CITGO PRODUCTS PIPELINE CO

Incident Narrative

CITGO PRODUCTS PIPELINE COMPANY JUNE 5, 2010 ACCIDENT ON JUNE 5, 2010 A LOCAL CITIZEN NOTICED WHAT APPEARED TO BE DIESEL ON A ROADWAY AND JUST ADJACENT TO IT WHILE WALKING HIS DOG. HE LOCATED A CITGO PIPELINE SIGN NEARBY AND CALLED THE EMERGENCY NUMBER ON THE SIGN. THE CITGO CONTROL CENTER IN TULSA, OK RECEIVED THE CALL AT 10:30 A.M. AND SUBSEQUENTLY SHUTDOWN THE PIPELINE DOWN AT 10:31 A.M. AS A PRECAUTIONARY ACTION. THE CITGO CONTROL CENTER IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED FIELD EMPLOYEES OF THE POSSIBLE LEAK AND THEY DISPATCHED TO THE SITE. UPON ARRIVING AT THE SITE AND OBSERVING THE AMOUNT AND LOCATION OF THE DIESEL, PERSONNEL WERE NOT SURE WHETHER A THIRD PARTY OR POSSIBLY A VEHICLE MAY HAVE SPILLED THE DIESEL FUEL OR WHETHER THE CITGO PIPELINE WAS INDEED LEAKING. THERE HAVE BEEN PAST OCCURRENCES OF SUCH EVENTS OF SPILLAGE BY THE PUBLIC SO EXCAVATION EQUIPMENT WAS DISPATCHED TO THE SITE TO ASCERTAIN WHETHER THE PIPELINE WAS LEAKING OR NOT. NEITHER THE PIPELINE CPM SYSTEM NOR THE SCADA SYSTEM INDICATED A POSSIBLE LEAK TO THE PIPELINE SO NO INTERNAL COMPANY SYSTEMS ALERTED OF A LEAK AT THE SITE. AT 16:40, OR 4:30 P.M. THE PIPELINE WAS UNCOVERED AND A LEAK FROM IT WAS OBSERVED. UPON FORMAL CONFIRMATION AND DETERMINATION AT THAT TIME OF A PIPELINE ACCIDENT, CITGO NOTIFIED THE TCEQ AT 4:49 P.M., THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CORPORATION (NRC) WAS NOTIFIED AT 5:05 P.M. AND THE TEXAS RAILROAD COMMISSION (TRRC) WAS NOTIFIED AT 5:10 P.M. ALL NOTIFICATIONS WERE WITHIN THE NOTED AGENCY GUIDELINES. THE CONCLUSIONS OF A METALLURGICAL STUDY OF THE FAILED PIPE SEGMENT PERFORMED BY KEIFNER AND ASSOCIATES DETERMINED THAT THE LEAK WAS CAUSED BY A PIN HOLE IN A ""PUDDLE WELD"" THAT WAS MADE TO REPAIR EXTERNAL CORROSION WHEN THE USED PIPE WAS RECONDITIONED AND CONSTRUCTED IN 1948. THE WELD FULLY PENETRATED THE PIPE WALL AND LEFT A SMALL AMOUNT OF SOLIDIFIED WELD METAL (SOMETIMES REFERRED TO AS AN ""ICICLE"") PROTRUDING INTO THE PIPE INTERIOR. THE PROTRUSION APPEARED TO HAVE BEEN SCRAPED ON THE INSIDE OF THE PIPE WHICH EXPOSED A LEAK PATH THROUGH VOIDS AND SLAG INCLUSIONS IN THE WELD. A PLAUSIBLE EXPLANATION FOR THE OBSERVED DAMAGE TO THE PROTRUSION IS THE PASSAGE OF IN-LINE CLEANING TOOLS. 8/2/2010 RBB