Abstract
AbstractThis paper summarizes the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's investigation of a 1998 catastrophic vessel overpressurization incident at a petroleum separation facility near Pitkin, Louisiana. Sonat Exploration Company (now El Paso Production Company) owned the site. Two separation trains were set up to produce crude oil and natural gas from a high‐pressure, three‐phase mixture of crude oil, natural gas, and water. Employees were in the process of purging a pipeline when a separation vessel was overpressurized and catastrophically failed. It ruptured and released natural gas, which ignited and produced a large fireball. Four workers were instantly killed, and nearby tanks and piping were damaged. The lack of formal engineering design reviews and hazard analyses, adequate pressure relief devices, and written operating procedures for each phase of facility operations were identified as root and contributing causes of the incident.
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