PHILLIPS 66 CO — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2001-10-15

Hazardous liquid incident in BRAZORIA County, TX. Reported cause: FAILED PIPE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 4659 NATURAL GAS LIQUID released, $250,000 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: 20020007.

Operator ID: 15485.

Reported incident date: 20011015.

Location detail: SEE ATTACHED SKETCH LOCATION: 1/3 MILE SOUTH SOUTH WEST OF INTERSECTION, FM 1459 AND COUNTY ROAD 332

Cause detail: DAMAGE BY OTHERS

Cause detail: AT APPROXIMATELY 13:36 ON OCTOBER 15, 2001, A LEAK INITATED ON A PIPELINE NEAR THE TOWN OF SWEENY TEXAS. SHERIFF AND LOCAL EMERGENCY RESPONSE PERSONNEL ARRIVED AT THE SITE AND BEGAN EVACUATION OF THE HOUSES SURROUNDING THE LEAK SITE DUE TO THE PRESENCE OF HYDROCARBON VAPOR IN THE AREA. SWEENY COMPLEX EMERGENCY RESPONSE PERSONNEL ARRIVED AT THE SITE AND BEGAN ASSISTING WITH THE EVACUATION OF THE PUBLIC AROUND THE SITE AND ESTABLISHING A SAFE PERIMETER AROUND THE AREA. TWO ROADS AROUND THE AREA WERE BLOCKED BY LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL. AN EMERGENCY COMMAND CENTER WAS ACTIVATED AT THE SWEENY COMPLEX AND ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL WERE DISPATCHED TO THE SCENE. A LOCAL COMMUNITY CENTER WAS OPENED FOR DISPLACED RESIDENTS IN THE AREA AND HOTEL ROOMS WERE PROVIDED FOR THOSE AFFECTED. SINCE THERE WERE MULTIPLE LINES IN THIS RIGHT OF WAY INITIAL EFFORTS WERE FOCUSED ON IDENTIFYING THE CORRECT LINE AND SHUTTING DOWN ANY POTENTIAL SUSPECTS. A TOTAL OF 10 LINES WERE SHUTDOWN DURING THIS PROCESS INCLUDING THE #9 PROPYLENE PIPELINE. ALL OF THESE PIPELINES TAKE PRODUCT FROM THE SWEENY COMPLEX TO UNDERGROUND STORAGE AT THE CLEMENS TERMINAL STORAGE FACILITY. DUE TO THE AMOUNT OF VAPOR COMING FROM THE LEAK PERSONNEL WERE NOT ABLE TO SAFELY GET INTO THE IMMEDIATE AREA SURROUNDING THE LEAK TO TAKE A SAMPLE OR STOP THE LEAK AT THE SOURCE OF THE VAPOR. THE PROPYLENE LINE WAS SUSPECTED TO BE THE LEAKING LINE DUE TO THE PRESSURE DROP SEEN ON THE LINE. ACTIONS WERE TAKEN TO ROUTE THE PROPYLENE TO EXISTING FLARES ON BOTH ENDS OF THE SYSTEM. THE LINE DEPRESSURED TO THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE LEAK SITE AND TO THE FLARES AT BOTH UNTIL APPROXIMATELY 11:50PM ON OCTOBER 15, 2001 WHEN THE LINE EMPTIED OF VAPORS. MONITORING OF THE AREA SURROUNDING THE LEAK CONTINUED THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. THE ROADBLOCKS WERE RELEASED THE NEXT DAY. AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT THE SKY WAS CLEAR AND THERE WAS LIGHT WINDS. THE WIND SHIFTED DURING THE NIGHT WHEN A FRONT CAME INTO THE AREA. MONITORING OF VAPORS WAS ADJUSTED ACCORDINGLY DURING THE NIGHT. THE CAUSE OF THE LEAK WAS PREVIOUS EXTERNAL DAMAGE TO THE PIPELINE. THE LEAK AT THE SITE CONSISTED OF APPROXIMATELY A 12" SPLIT WHICH STARTED AT A WELD AT CLOCK LOCATION OF 2:00. EVIDENCE OF THE EXTERNAL DAMAGE WAS EVIDENT ON THE PIPE. A DENT WAS PRESENT AT THE APPARENT START OF THE SPLIT AND SCRAP MARKS WERE FOUND ALONG THE TOP OF THE PIPE AND IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SPLIT. A 4 FEET SECTION OF PIPE ALONG THE TOP OF THE PIPE WAS FLATTENED. THE COATING ON THE PIPE WAS SCRAPED OFF WITH NO EVIDENCE OF HAVING BEEN REPAIRED. THE PIPE UNDER THE COATING SHOWED LITTLE TO NO EVIDENCE OF CORROSION. CATHODIC PROTECTION READINGS AT THE LEAK SITE WERE -1323 M V WHICH IS ABOVE THE -850MV CRITERIA USED ON THIS PIPELINE. DIRECTLY UNDER THIS LINE WAS A CROSSING LINE WHICH HAD BEEN LAID IN 1997. FURTHER INVESTIGATION WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE OTHER CAUSES CONTRIBUTING TO THE RELEASE. PRIOR TO THE START OF THE LEAK A LINE UP HAD OCCURRED WHICH PUT A HIGHER THAN NORMAL PRESSURE ON THE LINE. ALTHOUGH THE PRESSURE WAS BELOW THE MOP OF THE LINE IT WAS ABOVE THE PRESSURE NORMALLY SEEN ON THE LINE. AS A PRECAUTION THE LINES WHICH HAD BEEN CROSSED BY THE LINE LAID IN 1997 WERE EXCAVATED TO CHECK FOR DAMAGE. THREE LINES IN THE CORRIDOR SHOWED COATING DAMAGE AT THE CROSSING LOCATION. ONE UNREGULATED NITROGEN LINE SHOWED A SMALL GOUGE ON THE LINE WHICH WAS EVALUATED NOT TO COMPROMISE THE INTEGRITY OF THE LINE. METALLURGICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FAILED PIPE IS BEING PERFORMED. A 20 FEET SECTION OF THE LINE WAS INSTALLED AT THE LEAK LOCATION TO REPLACE TO FAILED PIPE. PIPELINE WAS PUT BACK IN SERVICE ON OCTOBER 19, 2001. UPDATE 3-28-02 BASED ON HIS FINDINGS WE BELIEVE THAT THE OVERHELMING PHYSICAL EVIDENCE PRESENT ON THE PIPE SECTION WOULD MAKE FURTHER METALLURICAL ANALYSIS OF LIMITED VALUE. THE PIPE SECTION HAD AND INWARD DENT PRESENT AT THE START OF THE SPLIT, SCRAP MARKS ALONG AND PAST THE SPLIT, AND APPROXIMATELY 4 FEET OF FLATTENED

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: MATERIAL/WELD/EQUIP FAILURE — UNSPECIFIED PIPE BODY OR SEAM.

PHMSA indexed costs: $250,000 reported total cost, $164,944.257 in 1984 dollars, $406,206.94 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.