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Marathon Ashland Petroleum (3165), Garyville

Releases of Compressed Flammable Gas

LDEQ Accident Number
Accident Date
Point Source(s) Notes Amount of Release
94400

2007-02-27
Marine Dock 1
Cause: The piping on a newly installed liquid separation vessel was incorrectly piped

Followup: Yes

Notes: Root Cause Analysis is being performed. DEQ Field Interview Report states that the facility failed to have control device in place to ensure that the newly installed piping was correctly piped prior to loading.
2,036.4 pounds
No LDEQ Reported

2007-02-27
Marine Dock 1
Cause: The piping on a newly installed liquid separation vessel was incorrectly piped

Followup: Yes

Notes: Root Cause Analysis is being performed. DEQ Field Interview Report states that the facility failed to have control device in place to ensure that the newly installed piping was correctly piped prior to loading.
2,036.4 pounds
93826

2007-02-08
Gas Oil Hydrotreating Unit
Cause: While the unit was starting up, a crack was noticed. Cause of crack is under investigation.

Followup:

Notes: Claims emission was below RQ. No Information Given
834.0 pounds
107208

2008-07-15
FCCU Tubing
Cause: Tubing from a flow orifice plate broke off and released LPG.

Followup: No

Notes: Unit start-up was aborted, all fired sources were extinguished and a fire monitor was opened.
4,199.7 pounds
121884

2010-03-03
Gas pipe in Unit 43 Fuel Gas System
Cause: Condensate gas was leaking through a pin hole in a piping nipple in the Unit 43 Fuel Gas System. Gas was released to air.

Followup:

Notes: BRQ. Report states the line was isolated and the line depressurized so that leak could be repaired. This spill did not reach a reportable quantity. A clamp was installed around the pipe nipple to prevent future release at the site. Original report identifies release as compressed flammable gas. Later reports break down release into - HRVOCs, VOCs, Ethane, Methane, and H2.
212.6 pounds
131650

2011-06-04
Unit 222 Plant feed line
Cause: LDEQ report states Unit 222 Gas Plant feed line developed leak. Caused was cracked pipe.

Followup: No

Notes: RQ. Cracked pipe was replaced. State Police report indicates that the compressed flammable gas contained butane, methane, and propane. LDEQ and SPOC report only. No refinery letter included.
1,314.0 pounds
129232

2011-02-12
Block Valve on Unit 12 Platformer Unit (FUG 018)
Cause: The bonnet to a block valve developed a leak to release butane. Cause of the leak was unknown, possibly weather related. Refinery letter states that "all aspects of this incident are currently under investigation."

Followup: No

Notes: BRQ. Steam was applied to the leak, and the valve was clamped.
216.8 pounds
145377

2012-12-15
South Flare
Unit 59 South Flare
Cause: A tube leaked on the Unit 15 Hot Separator Overhead Fin Fans at 17:52 hours. At 18:00, the unit was undergoing emergency shutdown procedures and the U15 dump valve was opened to the flare. The incident was a Gas Oil leak in the Unit 15 Hot separator Overhead Fin Fan Exchangers. This leak caused a vapor release of hydrocarbons and hydrogen in addition to a small amount of hydrogen sulfide.

Followup: Yes

Notes: PDF was too large to upload. Unit 15 was depressurized to the South Flare to safely isolate the leaking Overhead Fin Fan. Once the unit pressure was sufficiently low in the unit, the Fin Fans were isolated and the leak stopped. An incident investigation will result in recommendations to prevent recurrence. The reportable quantities for hydrogen sulfide, compressed flammable gas, and compressed flammable liquid were exceeded during this event. A report on October 9, 2013, removed greenhouse gas emissions and revised the estimate of VOC emissions.
1,335.8 pounds
140561

2012-06-16
North Ground Flare
Flange on the Pitch Exchanger 210-1317-08
Cause: The 210-1513-01 Vacuum Bottoms Pump inboard and outboard motor bearing housings were smoking during routine observations. The 210-1513-02 Vacuum Bottoms Pump (back-up) was already out of service for repairs. The board operator was notified and started reducing Crude charge rate. The 210-1513-01 Vacuum Bottoms pump was shut down due to the outboard motor bearing igniting. The 210 Crude Unit shutdown procedure was initiated. The 210-1801-01 Offgas Compressor tripped due to a high level in the 210-1202 Compressor Suction Drum. Both pumps were already on in automatic. The outsider operator opened the bypass around the flow controller to the Product Receiver. Crude overhead gas was flared in the North Ground Flare. About 5 gallons of crude oil from a flange on the Refinery's Oily Water Sewer and processed in the WWTP.

Followup: No

Notes: The boardman cut charge rates to Crude Unit 10 and shut down Crude Unit 210. Both Compressor Suction Drum pumps were turned on, and the bypass around the flow controller was opened. The operator increased the suction drum pressure to assist the pumps in pressuring out the level to the startup compressor. The incident investigation will result in recommendation items designed to prevent the recurrence of this event. Initial report states material did go offsite. Verbal report and Hazardous Materials Incident Reporting Form state that H2S was released (and incorrectly reporting that the reportable quantity for it is 500 lbs), while the refinery statement letter reports only SO2.
10.3 pounds
152677

2013-12-04
Pipe leak at a pump in Unit 10 Crude unit
Cause: On December 4 at approximately 8:00 hours, there was a pinhole leak in 2 inch insulated piping. Corrosion caused the pinhole. Report states that none of the emitted pollutants are above reportable quantity levels. However, the RQ level for Flammable Liquids was exceeded during this event.

Followup: No

Notes: The unit was shut down to repair the leak as the piping could not be isolated. This piping will be routinely inspected and an upstream block valve was added to enable the isolation of this line. The material released was crude oil. It was entirely contained within the unit and routed to the Oily Water Sewer system.
69.7 pounds
152421

2013-11-18
Unit 10 Naphtha Splitter
Cause: On November 18 during startup of the Naptha Splitter, a leak was found in the vessel shell. As soon as the leak was discovered, the vessel was deinventoried and all liquid feeds were blocked in. The source of the leak was from a hole the side of a pencil, the cause of which is under investigation.

Followup: Yes

Notes: As soon as the leak was discovered, the vessel was deinventoried and all liquid feeds were blocked in. An incident investigation will determine the cause and recommendations to prevent future occurrences will be made.
39.5 pounds
150862

2013-09-07
Unit 222 Liquid feed pump (222-1501-02)
Cause: The emission point involved was a pinhole leak on the pump casing of 222-1501-02. Sour LPG leaked to the atmosphere causing the unit fixed monitor 222-AI-0019 to go in and out of alarm. Operators donned SCBA's to investigate and discovered a leak in the weld for the seal flush piping at the pump casing of 222-1501-02. The 222-1505-02 Liguid Feed Pump was out of service, leaving no spare. Emergency Shutdown of Unit 222 Sats Gas Plant (SGP) was activated.

Followup: No

Notes: Unit 222 Sats Gas Plant was shutdown when the emergency shutdown EIV-1 was closed from a remote location by the Shift Emergency Response Team (SERT). The pump was kept on until all liquid could be diverted to Unit 222 (Sats Gas Plant). The pump was then isolated for maintenance. Once the investigation is complete, recommendations will be implemented.
98.8 pounds
149428

2013-06-29
flange on process line in U212 Platformer Unit
Cause: On June 29, a small leak and hydrogen fire was observed on the 48" flange on the process piping going from Cell 2 of the Unit 212 Charge Heater to Reactor #2. The leak was hair line sized in width and no larger than 1" around the circumference of the flange.

Followup: No

Notes: Steam was applied to the flange to extinguish the flame and the flange was hot bolted to secure the leak. Once investigation is complete, recommendations will be implemented. There were no known offsite impacts.
5.9 pounds
149432

2013-06-29
leak from process line in U263 piperack
Cause: On June 29, a pinhole leak was discovered in the LPG feedline from U212 to U222.

Followup: No

Notes: The line was purged with nitrogen and isolated for repairs. The Shift Emergency Response Team was activated and fire monitors were put on the leak to suppress any vapors. Reduced the U212 charge rate to minimize the leak. The line was isolated at battery limits in U222 and U212 to stop the leak. Once the investigation is complete, recommendations will be implemented.
840.2 pounds
149069

2013-06-11
Heat Exchanger 215-1304-02
Cause: On June 11, 2013, a small vapor leak developed on Heat Exchanger 215-1304-02. There were no offsite impacts.

Followup:

Notes: The area was cordoned-off. The exchanger head was hot bolted to secure the leak. No specific action is recommended for this incident.
74.0 pounds
157764

2014-07-23
Slop Tank 500-6
Cause: 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.

Followup: Yes

Notes: 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.
4,204.5 pounds
156739

2014-06-10
pipe containing crude oil in Unit 10 - Crude unit
Cause: A 3/4-inch process pipe containing crude oil connecting the desalters sheared causing loss of containment. Crude oil exited the pipe and was collected in the oily water sewer.

Followup: No

Notes: The piping was blocked in to eliminate the amount of crude oil leaking from the piping. All crude that leaked landed on the concrete slab in the unit and was collected by washing it into the oily water sewer.
1,749.7 pounds
156198

2014-05-23
U215 hydrocracker
Tank 5000-6
Cause: An emergency shutdown device was triggered due to an incorrect reading on the Treating Reactor Bed 3 temperature indicator in the U215 hydrocracker which depressurized the unit to the South Ground Flare. In response to the shutdown, operations utilized the refinery slop line to deinventory the unit, routing material to Tank 500-6. Natural gas was inadvertently routed through the refinery slop line where Tank 500-6 received the vapor, causing a release through the tank seals. Human factors also played a role in the incident.

Followup: Yes

Notes: Root causes identified as Equipment Difficulty-Design Specs and Procedures Followed Incorrectly. At the time of the release, the emergency shutdown system was activated as designed shutdown the hydrocracker. Multiple recommendations have been identified to prevent a recurrence. The Tech Services Department at MPC has been tasked with mitigating the hazards of a single point of failure due to false temperature indication (anticipated completion 1/31/15). The operations department will develop and implement a system to verify all steps are completed and signed off when following procedures. A team will be developed to conduct a hazard analysis on the entire refinery slop system to implement necessary safeguards to prevent unwanted material from entering the slop system.
13,735.0 pounds