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Motiva Enterprises (1406), Norco
Releases of Crude Oil
| LDEQ Accident Number Accident Date |
Point Source(s) | Notes | Amount of Release |
| 88879 2006-06-24 | Subsurface pipeline | Cause: A previously unidentified area of external corrosion on a 20" sub-surface pipeline failed during the unloading of a shipment of crude oil, resulting in hydrocarbons escaping to the surrounding soil. Followup: Yes Notes: Operations immediately halted off-loading activities, isolated the line through the use of existing valves, called out additional personnel to begin containment, clean up and repair operations and notified the Norco Site Supervisor. Vacuum trucks were utilized to recover all standing liquids following the release as well as during de-inventorying of the line. Once the line was de-inventoried and prepped, an external weld clamp was installed over the isolated area of corrosion. After removal of the liquid hydrocarbon was completed, excavation of visually stained soils was initiated. The line will be excavated and inspected on a five-year interval. During the release only the near-surface soils and those directly adjacent to the leak were affected. There was no evidence of pollution migration. A copy of the PSI Investigation report is attached in PDF. | 462.0 gallons |
| 97930 2007-07-17 | Heat exchanger piping on DU-5 unit | Cause: An "off-spec" section of piping failed and leaked while operators were putting a heat exchanger into service on the DU-5 unit. Followup: Yes Notes: No information given. | |
| 08-BB012-3668 2008-08-24 | Transfer header between furnaces F-35 and F-36 | Cause: crack in a thermowell which allowed crude to leak out of threads of thermocouple Followup: No Notes: Thermowell replaced and DU5 returned to service | 14.0 gallons |
| 102144 2007-07-05 | Subsurface Crude Dewatering System | Cause: leak in the subsurface crude dewatering system yields release Followup: No Notes: Containment and leak repair completed. Soil remediation activity accomplished. Verbal report indicates RQs for benzene and PAH exceeded | 1,470.0 gallons |
| 113913 2009-04-02 | 3-inch de-watering hose line | Cause: After de-watering a RU gasoline take (F-456) and 2 crude oil tanks (A-413 and A-416) it was noticed that there was a leak coming from a 3 inch de-watering hose. This leak was linked to a corrosion in that 3-inch de-watering line. As a result of the incident, both crude oil and benzene vapor were released Followup: Yes Notes: the corroding line was isolated and clamped while booms were put in the ditch as a way to prevent further migration of the released material. A pumper truck was used to recover the compounds released, and these compounds were discharged into the refineries slop oil system. contaminated soil was disposed of sent to an on-site landfill. Waste water that was contaminated received full treatment before being discharged | 42.0 pounds |
| 113517 2009-03-19 | tank water draw line servicing crude oil storage tanks | Cause: oil/water mixture discovered leaking from above ground pipeline--out-of-service tank water draw line. Mixture migrated in an earthen (diked) pipeway 800' east and stopped.
Heavy rains occurred a few days into cleanup, flooding contained area where spill occurred.
No DEQ report in this file, follow-up letter only. Followup: Yes Notes: Clamped leak. Four vacuum trucks dispatched to remove free liquid, brought to Motiva's recovered oil sump for reprocessing in the refinery. Contaminated soil excavated and placed into plastic bags for disposal. Will add "Micro-Sorb(tm)" to the ground to further promote biodegradation of any low-level residual hydrocarbons once area dries out after the heavy rains. Will flush line then blind and isolate it. | 84.0 gallons |
| 120890 2010-01-19 | DU-5 Unit; Valve on tank A-417 | Cause: Valve on crude oil tank A-417 did not completely open during DU-5 unit startup; crude line overpressured, leaked in several locations. One gal leaked to Mississippi River, 5 gal leaked to soil in A-416 tank dike, and 94.5 gal leaked to concrete slabs in the DU-5 operating unit and the Logistics area. OFFSITE IMPACT: Mississippi River. Followup: Yes Notes: BRQ. Refinery Follow-up Letter states that no reportable quantities were exceeded during this incident. Oil in river and concrete slab in logistics area recovered with absorbent pads and booms & disposed of as industrial waste; crude on concrete slab in DU-5 washed down and routed to the oil and water separator; soil impacted excavated and disposed of at the on-site landfill; faulty valve will be repaired; operator training improved. | 100.5 gallons |
| 133432 2011-08-23 | Light Olefins Feed Tank | Cause: A tank being de-invetoryed Light Olefins Feed (derivitive of crude oil) the product being sucked out using a on site vaccumm truck overfilled and an overflow isolated a leak when the gauge failed. Approximately 84 gallons of Light Olefins Feed(benzene/toluene) relaeased. Followup: No Notes: LDEQ provided but no Refinery Letter included. Motivca states that "the spill was contained and cleaned within secondary containment." Contained in a dike and a vacuum truck was already on site for the procedure. | 84.0 gallons |
| 142880 2012-09-08 | Flange on 3" takeoff of the 10" Crude Booster line | Cause: The leak was a result of a small leak in a gasket in the flange of the crude booster line to the DU-5 Process Unit. Followup: No Notes: Motiva operations found a leaking flange on a 3" takeoff of the 10" Crude Booster line used to supply crude to DU-5 Operations Unit. The leak was identified after starting the crude pumps. Approximately 30 gallons of crude oil leaked to the ground. This amount is below reportable quantity. Immediately upon discovery, operations shutdown the crude pumps and isolated the 10" Crude Booster line. Repairs to the line and cleanup of the leaked crude have been completed. SPOC report states 1 bbl of crude oil released. | 30.0 gallons |
| 146217 2013-01-22 | De-watering sump west of Tank F-501 | Cause: On January 22, 2013 at 16:33 the de-watering sump west of Tank F-501 overflowed onto the ground. The check valve failed open with some of the material contained withing the concrete pump pad. Approximately 3 barrels of Crude oil spilled to the ground, with additional oil overflow into nearby surface drains.
Follow-up Report:
Operations determined that the source of the spill was the result of the check valve of the sump pumps failing open allowing crude oil to flow backwards into the sump and eventually overflowing with some of the material contained within the concrete pump pad. Followup: Yes Notes: Clean up efforts were implemented. A pumper truck was staged at the pump pad to remove the oil from the concrete pump pad, sump, drains, and ground. Once the oil was removed from the concrete pump pad the area and drains were water washed to a pumper truck to remove all residual oil. Follow-up report: Immediately after discovering the source, operations personnel closed the discharge block valve of the sump pump to isolate the leak source. Temporary small dikes were quickly set up to stop additional oil flow from entering the storm water drainage. Vacuum trucks were called out to begin picking up free liquid. The underground storm water system was flushed with water and all oil vacuumed up for recovery into the refinery slop system until oil could no longer be detected. The remediation began on January 24, 2013 once all free liquid was collected. This work continued through the weekend until all contaminated soil was removed for inspection. After a final inspection, fresh soil was brought in to restore the area back to its original condition. Liquids were recovered and returned to the site slop oil system. Contaminated soils were excavated and properly disposed of. Material that evaporated during the release and recovery operation was released to atmosphere and dispersed naturally. The following measures will be implemented to prevent this incident from reoccurring: the sump pump discharge block valve was tagged closed to stop such an incident from reoccurring; vacuum trucks are being utilized to remove any water from the pump pads in the short term; operator surveillance in this area has been increased; the pump discharge check valve will be replaced and any deficiencies repaired in the pump pad secondary containment. All impacted soils were excavated and properly disposed of. Motiva has no current knowledge of pollution migration as free product was contained near Tank F-501 and has been recovered. The amount of crude oil initially reported as (3 barrels or 126 gallons), but they actually released 9646.68 gallons (229.68) of crude oil. Motiva also exceeded reportable quantities for benzene, napthalene, PAH, xylene, and toluene. | 9,334.9 pounds |
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