CHEVRON PIPE LINE CO — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2011-09-08

Hazardous liquid incident in LATAN, MITCHELL County, TX. Reported cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 12836 HVL OR OTHER FLAMMABLE OR TOXIC FLUID WHICH IS A GAS AT AMBIENT CONDITIONS released, $400,000 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: 20110380.

Operator ID: 2731.

Reported incident date: 9/8/2011 7:50.

Location detail: 148.7

Cause detail: DESIGN-, CONSTRUCTION-, INSTALLATION-, OR FABRICATION-RELATED

Cause detail: CPL'S HOUSTON CONTROL CENTER (INVESTIGATING A POTENTIAL LEAK, DUE TO SYSTEM IMBALACE) HAD SHUT DOWN THE TWO 10' SECTIONS OF THE LPG SYSTEM FOR A STAND UP TEST (BLOCKED @MP 158 & MP 139). ONE OF THE 10' LINES WAS BLOCKED IN @ 06:47 & THE OTHER @ 06:58. THE CONTROL CENTER RECEIVED A PHONE CALL @ 07:52 REPORTING A VAPOR CLOUD IN THE VACINITY OF OUR PIPELINES. THE CONTROL CENTER THEN RECEIVED ANOTHER PHONE CALL A FEW MINUTES LATER REPORTING THAT THE VAPOR CLOUD HAD IGNITED. CHEVRON PERSONNEL & LOCAL VFD'S ARRIVED & BEGAN SPRAYING WATER AROUND THE PERIMETER TO EXTINGUISH ANY GRASS FIRES. BOTH 10' LINES HAVE BEEN EXCAVATED & EXAMINED FOR HEAT DAMAGE. ALL BLOCK VALVES AT THE MP 148.8 SWAB TRAP AREA WERE DISMANTLED & INSPECTED FOR ANY HEAT RELATED DAMAGE AND ALL SEALS REPLACED ON 9-11-11. THE PIPE NEAR THE LEAK SITE WAS EXAMINED BY METALLURGISTS AND DETERMINED TO BE UNDAMAGED ON 9/11/11. THE DAMAGED PIPE WAS REPLACED WITH NEW TESTED PIPE AND THE 10' LOOP LINE WAS PUT BACK IN SERVICE ON 9/15/11. SEE ATTACHED LAB ANALYSIS PN:1251849

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL FAILURE OF PIPE OR WELD — CONSTRUCTION, INSTALLATION OR FABRICATION-RELATED.

PHMSA indexed costs: $1,501,020 reported total cost, $805,078.65 in 1984 dollars, $1,982,660.939 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.