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CITGO Petroleum (1250), Lake Charles

Causal Factor: Process Upset

LDEQ Accident Number
Accident Date
Point Source(s) Notes Amount of Release
81431

2005-08-17
B-7 FLARE
Cause: Unexpected shutdown of JC-36 Compressor at the B-Topper Unit.

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ


81140

2005-08-11
Tank 521
Cause: The light ends caused the tank to pressure up to above the set pressures of the control valve

Followup: No

Notes: The release was a mix of propane, butane and butylenes. There is a possibility that the PSV relieved prematurely. It has been pulled out of service and sent for testing.
Flammable Gas: 1,248.0 pounds
81175

2005-08-10
FLARE - B-12 Unicracker
Cause: Overpressure of the E101 tower and a PSV relieved pressure to the flare - root cause of the upset was an incorrect and unresponsive transmitter on pressure controller

Followup: Yes

Notes: Reduced pressure for the pressure safety valve to reseat. RCFA underway. No offsite impact.
Sulfur Dioxide: 1,077.0 pounds

81115

2005-08-08
B-9 FLARE
Cause: Sulfolane Unit over pressurized

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ

81074

2005-08-06
B-9 Flare
Cause: Sulfolane Unit

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ

80796

2005-07-26
B-9 Flare
Cause: light ends over-pressurizing in Sulfolane Unit

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ


79366

2005-05-25
B-12 FLARE
Cause: unexpected short time loss of the Recycle Hydrogen Compressor JC-1B during start up of the Unicracker Unit

Followup: Yes

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ


79154

2005-05-17
B-11 FLARE
Cause: -Flaring of Coker II Fractionator Overhead Gas from upset of E201 Tower

Followup: Yes

Notes: Facility failed to comply with control equipment regualtion - any deveice, operating procedure or abatement scheme used to prevent or reduce air pollution. The valve should not have allowed water to infiltrate the coke drum. Will revise operating procedures, train operators on trouble shooting skills; and install a flow indicato
Sulfur Dioxide: 6,800.0 pounds

78701

2005-05-03
Wastewater Treatment Plant
Cause: while placing a line back into service athte h Wastewater Treatment Plant a relief valve overpressured and released oil to ground and surrounding ditches

Followup: Yes

Notes: 5 gallons went into the Indian Marais. Booms, absorbent pads, vacuum tru
Slop Oil: 630.0 gallons
77213

2005-03-01
B-6 Flare
Cause: debutaizer Tower at the Straight Run Fractionation Unit

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ


77237

2005-02-26
No Information Given
Cause: B Topper upset

Followup: No Information Provided

Notes: CITGO failed to provide a written report. Investigation pending by DEQ letter dated 8/26/06



76802

2005-02-08
FLARE
Cause: system overpressure through a pressure relief valve at the MTBE Unit

Followup: No Information Provided

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ

92656

2006-12-14
tail gas vent stack EQT 298 and 3XX-J5
Cause: upset at sulfur recoovery unit

Followup: No

Notes: Had the contractor performing the RATA advised CITGO sooner that the H2S emissions were higher than expected, operational steps could have been taken earlier in the d
Hydrogen Sulfide: 159.0 pounds
92251

2006-11-26
B-5 Flare
Cause: upset of the E1 Tower at the C-Topper Unit

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ




101044

2007-11-14
B-700 Combustor at the Waste Water Treatment Plant
Cause: @ B-700 Combustor causes fire

Followup: No

Notes: Flaring catches grass and a truck on fire. DEQ on 11/27/2007 defers incident until futher investigation can be completed.


100759

2007-11-04
Lube and Wax Plant Flare
Cause: failed PSV release to CLAW flare

Followup: No

Notes: CITGO letter states that no RQ's were exceeded




99160

2007-09-02
Central Amine Unit ; Sulfur Recovery Units
Cause:

Followup: No

Notes: Upset of Central Amine System and Sulfur Recovery Unit yields high H2S levels in the refinery's fuel gas

98865

2007-08-23
Tank 145
Cause: See notes

Followup: No

Notes: Check valve stuck open at the A Reformer charge pump causes reverse flow of hydrogen into tank causing it to upset.
Naphthenic Crude: 22,971.0 pounds
Flammable Gas: 5,289.0 pounds
Benzene: 20.0 pounds
98548

2007-08-09
B-7 Flare ; B-8 Flare
Cause:

Followup: No

Notes: B-7 flaring stems from shutdown of the JC-51 Compressor at the FCCUs; B-8 flaring stems from upset at C4 Recovery Unit




96456

2007-05-23
Sulften tail gas treatment unit
Cause: See notes

Followup: No

Notes: Leak in a cross exchanger increased hydrogen sulfide emissions from the absorber vent.



94896

2007-03-26
Coker 1 Unit; F201A Drum; B5 Flare
Cause: Unit upset and the flaring of process gas

Followup: No

Notes:



93789

2007-02-07
Coker 1 Unit
Cause: Unit upset and the flaring of process gas

Followup: No

Notes:




93473

2007-01-25
Lube and Wax Plant Duosol unit
Cause: Unit upset and the flaring of process gas

Followup: No

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ; verbal report indicates that Terry Chretien of Citgo insists that the release had not gone off site even though it was a release to air.



109636

2008-09-28
Tail Gas II Unit
Cause: upset in the A- Sulfur Recovery Unit

Followup: Yes

Notes: Incident initiated by hydrocarbons in the acid gas feed to the A-Sulfur Recovery Unit; An RCFA has begun to identify the root cause of the incident and establish action items to prevent recurrence.
Hydrogen Sulfide: 1,149.0 pounds

102967

2008-02-09
Propane railcar
Cause: pressure safety valve release from a loaded propane railcar and depressuring of contents of car

Followup: No

Notes: CITGO letter states that the emissions were BRQ



102962

2008-02-09
Propane tank car UPLX 953656
Cause: pressure safety valve release from a loaded propane railcar and depressuring of contents of car

Followup: No

Notes: verbal report with v. little information
Flammable Gas: 1,000.0 pounds
112841

2009-02-18
B-8 Flare in C4 unit
Cause: Release of Sour Gas from B-8 flare due to the lifting of a pressure valve in the C4 Recovery unit at the CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex where the E10 tower was lifted and reset itself.

Followup:

Notes: C4 unit at the E10 tower reset itself. Material was discharged into surrounding area air.



112786

2009-02-16
B-16 flare in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Unit
B-16 flare at Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Unit
Cause: Sour Gas flare from the B-16 flare caused by the lifting of a pressure relief valve in the Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel unit at CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing plant.

Followup:

Notes: No information given.



128390

2010-12-29
FLARE: Flare B-11 & B-12; Coker 2 Unit
Cause: "...they shutdown a gas compressor at the coker 2 unit due to liquid in a drum....An unknown amount of hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide was released to the flare." FLARE.

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. Refinery letter states that no reportable quantities were exceeded. No additional information given.


128354

2010-12-27
FLARE: F107 drum to B1104 flare
Cause: "...Citgo was starting up the crude vacuum unit [1] when the F107 drum pressured up and went to the B1104 flare at the refinery. An unknown amount of natural gas and hydrogen sulfide was released in the incident." FLARE.

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. Refinery letter states that no reportable quantities were exceeded. No Information given.


122280

2010-03-22
PFU flaring
Cause: "mechanical failure of a release valve or process safety valve"

Followup: No

Notes: no information given


121535

2010-02-17
FLARE: B8 flare
Cause: relief valve at the C4 unit released sending sour hydrocarbons to the B8 flare. FLARE.

Followup: Yes

Notes: no info given




121339

2010-02-08
B-7 flare
Cause: recovery unit lost a compressor, had to flare sour gas hydrocarbons no detailed analysis of incident

Followup: No

Notes: release secured

121160

2010-01-30
FLARE: B12 flare
Cause: unicracker unit shut down--high temperature on a D3 reactor resulted in a 100lb system opening up causing materials to be released to flare File contains no DEQ report, only refinery letter with no details of incident indicating it is ongoing and under investigation. Specific calculations promised in follow-up letter to be sent by 2/28/10.

Followup: No

Notes: air monitoring inside & outside perimeter




132807

2011-07-30
FLARE-Ultra-low Sulfur Diesel hydrotreater, B-16 flare
Cause: Ultra-low Sulfur Diesel Hydrotreater (USLD) unit upset led to unplanned shutdown and flaring.

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. No information given regarding remedial actions. No LDEQ report included. Notified the SPOC 24:36 after incident occured.



No LDEQ Reported

2011-03-09
Barge at CITGO LCMC A-Dock
Cause: Sulfer was spilled from a contractor's barge during transfer operations at the CITGO LCMC A-Dock.

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. No Information given regarding remedial actions. Refinery letter only. No LDEQ report included in file.

129671

2011-03-06
FLARE: B11 and B12 Flare
Cause: FLARE. State police reports states that fill pressure of the flared gas recovery system was exceeded and resulted in flaring from the B11 and B12 flares. No root cause is known. Material went off-site through the flare and then air.

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. No Information Given. Refinery letter and SPOC report only. No LDEQ report.





128815

2011-01-22
FLARE: C-4 Recovery JC101A Compressor to B7 Flare
Cause: LDEQ states that the facility experienced a process problem due to a tower over-pressurizing.

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. LDEQ report states that "operating data shows" that no reportable quantities were exceeded. Workers had to manually open the relief to the flare, and the C-4 Recovery JC101A compressor was shut down for a short period of time.
Hydrogen Sulfide: 5.0 pounds
145571

2012-12-26
Coker 2 Unit
Cause: A compressor upset on the Coker 2 Unit caused the gases to go to the flare.

Followup: No

Notes: An unknown amount of sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and nitrous oxide went to the flare as a result of this incident. Air monitoring was being preformed up to the fence line and readings are unknown at this time.



138676

2012-04-08
Oil Movement D-Area Tank 75
Cause: A release valve used to draw water leaked from an overflow. There was a spill of 11.1 barrels of contaminated water from Oil Movement D-Area Tank 75 because an open release valve overflowed.

Followup: No

Notes: Valve was closed. Contaminated soils will be excavated and disposed of. There is no incident report in the file. Offsite was impacted.
Oil: 466.2 gallons
137864

2012-03-10
Sewer of C-Cat unit
Cause: The process sewer in the C-Cat Unit of the facility backed up and catseed (heavy gas oil) was discharged to soil.

Followup: No

Notes: The problem was contained and clean-up occurred.

147294

2013-03-13
Coker I JC-106
Cause: On March 13, 203 CITGO Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex had a flaring event involving the Coker 1 JC-106 compressor. The JC-106 compressor shut down requiring flaring of sour gas through the b5 flare. Hydrogen sulfide and nitric oxide were mentioned in the LDEQ report.

Followup: No

Notes: The refinery letter stated that no reportable quantities had been exceeded, with no additional information on specific substances.