Investigators ask why Chevron didn't replace pipe

Source: SF Chronicle

Federal investigators looking into last Monday's fire at the Chevron oil refinery in Richmond want to know why the 8-inch carbon steel pipe that failed wasn't replaced in November during a round of maintenance, officials said Sunday.

At that time, the refinery's crude unit was taken offline, and a 12-inch pipe connected to the same distillation tower was replaced due to corrosion, said Daniel Horowitz, the managing director of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

Investigators do not yet know if corrosion in the 8-inch pipe caused a leak of hydrocarbon liquid that ignited. Horowitz said he believed the pipe was inspected last year, along with the 12-inch pipe, but that his agency had not yet reviewed the records.

Investigators are also looking into why the crude unit was kept running while workers tried to fix the leak. They said the workers narrowly escaped the vapor cloud that ignited.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Federal-probe-into-Chevron-s-failure-to-replace-3781644.php