ENTERPRISE PRODUCTS OPERATING LLC — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2010-07-08

Hazardous liquid incident in PASADENA, HARRIS County, TX. Reported cause: OTHER ACCIDENT CAUSE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 7.52 HVL OR OTHER FLAMMABLE OR TOXIC FLUID WHICH IS A GAS AT AMBIENT CONDITIONS released, $173,000 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: 20100165.

Operator ID: 31618.

Reported incident date: 7/8/2010 15:20.

Location detail: 396+17

Cause detail: MISCELLANEOUS

Cause detail: THE PIPELINE WAS SHUT IN AT 1520 HRS ON 07/08/2010 AND MONITORED THE PRESSURE TO DETERMINE IF THE LEAK IN THE ROW CONTAINING 9 PIPELINES. THERE WERE 3 OTHER LINES IN THE ROW CARRYING PROPYLENE. THIS WAS A VERY SMALL LEAK THAT WAS NOTICEABLE ONLY BECAUSE IT WAS RAINING WITH BUBBLING IN THE WATER. WE CAUGHT A VAPOR SAMPLE OF THE GAS AND DELIVERED TO THE MONT BELVIEU LAB WHICH VERIFIED IT WAS PROPYLENE. AT APPROXIMATELY 1900, 07-08-10 PIPELINE COMPLIANCE WAS NOTIFIED THAT THERE WAS A LEAK IN THE ROW NEAR OUR LINE BUT WE HAD NOT VERIFIED THAT IT WAS OUR LINE AND EXPLAINED WHAT WE WERE DOING TO MONITOR THE LINE THROUGH THE NIGHT. WE MONITORED THE PRESSURE ON OUR PIPELINE FOR APPROXIMATELY 6.5 HOURS AND HAD A 22 PSIG PRESSURE DROP ON THE PIPELINE. THIS WAS NOT CONCLUSIVE THAT THE LEAK WAS OURS BUT THAT IT MAY BE SINCE THERE WAS A SMALL DROP IN PIPELINE PRESSURE. THE RRC CONTACTED ENTERPRISE REPRESENTATIVE ON THE SCENE AT THE TIME OF THE ROAD CLOSURE AND HE EXPLAINED THAT WE DID NOT KNOW IF THE LEAK WAS OURS. WE GAVE THE RRC REPRESENTATIVE THE PHONE NUMBERS OF THE OTHER PIPELINE COMPANIES IN THE ROW AND THEY CONTACTED THEM TO RETURN TO THE SITE TO FURTHER REVIEW THEIR SYSTEMS. AT APPROXIMATELY 1800 ON 07-09-10 WE DISCUSSED THE PROGRESS WE WERE MAKING WITH PIPELINE COMPLIANCE AND AGAIN STATED WE DID NOT KNOW IF IT WAS OUR LEAK. I ALSO INFORMED HIM THAT THE RRC WANTED TO BE CONTACTED WHEN THE LEAK WAS IDENTIFIED. WHEN THE STOPPLE WAS EXCAVATED AND THE FLANGE WAS ATTEMPTED TO BE REMOVED IT WAS FOUND THAT THE COMPLETION PLUG WAS LEAKING AND WE COULD NOT USE THE STOPPLE. AT THIS TIME OUR ONLY ALTERNATIVE WAS TO CLEAR THE ENTIRE SECTION OF PIPELINE (7.5 MILES) FROM THE VALVE ON THE WEST SIDE OF RED BLUFF TO MORGAN'S POINT. WE DIVERTED THE PORTABLE FLARE THAT WAS TO BE USED AT RED BLUFF TO MORGAN'S POINT AND STARTED FLARING AT APPROXIMATELY 2030 HOURS ON FRIDAY, 07-09-10. WE MANNED THE LEAK SITE WHILE FLARING THROUGH THE NIGHT. WE DETERMINED WE COULD EXPEDITE CLEARING OF THE LINE BY SETTING UP A SECOND FLARE AT THE EAST SIDE OF RED BLUFF AND USE THE TOR FITTING TO FLARE THE LINE AT THIS LOCATION. AT APPROXIMATELY 1000 SATURDAY MORNING, 07-10-10 WE STARTED THE SECOND FLARE. BY APPROXIMATELY 2100 HOURS THE LINE PRESSURE HAD DROPPED TO 10 PSIG. AT THIS TIME NITROGEN WAS PUMPED INTO THE LINE FROM THE VALVE SITE ON THE WEST SIDE OF RED BLUFF DISPLACING TO THE MORGAN'S POINT FLARE. THIS WAS CONTINUED THROUGH THE NIGHT. ON SUNDAY, 07-11-10 THE LINE WAS INERT AND THE LEAK SITE WAS EXCAVATED. WHEN EXCAVATION WAS COMPLETE, THE LINE WAS SWEPT WITH NITROGEN AND THE LEAK SITE WAS IDENTIFIED AT APPROXIMATELY 1700. NOTIFIED PIPELINE COMPLIANCE THAT THE LEAK WAS OURS AT APPROXIMATELY 1800 ON SUNDAY, 07-11-10, BUT STILL DID NOT MEET REPORTING VOLUME. WE PROCEEDED TO REPAIR THE PIPELINE AND PREPARE FOR COMMISSIONING ON MONDAY, 07-12-10. FAILURE CAUSE DETERMINATION PENDING FAILURE ANALYSIS LAB RESULTS.

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: ALL OTHER CAUSES — MISCELLANEOUS.

PHMSA indexed costs: $261,317 reported total cost, $142,983.237 in 1984 dollars, $352,123.707 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.