Incidenthistorical
PHMSA Report 20220048
NUSTAR PERMIAN TRANSPORTATION AND STORAGE, LLC — Hazardous liquid gravity and reporting-regulated-only — incident on 2022-05-11
Current as of 2022-05-11 Government source
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Hazardous liquid gravity and reporting-regulated-only incident in Not Within a Municipality, HOWARD County, TX. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 1.9 CRUDE OIL released, $0 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: 20220048.
Operator ID: 39348.
Reported incident date: 5/11/2022 12:47.
Cause detail: LIGHTNING
Cause detail: A WEATHER-RELATED POWER OUTAGE AT NUSTAR'S OXY ELBOW CDP SITE RESULTED IN THE OVERFLOW OF THE PRODUCTION GATHERING TANKS AT THE SITE. NUSTAR OPERATING PERSONNEL DISCOVERED THE RELEASE DURING THE INVESTIGATION OF THE POWER OUTAGE. NUSTAR'S CONTROL ROOM IMMEDIATELY SHUT DOWN INBOUND CRUDE OIL TO THE SITE. APPROXIMATELY 80 GALLONS OF CRUDE OIL WAS RELEASED INSIDE OF CONTAINMENT. THE SITE WAS CLEANED, AND THE IMPACTED SOIL WAS REMOVED FOR DISPOSAL. DURING THE EVENING OF MAY 10, 2022, THUNDERSTORMS PROCEEDED THROUGH THE HOWARD COUNTY AREA, AND NUSTAR'S CONTROL ROOM EXPERIENCED COMMUNICATION AND POWER LOSSES AT MULTIPLE SITES WITHIN THE GATHERING SYSTEM. A BLOWN FUSE ON THE POWER LINE FEEDING NUSTAR'S OXY ELBOW CDP SITE WAS DISCOVERED, AND THE OUTBOUND PUMP AT THE SITE LOST POWER. AS POWER WAS RESTORED TO UPSTREAM SITES FEEDING THE ELBOW CDP, FLOW INTO THE CDP RESUMED. NUSTAR'S CONTROLLER FIRST NOTICED THE POWER OUTAGE ON THE CONTROL ROOM SCREEN THE FOLLOWING MORNING ON MAY 11, 2022. THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK WAS WEATHER RELATED POWER LOSS TO THE ELBOW CDP SITE. A CONTRIBUTING CAUSE WAS FAILURE OF NUSTAR'S CONTROL ROOM PERSONNEL TO INITIALLY IDENTIFY THE POWER LOSS AT THE SITE ON THE SCADA DISPLAY. ADDITIONAL TRAINING HAS BEEN PROVIDED TO NUSTAR'S CONTROL ROOM PERSONNEL.
This material provides agency context. It does not replace binding regulatory text, and its legal effect depends on the underlying authority and facts.