Enbridge Energy Partners' pipeline burns Wednesday night in Clearbrook, Minn. The line carried crude oil imported from Canada.
ERIC HYLDEN: GRAND FORKS HERALD
Posted on 11/30/2007 4:19:21 AM PST by thackney
Nearby pipelines are restarted after fatal blaze in Minnesota
Crude prices spiked by more than $2 briefly on Thursday after a Minnesota crude oil pipeline explosion and fire that killed two workers and disrupted a major conduit owned by Houston-based Enbridge Energy Partners.
News that service on three adjoining oil lines was restored Thursday and that the damaged line could be repaired in a matter of days helped calm markets, with oil closing up 39 cents at $91.01 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The explosion, which killed two Superior, Wis.-based Enbridge workers, occurred Wednesday afternoon a few miles south of the company's Clearbrook, Minn., terminal. Workers had just restarted the flow of oil on a section of pipe that had been replaced because of a leak.
Company officials believe light crude oil leaked from around new couplings that had been installed as part of the repair, spraying into the air and becoming "atomized." The air and oil mixture then ignited, most likely from company vehicles that were idling about 35 feet away, the company said. The pipeline burned for more than 12 hours.
Enbridge temporarily shut down three nearby lines as a precaution, cutting about 14 percent of U.S. crude imports, or about 7.3 percent of overall domestic oil consumption. Those three lines were restarted by Thursday afternoon, while the damaged line, with a capacity of about 450,000 barrels per day, could be repaired in the next few days, said Richard Bird, executive vice president for Enbridge.
Energy Department officials said they were prepared to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve should the disruption become a problem for Midwestern refineries.
But department spokeswoman Megan Barnett noted that some 63.5 million barrels that could provide a cushion are on hand in commercial stockpiles in the Midwest, a level well within the historical average.
Enbridge had planned a public offering of 4 million Class A common units on Thursday, but it canceled the sale after the accident. Units of Enbridge closed down $1.89 at $51.53 in New York Stock Exchange trading.
The Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a federal agency that oversees pipeline safety, sent an engineer to Minnesota to work with the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety officials in the recovery and investigation.
Enbridge Energy Partners' pipeline burns Wednesday night in Clearbrook, Minn. The line carried crude oil imported from Canada.
ERIC HYLDEN: GRAND FORKS HERALD
Yesterday’s threads:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932092/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932148/posts
It just seems so basic that the repair should have been inspected before the pipeline was operational again. Any insight?
have they released names of the tow killed?
Dave Mussati Jr., and Steve Arnovich based in the Enbridge’s Superior, Wisconsin pipeline line maintenance crew.
Statement from Patrick Daniel, President & CEO, Enbridge Inc.
http://cnrp.ccnmatthews.com/client/enbridge/releaseen.jsp?actionFor=798048&releaseSeq=1
Dave Mussati Jr., and Steve Arnovich based in the Enbridge’s Superior, Wisconsin pipeline line maintenance crew.
Statement from Patrick Daniel, President & CEO, Enbridge Inc.
http://cnrp.ccnmatthews.com/client/enbridge/releaseen.jsp?actionFor=798048&releaseSeq=1
thank you
Sounds like it was more like a cold patch clamp. The vehicles idling less than 35 feet away is a classic example of explosions and fires in the oil industry. The explosion and fire at BP in Texas City was caused by a vehicle that would not shut off after the key was turned off because of “dieseling”. It was running on the fuel from the leak.
That would make more sense with the description of what happened.
Also sounds like it was a prety strong sour stream of crude with a lot of H2S.
Halfway through the day oil was back down, the pipeline was flowing again (3 of 4) and the media turned elsewhere to gin up stories in order to ruin peoples days.
Meanwhile, today oil has dropped below $90.00 for the 1st time in a long while.
That stream should be a blend of a lot of different sources. There are a couple very sour ones coming out of Alberta like Cold Lake and Lloydminister. But Pembina, Rainbow and Osa are quite sweet. I’m not sure what the mixed stream is. I don’t know the quanities per source.
See link for measurements of individual streams:
http://www.meglobaloil.com/MARPOL.pdf
I noticed gasoline prices were down a nickel overnight at a local station.
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Found some more information:
The pinhole leak was fixed with a repair sleeve earlier this month.
On Wednesday, workers shut down the pipeline to remove the 11-foot section that included the pinhole and sleeve. They replaced it with a new section of pipeline, but oil apparently leaked at a section where that joined the old line, said Leon Zupan, Enbridge’s vice president of operations.
The company’s metallurgists want to analyze the section to better understand why it leaked, said Enbridge spokesman Larry Springer. Electronic tools were put inside the pipeline in 2006 looking for dents and metal loss.
“There were no problems found in that area where the leak occurred,” he said.
Pipeline Fire Traced to Pinhole Leak
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113000807.html
We are not getting all the info. If they shut the line down wednesday morning there is no way in hell they could get it cleared for hot work, weld a new section in and put it back in service in that time frame. I belive this was a 60” pipe or so. Sure would like to know how they joined that 11 foot section of pipe together. Now, I can see where they might have prewelded two flanges on the old pipe while still in service, then shut it down and coldcut out the damaged pipe and replace it with a new spool piece, but, if thats the case the leak would have been detected earlier unless the two piece flange wasn’t put together properly. One things for sure, they had pinholes in the pipe, that usualy doesn’t happen unless the pipe is getting real thin.
I don't agree. It doesn't say it was first discovered Wednesday morning.
I belive this was a 60” pipe or so.
34" pipeline
I can see where they might have prewelded two flanges on the old pipe while still in service
I doubt flanges were used for a pipeline repair. More likely penetration welds with the repair section already beveled cut and two beveling machines already in place on the existing before the line was taken down. At 11 feet apart separate crews would work each end and 34" is big enough to "brother-in-law" weld.
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