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CITGO Petroleum (1250), Lake Charles
Releases of Xylene
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 84791 2005-12-23 | B-Topper Unit B-7 Flare | Cause: Piping leak at the B-Topper Unit. Due to the temperature of the naphtha steam and the elevation of the line relative to the ground, the leaking material evaporated and did not reach the ground. Followup: Yes Notes: Original letter states that the phone call to report this incident occurred on December 24, 2005, while the follow up letter states the incident occurred on December 23, 2005 at 23:45 hours. Claims all pollutants were released as liquids but vaporized before reaching the ground. Heavy naphtha release was below reportable quantities. The pumparound piping from which the leak was coming was shutdown and isolated for repair when the Unit was shutdown. A Failure Analysis was scheduled for this incident. Second attached letter states that upon re-start up of the B-Unit Topper on December 29, H2S and SO2 were possibly released but below reportable quantities | 304.0 |
| 91054 2006-10-02 | B-11 Flare | Cause: Occurred during start up of Mixed Xylenes Unit Followup: No Notes: Claims emission was below RQ | |
| 88679 2006-06-19 | B-12 flare, wastewater treatment plant | Cause: Refinery experienced a heavy rainfall event, greater than 8 inches;of rain in 36 hours. 250 psig steam lines became submerged in water and as a result the steam condensed and caused a drop in pressure, eventually stopping the flow of rich amine throughthe Central Amine unit. This resulted in the loss of acid gas production. The SROs eventually shutdown due to lack of feed. Off gas went to the B-12 flare. Rainfall runoff exceeded the available capacity of the wastewater treatment system storm water tanks and the treatment system. When the capacity of the storm water tanks was exceeded, slop oil and wastewater overflowed from the tanks into the protective dike area surrounding the tanks allowing evaporation of benzene, etc. Followup: Yes Notes: The lack of amine treatment of refinery fuel gas caused the hydrogen sulfide content in fuel gas to exceed permit limits Hydrogen Sulfide amounts exceeded not reportedÉTo increase the pressure of the steam system and to reuce hydrogen sulfide generation, emergency steam and hydrogen sulfide shedding steps were initiated. Several units feed rates were reduced to minimum and some were shut down. As soon as acid gas was available steps were taken to restart the SRUs. For each restart operations pnnel followed standard operations procedures for startup and shutdown. When the storm water tanks began to overflow, steps were taken to remove slop oil from the tank dike using vacuum dikes. The feed rte of wastewater from the wastewater tanks to | 91,154.0 pounds |
| 98497 2007-08-08 | Tank 85 | Cause: see notes Followup: No Notes: Leak discovered @ Reformate Tank 85 coming from 2 small holes immediately above the wind stiffener ring at the 36.5 foot level; Verbal report indicates failure of gauging system contributed to late detection of leak. REMEDIAL ACTION: A new safe operating fill height has been established below prior level. Tank 85 will be replaced. High level alarm has been lowered to prevent recurrence. | |
| 114984 2009-05-15 | Tank 36 | Cause: Oil was leaking from the bottom of tank 36. source of leak was the drain line, which drains water from the external floating roof, and runs internal the tank. The line developed a leak and was losing oil. Followup: No Notes: Drain line closed, and clean-up initiated. | 222.0 pounds |
| 114866 2009-05-12 | Bottom of B-11 flare | Cause: Xylene spill at the base of the B-11 flare, no RQs exceeded so there was no information given. Followup: No Notes: No information given. | |
| 135306 2011-11-16 | Vessel, Valve on Marpol Line | Cause: LDEQ responded to the incident at Citgo Petroleum D Dock, where the marine vessel Chembulk New Orleans appeared to have started leaking xylene after loading approximately 22,000 bbls onto the vessel. The discharge appeared to be coming from under the bottom of the vessel under a slop tank storage compartment. It was creating a light sheen and a strong odor in the area of the discharge along the dock area, so hard booms were deployed around the vessel by Citgo and ES&H. Slop tank was pumped into another compartment that appeared to slow the leak. Vessel personnel stated that the vessel was double hulled and the xylene was not coming from the vessel. Citgo personnel considered sending a diver on 11/17/11 to assess the discharge area under the vessel. Kevin Natali was notified by Citgo on 11/17/11 that 4 valves on the Marpol line (which discharges overboard) on board the vessel was found to be leaking. The leaks was secured at approximately 4 am on 11/17/11 and it was determined that a diver was not needed. Followup: No Notes: Vessel was inspected by the US Coast Guard before it was released. Incident linked to #135315. Multi Gas Monitor Report included with readings from across the river during the accident. VOC levels fluctuated between 1 and 9 ppm. Readings also show low levels of carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide. Citgo initially claimed the leak was not coming from the vessel. Later, leak found on board the vessel. VOC had a conversion factor of 0.4, this may mean that values were reduced to 400lbs but the closed report states 1000 lbs. | 1,000.0 pounds |
| 135315 2011-11-16 | valves on marpol line of MV Chembulk New Orleans | Cause: On November 16, 2011 at 16:30, Terminal personnel witnessed bubbles coming to the surface of the water in the vicinity of a vessel in port. Discharge appeared to be coming from under the bottom of the vessel under a slop tank storage compartment. It was creating a light sheen and a strong odor in the area of the discharge along a dock area. The slop tank was pumped into another compartment that appeared to slow the leak. Vessel personnel stated that the vessel was doubled hulled and the xylene was not coming from the vessel. Kevin Natali was notified by Diana LeBlanc with Citgo on 11/17/11 that 4 valves on the Marpol line (which discharges overboard) on board the vessel was found to be leaking. Followup: No Notes: Hard booms were deployed around the vessel by CITGO and ES&H. The slop tank was pumped into another compartment that appeared to slow the leak. After discovering the leaking valves, the leak was secured approximately at 4 AM on November 17, 2011. The vessel was inspected by the US Coast Guard before it was released. VOC amount released manually tested with results reading 4.0 PPM. Rough calculation was done by Citgo engineering and determined the release was over 1000 lbs. CITGO LCMC will provide an update to this Courtesy Notification Letter with information from the United States Coast Guard MSU Lake Charles in regards to the citation issued to the MV Chembulk New Orleans as the information becomes available. This incident is linked with incident #135306. | 1,000.0 pounds |
| 136963 2012-02-03 | K-19 line leak | Cause: K-19 line leak. A dresser coupling failed and leaked 1 barrel of finished gasoline. Coupler between piping for a barrel. This is a seal between piping and vessel. Followup: No Notes: The materials were contained in a concrete area. The line was isolates, foam was added, and the line was repaired. Planning to replace it with a hard line. The RQs for Flammable Gas and VOCs were exceeded. | 3.0 pounds |
| 152225 2013-11-07 | Furnace Tube | Cause: A fire occurred on the A-Reformer combination furnace during startup. Preliminary indication is that a furnace tube, located in the convective section, developed a leak which resulted in a fire. Followup: No Notes: | 109.7 pounds |
| 151352 2013-09-21 | Wastewater treatment unit | Cause: This incident involved a Benzene release associated with wastewater diversion CITGO's wastewater treatment plant. This wastewater diversion occurred as a result of a flash flood heavy rain event. CITGO diverted the wastewater into a concrete diked containment area surrounding the wastewater tanks. According to CITGO, the wastewater diversion was necessary to avoid overfilling of stormwater and equalization tanks.
One of the WWTP Equalization Tanks (TK 310) had been out of service for inspection/maintenance going into the subject rainfall event. Followup: No Notes: Wastewater processing rates were maximized and material diverted to diked area was pumped to controlled storage as tankage became available. CITGO will be constructing a fourth wastewater storage tank as well as an additional API separator and aeration tank. | 13.0 pounds |
| 156037 2014-05-18 | Tank 143, EQT 0130, Logistics Area | Cause: Citgo reported a naphtha release from Tank 143 (A 23,500 barrel feed tank for the A Reformer Unit). The real ease began when there was a reverse flow of hydrogen (caused by an unexpected shut down of the A reformer feed pumps) into the tank from the A Reformer Unit. This reverse flow caused the level in the tank to increase rapidly, lifting the roof and damaging the floating roof seal, allowing product to drain off the roof and into the tank dike area. Fence line monitoring, conducted during the incident reported no readings of a volatile compound. As a effort to reduce VOC emissions, foam was applied to the product during the night. In a letter dated 5/23/14 Citgo requested additional time to provide release calculations for the incident. According to the report the LDEQ quants for flammable liquid and benzene from volatilization were exceeded. 53 barrels of Heavy Naptha Mixture were released from the tank and contacted the ground. Approximately 37.5 barrels were recovered and the balance evaporated. 50 pounds of Benzene a naphtha constituent released from evaporation. Followup: Yes Notes: As a corrective action the flow line was immediately blocked in, foam was applied to the spill area, and all liquid/contaiinated soil was removed and disposed of according the state regulations. | 185.0 pounds |
| 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." | 7.3 gallons |
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