HILAND CRUDE, LLC — Hazardous liquid gravity and reporting-regulated-only — incident on 2021-03-10

Hazardous liquid gravity and reporting-regulated-only incident in EPPING, WILLIAMS County, ND. Reported cause: INCORRECT OPERATION. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 3.2 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: 20210030.

Operator ID: 32619.

Reported incident date: 3/10/2021 10:55.

Cause detail: EQUIPMENT NOT INSTALLED PROPERLY

Cause detail: DURING A ROUTINE PIGGING MAINTENANCE ACTIVITY INVOLVING CORROSION INHIBITOR INJECTION, A HILAND CRUDE, LLC. (HC) OPERATOR CHANGED THE CONNECTION POINT FROM A HOT OIL TRUCK TO A 2IN VALVE LOCATED ON THE PIG LAUNCHER AT THE WELL PAD. FLOW FROM THE PIPELINE ENTERED THE VAC-TRUCK THROUGH THIS CONNECTION POINT UPON THE OPENING OF THE 2IN VALVE. THE VAC-TRUCK WAS ALREADY NEAR FULL CAPACITY AND THIS ACTION QUICKLY OVERFILLED THE TRUCK. A SECOND HC OPERATOR WITNESSED THE TANK OVERFLOWING AND IMMEDIATELY HAD THE FIRST OPERATOR TO SHUT THE 2IN VALVE AND PERFORMED STOP WORK. A TOTAL OF 3.2BBLS OF CRUDE OIL WAS RELEASE FROM THE PIPELINE; HOWEVER, THE ENTIRE PRODUCT WAS RECOVERED. IN ORDER TO PREVENT THIS ACCIDENT FROM RECURRENCE, HC WILL IMPLEMENT A THOROUGH REVIEW OF SITE SPECIFIC AND WORK PLAN PROCEDURES PRIOR TO COMMENCE ANY SIMILAR PROJECTS, EMPHASIZING THE PROJECT RISK ASSESSMENT AND OPERATOR TRAINING. THIS RELEASE OCCURRED FROM A REPORTING-REGULATED-GATHERING LINE THAT FALLS UNDER 195.15 CRITERIA. NO NRC NOTIFICATION WAS REQUIRED DUE TO THE EXCEPTION OUTLINED IN 49 CFR 195.15(C)(2); HOWEVER, A 30 DAY ACCIDENT REPORT IS REQUIRED PER 195.15.