Posts Tagged ‘pipeline’
Wednesday, May 8, 2013 @ 08:05 AM gHale
The part of the ExxonMobil Pegasus pipeline that leaked a small amount of oil last week in Missouri is now up and running.
A resident near Doniphan, MO, found oil leaking in his yard Tuesday. All told, about one barrel – about 42 gallons of crude oil — leaked from the Pegasus pipeline. The cause remains under investigation. The company completed the repair Friday.
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The pipeline running from Illinois to Texas already was out of service after a much larger breach in Arkansas in March. While the pressure was lower because the pipeline was down, but there was oil inside.
About 5,000 barrels of oil spilled in Mayflower, AR, in March. The cause of that leak is also under investigation.
Originally built in the late 1940s, the Pegasus pipeline is now the subject of scrutiny, as environmentalists argue the increased corrosive impact of transporting tar sands oil presents a greater concern than other forms of oil.
The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) is ultimately responsible for approving the Pegasus pipeline’s restart.
On April 26 the PHMSA released a report on the Mayflower spill that gave more details. Of the approximately 5,000 barrels of crude oil involved in the pipeline breach, ExxonMobil cleaned up less than half.
The report also pointed to the contamination of surface water, accounting for 2,000 barrels of oil located in ditches and a cove south of nearby Lake Conway. Though the latest report does not indicate oil reached the larger body of Lake Conway, an independent study conducted by Opflex Solutions indicated otherwise.
As for the breach of the pipeline itself, according to the PHMSA that was caused by a “longitudinal rupture” in the pipe seam, originally laid down in 1947. The 20-inch, 858-mile Pegasus line delivers Western Canadian crude oil (or tar sands oil) from the Patoka Oil Terminal Hub in Illinois to refineries in Nederland, Texas.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013 @ 03:05 PM gHale
After a valve broke on a pipeline, a northwestern Pennsylvania highway had to close down for about five hours when crude oil mixed with natural gas spewed about 60 feet into the air.
The reason for the mixture is crude oil often accompanies gas drawn from wells. Lafayette, PA, Township fire Chief Don Fowler said the slick oil was being blown across U.S. Route 219 about noon Saturday in neighboring Bradford Township. That’s about 130 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
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Atlas Energy, which has an office in Mayville, NY, owns the pipeline.
McKean County Emergency Management Director Jerry Rettger couldn’t estimate how much oil or gas released in the spill. He said the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection will hold Atlas responsible for the cleanup.
Monday, April 15, 2013 @ 06:04 PM gHale
A failed pressure gauge on a pipeline was the source of a leak that resulted in high benzene levels in the groundwater hundreds of feet from a hydrocarbon leak near Parachute, CO.
The Williams Cos. reported contaminated soil in March and found this past week that a failed pressure gauge on a pipeline was the source of the leak, but Colorado state officials are still investigating the incident.
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An April 10 statement from Todd Hartman, communications officer for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC), said Williams’ identification of a faulty gauge attached to an above-ground valve as the source “provides a possible explanation of a release in this area.”
State officials said Friday that sampling from a new monitoring well about 1,400 feet from the presumed source and about 10 feet from Parachute Creek found benzene in the groundwater at 340 parts per billion. The drinking water standard is 5 parts per billion.
The state said six new monitoring points have gone up in that same area, and crews continue to pump from trenches along the north side of the creek to enhance groundwater flow away from the creek.
Officials have recovered about 6,000 gallons of hydrocarbons so far.
The state today also said diesel-range organics (DROs) were at between 0.71 and 0.49 parts per million in the creek about two miles downstream from the leak site, where the town of Parachute diverts water for an irrigation reservoir. However, it noted recent creek sampling in the investigation area has shown no such detections.
Officials have also detected DROs intermittently upstream of the leak site, and may come from sources such as stormwater runoff from roads. The state notes that several industrial sites lie between the reservoir diversion point and the leak site.
Monday, April 8, 2013 @ 03:04 PM gHale
Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. is now facing a federal corrective action order after one of its pipelines ruptured last week in central Arkansas.
The order from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration comes after Exxon Mobil’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured a week ago Friday in the city of Mayflower, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock.
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The order prevents Exxon Mobil from restarting operations on the failed segment of the pipeline until the agency is happy with repairs and is confident the company met all immediate safety concerns.
Investigators are still working to figure out what caused the pipeline to rupture, but the corrective action order said Exxon Mobil reversed the system flow of the pipeline in 2006.
“A change in direction of flow can affect the hydraulic and stress demands on the pipeline,” the order said.
About 3,500 to 5,000 barrels of crude oil spilled after the pipeline ruptured, according to Exxon Mobil estimates cited in the corrective action order. That oil spewed onto lawns and roadways and almost fouled nearby Lake Conway. No one was hurt, but the spill led authorities to evacuate more than 20 homes.
The pipeline, which runs from Patoka, IL, to the Texas Gulf Coast, was originally built in 1947 and 1948, according to federal pipeline safety officials. It will remain out of service for now. In order for that to change, Exxon Mobil would need written approval from a federal pipeline safety official, according to the corrective action order.
Exxon Mobil also has to submit a restart plan, complete testing and analysis about why the pipeline failed and jump through a number of other hoops under the order.
The order signed by Jeffrey Wiese, associate administrator for pipeline safety, said “continued operation of the Pegasus Pipeline would be hazardous to life, property, and the environment.”
The federal agency’s order comes as Arkansas’ attorney general promised a state investigation into the cause and impact of the spill and other officials say they plan to ask Exxon to move the Pegasus pipeline to protect drinking water.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 @ 03:03 PM gHale
A Chevron fuel spill near a northern Utah bird refuge is much worse than originally thought as up to 27,000 gallons might have leaked, officials said.
A split in a pipeline that runs from Salt Lake City to Spokane, WA, released diesel fuel into soil and marshes at Willard Bay State Park, according to the U.S. Transportation Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
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The agency has filed a corrective action order against Chevron Pipe Line Co. that requires it to gain government approval before the pipeline can reopen. The order also requires Chevron to operate the pipeline at only 80 percent of normal pressure once it reopens.
The Texas-based company must “take the necessary corrective action to protect the public, property and the environment from potential hazards” associated with the pipeline failure, the agency directive said.
Curtis Kimbel is overseeing the cleanup as the federal Environmental Protection Agency’s on-scene coordinator.
“It is critical that we work to recover as much of the spilled diesel fuel as possible,” Kimbel said. “Now that we have a better picture of the amount of diesel fuel spilled from the pipeline, we can more accurately benchmark the progress of cleanup efforts.”
Chevron spokesman Gareth Johnstone said the company continues to review the order and will cooperate to address the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration’s requirements.
“CPL is committed to work with PHMSA for incident-free operations of our pipeline,” he wrote by email.
Emergency crews had removed over 21,000 gallons of spilled fuel as of Friday night, and up to 6,500 gallons might remain.
Initial reports pegged the spill at up to 6,000 gallons, and Chevron later revised that to 8,100 gallons.
The spill occurred Monday near the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge and Willard Bay State Park.
Crews are using absorbent booms and vacuum trucks to remove any contamination before it reaches Willard Bay Reservoir and nearby nesting and feeding habitat.
Willard Bay features nearly 10,000 acres of fresh water generally northwest of Ogden. In addition to wildlife, it has crappie, walleye and catfish.
The exact cause of the spill remains under investigation.
It’s Chevron’s third leak in Utah in the last three years. A June 2010 spill involved more than 30,000 gallons of crude oil near Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City, while a December 2010 leak near the same site involved about 21,000 gallons.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013 @ 12:03 PM gHale
After a leak of one gallon of oil in Terrebonne Bay, Royal Dutch Shell Plc shut a 170,000-barrel-a-day pipeline that moves Gulf of Mexico crude to Houma, LA.
Shell shut the 16-inch (41-centimeter) pipeline, which starts on Caillou Island, at 5 p.m. March 23 after workers observed a light oil sheen near a pump station, said Kim Windon, a Houston-based spokeswoman for Shell.
Less than a gallon of crude released based in initial information, she said.
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Shell plans to inspect and repair the pipeline as soon as possible, weather permitting, and is investigating the cause of the leak, Windon said.
The Caillou-to-Houma pipeline connects with a 20-inch pipeline that brings crude from producers in Eugene Island, Ship Shoal, Green Canyon and other Gulf formations to Caillou Island.
Friday, January 4, 2013 @ 04:01 PM gHale
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s delays responding to a major pipeline break beneath Montana’s Yellowstone River made an oil spill far worse than it otherwise would have been, a new report said.
The July 2011 rupture fouled 70 miles of riverbank along the Yellowstone, killing fish and wildlife and prompting a massive, months-long cleanup.
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Exxon could have reduced the damage significantly if pipeline controllers had acted quicker, Department of Transportation (DoT) investigators said.
The report marks the first time federal regulators highlighted specific actions by Exxon as contributing to the severity of the spill.
An Exxon spokeswoman said Wednesday the company was reviewing the findings of the report.
The spill released about 63,000 gallons of crude from Exxon’s 20-year-old Silvertip pipeline into the river near the city of Laurel. There would have been less damage by about two-thirds if controllers in Houston isolated the rupture as soon as problems emerged, investigators said.
Instead, after Exxon personnel partially shut down the line and were weighing their next steps, crude drained from the severed, 12-inch pipeline for another 46 minutes before they finally closed a key control valve.
Exxon spent $135 million on its response to the spill, including cleanup and repair work.
Spokeswoman Rachael Moore said the company will continue to cooperate with Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and “is committed to learning from these events.”
The report chalks up the immediate cause of the spill to floodwaters that damaged the pipeline and left it exposed. Debris washing downriver piled up on the line, increasing pressure until it ruptured.
The “volume would have been much less” and the location of spill “would have been identified far more quickly” if Exxon’s emergency procedures had called for the immediate closure of upstream valves, investigators said.
The report also faulted Exxon for lacking a plan to notify pipeline controllers the river was flooding.
Exxon workers did not incur blame for steps taken in the lead-up to the spill.
Exxon’s field observations and “depth of cover survey took reasonable precautions to address the flooding of the Yellowstone River it the spring and early summer of 2011,” the investigators wrote.
City officials in Laurel had warned Exxon that the riverbank was eroding. The company, however, continued to run crude beneath the Yellowstone after finding that a section of pipeline leading away from the river was still buried more than 6 feet deep.