DAPL-ETCO OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT, LLC — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2020-05-13

Hazardous liquid incident in JOHNSONS CORNER, MCKENZIE County, ND. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 4.6 CRUDE OIL released, $50 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.

Report number: 20200174.

Operator ID: 39205.

Reported incident date: 5/13/2020 8:12.

Location detail: 0+00

Cause detail: OTHER EQUIPMENT FAILURE

Cause detail: ON 5/13/20 AT 08:12 CONTROL CENTER RECEIVED AN LEL ALARM FROM THE JOHNSON'S CORNER PUMP STATION. THE STATION WAS IMMEDIATELY SHUTDOWN. CONTROLLER CONTACTED LOCAL FIELD OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT TO INVESTIGATE. UPON INVESTIGATION AN APPROXIMATE 4.6 BARREL RELEASE FROM FAILED 1/2"STAINLESS STEEL TUBING WAS IDENTIFIED. ALL FREE PRODUCT WAS CONTAINED WITHIN THE PUMP BUILDING ON THE CONCRETE FLOOR AND WAS PICKED UP WITH A VAC TRUCK AND ABSORBENT PADS. THE FAILED TUBING WAS PART OF A THERMAL RELIEF SYSTEM BETWEEN THE PUMP DISCHARGE CHECK VALVE AND GATE VALVE. THIS TUBING WAS MOUNTED IN A FIXED OVERHEAD POSITION WHICH DID NOT ALLOW FOR MOVEMENT AND THERMAL FLUCTUATIONS OVER TIME STRESSED THE TUBING TO FAIL AT THE FITTING. THE TUBING WAS REPLACED AND THE PUMP STATION RETURNED TO SERVICE. COMMON DESIGNS AT OTHER PUMP STATIONS ON THE SYSTEM WERE INSPECTED FOR SIMILAR CONDITION AND ADDRESSED AS NEEDED. TO PREVENT RECURRENCE, THE THERMAL RELIEF TUBING WILL BE BROUGHT DOWN FROM THE OVERHEAD FIXED LOCATION AND RE POSITIONED IN A MANNER THAT WILL BE SUPPORTED BUT ALSO ALLOW FOR MOVEMENT DUE TO THERMAL FLUCTUATIONS WHICH WILL PREVENT UNDUE STRESSES BEING IMPARTED ON THE TUBING AND ASSOCIATED FITTINGS. THIS WILL ALSO BE COMPLETED AT ALL OTHER PUMP STATIONS ON THE SYSTEM WITH COMMON DESIGN.

PHMSA trend classification: not significant, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE — OTHER EQUIPMENT FAILURE.

PHMSA indexed costs: $1,532 reported total cost, $708.37 in 1984 dollars, $1,744.498 in current-year dollars.

PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.