PHMSA Report 20230027
PHMSA Report 20230027
Hazardous liquid gravity and reporting-regulated-only incident in Not Within a Municipality, MCKENZIE County, ND. Reported cause: EQUIPMENT FAILURE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.32 CRUDE OIL released, $1,110 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: 20230027.
Operator ID: 32619.
Reported incident date: 3/2/2023 13:50.
Cause detail: THREADED CONNECTION/COUPLING FAILURE
Cause detail: ON 3/02/2023, AT 13:50-HOURS, A HILAND CRUDE (HC) EMPLOYEE ARRIVED AT THE CONTINENTAL RESOURCES TALLAHASSEE 8-21 HSL WELL SITE FOR ROUTINE WORK TASKS. AT 13:55-HOURS, THE EMPLOYEE DISCOVERED A CRUDE OIL SPILL ORIGINATING FROM THE 20HP CHARGE PUMP. THE EMPLOYEE IMMEDIATELY STOPPED THE CHARGE PUMP, ISOLATED THE PIPING, AND THEN ALERTED THE OPERATIONS SUPERVISOR OF THE SPILL AND HIS ACTIONS TAKEN. CONSEQUENTLY, OPERATIONS INITIATED THE EMERGENCY RESPONSE LINE (ERL) AT 14:17-HOURS AT WHICH TIME THE CRUDE OIL SPILL WAS DEEMED REPORTABLE. APPROXIMATELY 13.5 GALLONS OF CRUDE OIL WAS SPILLED WITHIN THE LINED CONTAINMENT SURROUNDING THE EQUIPMENT. CLEANUP ACTIVITIES WERE IMMEDIATELY STARTED BY HC EMPLOYEE AND WAS COMPLETED BY THE EMPLOYEE ON 3/02/2023. THE INTERNAL INVESTIGATION FOUND THE PIPE NIPPLE ON THE UPSTREAM SIDE OF THE CHARGE PUMP HAD CRACKED ALLOWING THE SPILL OF CRUDE OIL. HC REPLACED THE PIPE NIPPLE AND ADDED SUPPORT TO THE PIPING TO REDUCE VIBRATION AND FATIGUE. THE FACILITY RETURNED TO SERVICE ON 3/02/2023.
This material provides agency context. It does not replace binding regulatory text, and its legal effect depends on the underlying authority and facts.