| Home | Search | Emissions | Pollutants | About the Database |
CITGO Petroleum (1250), Lake Charles
Causal Factor: Human Factors
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 82249 2005-09-15 | FA11A seal oil tank | Cause: FA11A seal oil tank was overfilled by operations personnel. Approximately 3 bbls of refined petroleum solvent was spilled on the ground. Followup: No Notes: soils were excavated and recovered. Corrective measures are to be determined. Report delayed due to Hurricane Rita. First report states that there was offsite impact (land), while the report letter states there was no offsite impact. Phillips Services was contracted for cleanup for a vacuum truck and absorbent materials. | 150 Bright Stock Lubricating Oil: 672.0 gallons |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-06-14 | A Dock | Cause: drip pan was overfilled and dripped into Calcasiue River Followup: No Notes: Operator failed to properly monitor flow to the sump. | Diesel Fuel: 4.0 gallons |
| 79333 2005-06-01 | B-12 FLARE | Cause: the console operator put the F-1 feed drum pressure controller PC-003 in the manual closed position and failed to put it back in automatic Followup: No Notes: The Filter Maintenance Inspection Preparation Procedure will be revised to address a standard method for console operators. A Hard alarm will be installed for PSL 009. | Sulfur Dioxide: 4,983.0 pounds |
| 79360 2005-05-25 | Coker 1 Unit | Cause: valve was not closed all the way on blow down system Followup: No Notes: Closed valve | |
| No LDEQ Reported 2005-03-29 | C-Dock | Cause: painting contractor spilled paint which seeped through cracks of walkway and dripped into Calcasieu River making a noticeable sheen Followup: No Notes: Absorbent booms used to recover | |
| 77217 2005-02-26 | B-7 Flare | Cause: The guideline for managing high BS&W crude was not followed by the Product Inspector Followup: Yes Notes: Instituted a crude dewatering plan. Drafted a formal written procedure re: clear commuication and plan of action prior to pumping crude oil in takage to an operating unit. Train personnel on crude BS&W specifications. referred for enfrocement action from LDEQ | Sulfur Dioxide: 1,397.0 pounds |
| No LDEQ Reported 2006-09-21 | A Dock Isolation Valve | Cause: a dock perator did not completely cose an isolation valve while replacing pressure gauge at A Dock Followup: No Notes: Training and awareness | Oil: 3.0 pounds |
| 99993 2007-10-05 | Tank FB411 | Cause: the tank was over filled Followup: No Notes: Tank product, 650 distillate (a heavy motor oil) was released to the ground | Distillate: 840.0 gallons |
| 96186 2007-05-14 | G-104 Barge | Cause: a barge was over filled with VGO Followup: No Notes: Booms and vacuum trucks deployed; too little Oil to be recovered; Follow-up letter states that sheen was not from CITGO but from the barge | |
| 93604 2007-01-31 | Tank 34 | Cause: a valve was left open while the tank was being filled Followup: No Notes: Steps are being taken to raise operator awareness. Initial verbal report indicates spill was 4-5 barrels of hydrocarbon. Report submitted to DEQ with CITGO letter states that release was 21,885 lb | Hydrocarbon: 21,885.0 pounds |
| 111417 2008-12-14 | Tank 190 | Cause: Tank 190 high level alarm was improperly set Followup: Yes Notes: CITGO letter states that RQ for Benzene may have been exceeded; Alarm was was changed to provide proper indication of high level. Root cause analysis initiated. | Benzene: 92,578.0 pounds |
| 111035 2008-11-22 | Dock | Cause: overflow while filling a gas tank to a barge in the dock Followup: No Notes: DEQ report indicates that written letter of notification was not required. Harbor Docking and Towing Co. calls to report diesel spill to DEQ. | |
| 107668 2008-07-31 | B-Dock | Cause: pile driving equipment dropped into river Followup: No Notes: Booms deployed as precautionary measure. According to CITGO, no spill occurr | 0 |
| 105754 2008-05-19 | Waste Water Treatment unit | Cause: Contractors were transporting a roll off box containing tank bottom material. Box contents shifted, causing spil Followup: No Notes: DEQ rep report states that the slop oil spilled was mostly water, but that the amount spilled was close to 1 barr | Oil: 1.0 gallons |
| 118022 2009-08-27 | Drain valves | Cause: The drain valves on three flare drip legs were discovered open and were immediately closed. The drip legs were left open after the routine draining. Followup: Yes Notes: Valves were closed. Citgo failed to notify LDEQ 24 hours after the accident and did not write a follow up letter within 7 days either. Report was not made until 22days after the incident occurred. LDEQ investigated the accident and found a permit violation. LDEQ then granted Citgo a permit modification authorization. | Flammable Gas: 8,830.0 pounds |
| 116195 2009-07-02 | Acid tank | Cause: While a contractor was filling an acid tank in the powerhouse area he spilled 96 gallons (1433 lbs) of sulfuric acid. Followup: No Notes: Spill was contained. Reviewing the procedures used by the contractor. | Sulfuric Acid: 1,433.0 pounds |
| 123503 2010-05-15 | bleeder valve at F-11 | Cause: "...A 3/4 inch bleeder valve was left open at the F-11 in the treatment plant area." LDEQ states. Cat gas and spent caustic were released. Followup: No Notes: BRQ. Report states that no reportable quantities were exceeded. "The free standing material was vacuumed up and the area was washed down and recovered with the vacuum" states LDEQ. | Spent Caustic: 105.0 gallons CAT Gasoline: 63.0 gallons |
| 122267 2010-03-22 | storage tank in maintenance area | Cause: Overfilled storage tank in maintenance area with diesel fuel. Followup: No Notes: Picked up spilled fuel with vacuum truck | Diesel Fuel: 210.0 gallons |
| 132764 2011-08-01 | Fired heaters and boilers Sulfen Vent Stack EQT297, Tail Gas II Vent Stack EQT298, B-7 Flare B-7 Flare EQT347 Sulften Vent Stack, Tail Gas II Vent Stack | Cause: The operator failed to manually reset the solenoid valve that controlled the level in the F-104 drum prior to restarting the JC-102 compressor. Based on the definition of control equipment inLAC 33:III.1 1 1, Citgo failed, in this incident, to diligently maintain control equipment in proper working order whenever emissions were being made.
That initial failure to reset the solenoid valve cause a string of upsets, which began with the central amine upset. Followup: Yes Notes: Immediate corrective actions taken were removing excess hydrocarbon from the central amine unit, amine feed to the SRUs was reduced, and efforts were made to identify the hydrocarbon source. Citgo conducted an incident investigation, which outlines several actions to be taken. Additional letters from refinery regarding this incident: 8/18/11, 10/27/11 | Sulfur Dioxide: 2,354.0 pounds |
| 132825 2011-07-30 | Tank 36 (EQT0088) and Tank 37 (EQT0089) | Cause: The operator failed to manually close the naphtha valve after the switch to C-4 was made, ultimately causing a roof drain leak on Tank 37, a slop oil tank containing hydrogen sulfide. Thus, Citgo failed to diligently maintain control equipment in proper working order whenever emissions were being made. Followup: Yes Notes: Immediate corrective actions taken were changing routings of materials into tank 37 and making efforts to identify the source of the light materials that were believed to cause the hydrocarbon release. Vacuum trucks were cleaning up the spill at the time of the police report. | Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): 2,576.0 pounds Slop Oil: 2,016.0 gallons |
| 132191 2011-07-01 | vacuum truck | Cause: According to the LDEQ report, the oil/water mix was spilled from a vacuum truck due to operator error. Followup: No Notes: RQ: The spill was contained and cleaned up, and operators are being retrained on proper procedures to prevent recurrence. LDEQ and SPOC reports only. No Refinery Letter. | Oil and Water: 1,008.0 gallons |
| No LDEQ Reported 2013-06-06 | LCMC A-Dock | Cause: On June 6, a mixture of water and diesel was spilled from the drip pan containment by a contractor to the Calcasieu River during maintanance activities on the CITGO Petroleum Corporation LCMC A-Dock creating a sheen. Followup: No Notes: The maintenance activity was stopped and SPCC measure were taken to contain the sheen. To prevent reoccurrence, maintenance procedures are under review. | Diesel Fuel: 0.1 gallons |
| 154086 2014-02-23 | B-dock | Cause: Initally Citgo reported a spill of a Xylene based material at the Citgo B-Dock. A Citgo representative stated that a contractor spilled approximately 7 gallons of Dupont Oil Red B Liquid Dye which is added to off road diesel fuel. The spill occurred on the dock during the loading of off road diesel onto a barge. Before the product could be recovered, a heavy rain occurred which caused the contamination trench to overflow resulting in the material entering the Calcasieu River. The material was contained by hard boom permanently in place at the dock area. The dye was recovered by placing sorbent boom and flushing. The recovery process took several months to accomplish. Sorbent boom was replaced periodically and disposed of in a land fill. Recovery of the dye was complete in May 2014. Followup: Yes Notes: The spill was contained using SPCC measures and spill booms were deployed. The plugged containment trench was cleaned to prevent overflowing and the loading point for the red dye injection was relocated to an area better situated to contain spills. The report states there was no-off site damage yet admits to contaminating a major water source. The report also fails to give an end date, duration, or the amount of Xylene present with the dye. The clean up was finished sometime in May of 2014 according to the report. Citgo asked on four different occasions for extensions for the seven day letter which was finally reported on 05/20/2014. Citgo does not discuss why it took so long to file this report, though three additional letters were included with dates in February, March and April. Contaminant is ostensibly a proprietary mixture including xylene and other ingredients. The mixture is categorized as "not extremely hazardous, liquid." | Xylene: 7.3 gallons : 7.3 gallons |
Connect With Us: