MARATHON PIPE LINE LLC

Incident Narrative

ON 6/7/2010 AT 12:50 AN MPL OPERATIONS TECHNICIAN RECEIVED A CALL FROM A CORRPRO EOMPLOYEE STATING THAT ON THE AFTERNOON OF 6/6/2010 , WHILE PERFORMING SURVEY WORK ON THE WABASH SYSTEM AT THE POLCATE CREEK CROSSING IN COLES COUNTY, ILLINOIS, A SLIGHT SHEEN WAS NOTICED ON THE CREEK AND THE SMELL OF DIESEL AND GAS WAS PRESENT AT THE SITE. THE MPL OPERATIONS TECHNICIAN NOTIFIED THE MPL OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR. THE MPL OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR NOTIFIED THE MPL FINDLAY OPERATIONS CENTER AND HAD THE PIPELINE SHUTDOWN ON 6/7/201 AT 13:00. TECHNICIANS WERE DISPATCHED TO INVESTIGATE. UPON ARRIVAL, THE TECHNICIANS OBSERVED A SLIGHT SHEEN AND THE SMELL OF DIESEL FUEL. AN EMERGENCY RESPONSE EFFORT ENSUED. THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE EFFORT RESULTED IN THE PIPELINE BEING EXCAVATED UPSTREAM OF THE CREEK AND THE RELEASE POINT BEING LOCATED. A PLIDCO SLEEVE WAS INSTALLED. THE LINE WAS PRESSURE TESTED AND RESTARTED WITHOUT INCIDENT ON 6/8/2201 AT 06:23. THE PIPELINE WAS THEN EXCAVATED FURTHER AND A LONG SEAM INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED BY AN RTD TECHNICIAN. THE INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED UPSTREAM AND DOWNSTREAM OF THE PLIDCO SLEEVE AND REVEALED NO FURTHER ISSUES WITH THE LONG SEAM. MPL PIPELINE INTEGRITY WAS NOTIFIED OF THE RESULTS AND CLEARANCE WAS GIVEN TO RECOAT AND BACKFILL THE PIPELINE. THE LINE SEGMENT WAS REMOVED AT A LATER DATE (SEPTEMBER 2010) AND SENT FOR FAILURE ANALYSIS. THE RESULTS INDICATED THAT THE RELEASE WAS CAUSED BY A LACK OF FUSION (LOF) DEFECT IN THE LONGITUDINAL SEAM THAT WAS APPROXIMATELY 0.38 INCH LONG, EXTENDED ENTIRELY THROUGH THE WELD, AND WAS FROM ORIGINAL MANUFACTURE. THERE WERE NO INDICATIONS THAT FATIGUE, CORROSION OR ENVIRONMENTAL CRACKING OF THE PIPE METAL CONTRIBUTED TO THE FAILURE.