# ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC — Notice of Probable Violation

**Citation:** CPF 420145006  
**Type / status:** enforcement / historical  
**Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration  
**Effective:** Not stated  
**Published:** 2014-04-08

CLOSED notice of probable violation citing 195.214(a).

## Document text

Notice of Probable Violation involving ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC. PHMSA's enforcement data identifies the cited regulation as 195.214(a). The case was opened on 2014-04-08 and is reported as closed as of 2015-08-07. Open the official case record for notices, responses, orders, and the latest status.

Official case documents:

420145006_Final Order_08072015.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Final%20Order_08072015.pdf

420145006_Final Order_08072015_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Final%20Order_08072015_text.pdf

420145006_NOPV PCO_04082014.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_NOPV%20PCO_04082014.pdf

420145006_NOPV PCO_04082014_text.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_NOPV%20PCO_04082014_text.pdf

420145006_Operator Response and Withdrawal of Hearing_08282014.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Operator%20Response%20and%20Withdrawal%20of%20Hearing_08282014.pdf

420145006_Operator Response to Notice and Request for a Hearing_07092014.pdf: https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice%20and%20Request%20for%20a%20Hearing_07092014.pdf

420145006_Final Order_08072015_text.pdf

August 7, 2015
Mr. Michael A. Creel
Chief Executive Officer
Enterprise Products Operating, LLC
1100 Louisiana Street
Houston, TX 77002
Re: CPF No. 4-2014-5006
Dear Mr. Creel:
Enclosed please find the Final Order issued in the above-referenced case. It makes a finding of
violation and confirms that Enterprise Products Operating, LLC, has completed the actions
specified in the Notice to comply with the pipeline safety regulations. Therefore, this case is
now closed. Service of the Final Order by certified mail is deemed effective upon the date of
mailing, or as otherwise provided under 49 C.F.R. § 190.5.
Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey D. Wiese
Associate Administrator
for Pipeline Safety
Enclosure
cc: Mr. Rodrick M. Seeley, Southwest Regional Director, OPS
Mr. Graham Bacon, Group Sr. Vice President, Operations & EHS&T, Enterprise
Products Operating, LLC
CERTIFIED MAIL - RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED



U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION
OFFICE OF PIPELINE SAFETY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20590
____________________________________
In the Matter of )
Enterprise Products Operating, LLC, ) CPF No. 4-2014-5006
)
)
)
Respondent. )
____________________________________)
FINAL ORDER
Subsequent to a May 31, 2013 accident on Enterprise’s 12-inch hazardous liquid Brown Line,
Skellytown to Conway segment, a representative of the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), conducted an on-site pipeline safety
inspection of the facilities and records of Enterprise Products Operating, LLC (Enterprise or
Respondent), near Beaver, Oklahoma. Enterprise is part of Enterprise Products Partners LP,
which operates roughly 51,000 miles of natural gas, NGL crude oil, refined products and
petrochemical pipelines and other related facilities throughout the United States.
1 The Brown
Line accident was the result of a weld failure that resulted in the unintentional release of
approximately 200 barrels of hazardous liquid.
As a result of the accident investigation and inspection, the Director, Southwest Region, OPS
(Director), issued to Respondent, by letter dated April 8, 2014, a Notice of Probable Violation
and Proposed Compliance Order (Notice). In accordance with 49 C.F.R. § 190.207, the Notice
proposed finding that Enterprise had violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.214, and proposed ordering
Respondent to take certain measures to correct the alleged violation.
By letter dated July 9, 2014, Enterprise contested the allegation of violation, provided additional
information about corrective actions it had taken, and requested a meeting with the Director and
potentially a hearing (Response). After meeting with Southwest Region staff on July 30, 2014,
Enterprise withdrew its hearing request by letter dated August 28, 2014 (Supplemental
Response), and provided documentation that it had completed the actions in the Proposed
Compliance Order.
1 See http://www.enterpriseproducts.com/corpProfile/businessProfile.shtm. Last accessed on 4/7/2015.



CPF No. 4-2014-5006
Page 2
FINDING OF VIOLATION
Enterprise did not contest the allegation in the Notice that it violated 49 C.F.R. Part 195, as
follows:
Item 1: The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.214(a), which states:
§ 195.214 Welding procedures.
(a) Welding must be performed by a qualified welder in accordance
with welding procedures qualified under Section 5 of API 1104 or Section
IX of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (incorporated by
reference, see § 195.3). The quality of the test welds used to qualify the
welding procedure shall be determined by destructive testing.
The Notice alleged that Respondent violated 49 C.F.R. § 195.214(a) by failing to use a welding
procedure qualified under Section 5 of API Standard 1104 (Section 5) or Section IX of the
ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Specifically, the Notice alleged that Enterprise used a
welding procedure that had been modified, and in making those changes, essential variables had
been changed without re-qualifying the procedure, as required under Section 5.2 In addition, the
Notice alleged that the modified procedure lacked adequate detail when specifying the welding
consumables, and ultimately allowed an incorrect weld filler material to be used in the weld that
failed on May 31, 2013.
In its Response, Enterprise contested the first portion of the allegation of violation but not the
second. The Region and the company disagreed on which portion of API 1104 should control
the qualification of in-service welding procedures and met on July 30, 2014, to discuss the
allegation in more detail and, specifically, the degree to which Section 5 applied to the facts
presented here.
After a full review of the record, PHMSA agrees with Enterprise that the failure of the weld
associated with the accident on May 31, 2013, was a result of the company using an
inappropriate welding consumable.3 The agency further agrees that both Section 5 of API 1104
and Appendix B of API 1104, which deals specifically with in-service welding, must be read
together to guide operators in qualifying welding procedures for welds containing filler-metal
additives in maintenance or in-service situations. This means that in situations such as the one
2 Under 49 C.F.R. § 195.3, PHMSA has incorporated by reference API Standard 1104, “Welding of Pipelines and
Related Facilities” (20th edition, October 2005, errata/addendum (July 2007), and errata 2 (December 2008)).
Section 5.4.1 of API Standard 1104 states:
“5.4.1 General
A welding procedure must be re-established as a new procedure specification and
must be completely re-qualified when any of the essential variables listed in 5.4.2 are
changed. Changes other than those given in 5.4.2 may be made in the procedure
without the need for requalification, provided the procedure specification is revised to
show the changes.”
3 Response, at 3.



CPF No. 4-2014-5006
Page 3
presented here, an operator must follow the requirements for essential variables within Section 5,
if not excluded by the alternative requirements of Appendix B.
Accordingly, based upon a review of all of the evidence, I find that Respondent violated
49 C.F.R. § 195.214 by failing to use a welding procedure qualified under Section 5 of API
Standard 1104 or Section IX of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code.
This finding of violation will be considered a prior offense in any subsequent enforcement action
taken against Respondent.
COMPLIANCE ORDER
The Notice proposed a compliance order with respect to Item 1 in the Notice for violations of
49 C.F.R. § 195.214(a). Under 49 U.S.C. § 60118(a), each person who engages in the
transportation of hazardous liquids or who owns or operates a pipeline facility is required to
comply with the applicable safety standards established under chapter 601. The Director
indicates that Respondent has taken the following actions specified in the proposed compliance
order:
1. With respect to the violation of § 195.214(a) (Item 1), Respondent has modified
its procedures and re-qualified them in accordance with Section 5 and Appendix B of
API 1104.
Accordingly, I find that compliance has been achieved with respect to this violation. Therefore,
the compliance terms proposed in the Notice are not included in this Order.
Under 49 C.F.R. § 190.243 Respondent has a right to submit a Petition for Reconsideration of
this Final Order. The petition must be sent to: Associate Administrator, Office of Pipeline
Safety, PHMSA, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE, East Building, 2nd Floor, Washington, DC
20590, with a copy sent to the Office of Chief Counsel, PHMSA, at the same address. PHMSA
will accept petitions received no later than 20 days after receipt of service of this Final Order by
the Respondent, provided they contain a brief statement of the issue(s) and meet all other
requirements of 49 C.F.R. § 190.243. The filing of a petition automatically stays the payment of
any civil penalty assessed. Unless the Associate Administrator, upon request, grants a stay, all
other terms and conditions of this Final Order are effective upon service in accordance with
49 C.F.R. § 190.5.
___________________________________ __________________________
Jeffrey D. Wiese Date Issued
Associate Administrator
for Pipeline Safety

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-data/case/420145006>
- Source ID: `phmsa-enforcement`
- SHA-256: `61820f5f4c423543d3ab56620b957d3f37d7890583555a3957553ca47080896c`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T04:44:44.458Z
- Exported: 2026-08-22T21:57:00.607Z
- Document slug: `phmsa-enforcement-420145006`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "cpf": "420145006",
  "operator": "ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC",
  "region": "Southwest",
  "pipelineType": "INTERSTATE LIQUID ONSHORE",
  "caseStatus": "CLOSED",
  "citedSections": [
    "195.214(a)"
  ],
  "dataAsOf": "08/04/2026 12PM",
  "caseDataAsOf": "2026-08-04",
  "attachmentCount": 6,
  "attachments": [
    {
      "name": "420145006_Final Order_08072015.pdf",
      "url": "https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Final%20Order_08072015.pdf",
      "bytes": 204595,
      "category": "agency_document"
    },
    {
      "name": "420145006_Final Order_08072015_text.pdf",
      "url": "https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Final%20Order_08072015_text.pdf",
      "bytes": 19531,
      "category": "agency_document"
    },
    {
      "name": "420145006_NOPV PCO_04082014.pdf",
      "url": "https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_NOPV%20PCO_04082014.pdf",
      "bytes": 110896,
      "category": "case_document"
    },
    {
      "name": "420145006_NOPV PCO_04082014_text.pdf",
      "url": "https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_NOPV%20PCO_04082014_text.pdf",
      "bytes": 14626,
      "category": "case_document"
    },
    {
      "name": "420145006_Operator Response and Withdrawal of Hearing_08282014.pdf",
      "url": "https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Operator%20Response%20and%20Withdrawal%20of%20Hearing_08282014.pdf",
      "bytes": 78977,
      "category": "party_submission"
    },
    {
      "name": "420145006_Operator Response to Notice and Request for a Hearing_07092014.pdf",
      "url": "https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/enforcement-documents/420145006/420145006_Operator%20Response%20to%20Notice%20and%20Request%20for%20a%20Hearing_07092014.pdf",
      "bytes": 163478,
      "category": "party_submission"
    }
  ],
  "extractedAgencyDocumentCount": 1,
  "attachmentPolicy": "Official attachment links are retained. Agency-issued documents may also include a verified local PDF and page-level text representation.",
  "jurisdiction": "US",
  "operatorName": "ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC"
}
```
