-RELATED LACK OF FUSION IN THE SEAM WELD AS ROOT CAUSE.