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Louisiana Refinery Accident Database

Marathon Ashland Petroleum (3165), Garyville

LDEQ Accident Report

Pollutants Released

Accident Classified As: Reportable Quantity

Cause of Problem: Maintenance/Procedures

While repairing a Reboiler steam leak in Unit 212, light hydrocarbon material was sent to Slop Tank 500-6 from Unit 212 Debutanizer bottoms with no Crude sponging from Unit 210. The light vapors caused the roof of Tank 500-6 to dome, and some vapors were released into the atmosphere, resulting in exceeding the reportable quantity for compressed flammable gasses. Resulted in the release of approximately 4,204.53 pounds of compressed flammable gas from the tank farm. Update: The root cause was identified as a lack of Crude sponging to the slop material.

Discharge Preventable - Yes

The release could have been prevented by sponging the slop material with Crude.

Notes/Remedial Actions

The area was cleared and the roof and dike drains were blocked in. An incident investigation was conducted to determine the cause or causes of the incident. Per this investigation, the root cause was identified as a lack of crude sponging to the slop material. Multiple recommendation items have been identified to help prevent a recurrence of this event. The Operations Department at MPC has created a written work procedure for taking the U212 Debutanizer offline. The Product Controls department has also been tasked with creating guidelines for sending material to the slop tank, which includes information on sponging and quenching slop material (anticipated completion on 12/31/14). In addition, the Engineering Department will evaluate the quench valves located in Unit 10 and 210 to ensure proper quenching/sponging of material being sent to the slop tank.