Lighting a Fire Under Management is Cheaper Than Putting One Out

By John Taylor

Last week I wrote about the need to take care of the little preventive maintenance items before they turn into big problems. Apparently this message did not get to the management people at Chevron. Here is a brief excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle from Monday August 6^th.

                                              Chevron Refinery, Richmond, C.A.

Thousands of East Bay residents were ordered to stay in their homes with the windows and doors closed Monday night after a series of explosions and fires tore through Chevron's Richmond California refinery.  The explosions started about 6:15 p.m., and at least two large fires spewed thick, black smoke into the darkening sky.

The fire started at the refinery's No. 4 Crude Unit, Chevron officials said. Just before 6:30 p.m., an inspection crew discovered that there was a diesel leak in a line in the unit - and that the leak was growing.  Shortly after the crew evacuated the area, the diesel ignited, said the manager of the refinery.

All employees had been accounted for and there were no fatalities, but one refinery worker suffered burns to his wrist and was treated at the on-site clinic.   About five minutes after the explosions, sirens tore through the air, alerting residents to stay indoors to prevent breathing tainted air. Some people got in their cars and drove away from the smoke that spread throughout the neighborhoods east of the refinery.

The Chevron Richmond refinery was founded more than a century ago and is Northern California's largest, capable of processing more than 242,000 barrels of oil each day. A prolonged closure could push up gasoline prices, which are already rising nationwide because of a rally in the market for crude oil.

The refinery has suffered fires before. In January of 2007, the seal on a pump in a crude unit failed, triggering a fire that lasted almost 10 hours.

Make no mistake that this kind of incident is a preventable failure. Chevron was fortunate to have dedicated fire and emergency personnel to contain this incident. 

As inspectors we hate to say “I told you so”, but facts are facts. Leaks just don’t happen. They are caused by a variety of conditions which can and should be monitored by experienced personnel. The questions that come to mind are:

1. What types of corrosion mechanisms are present?       

2. How often are nondestructive inspections conducted?

3. What systems are in place to report findings?

5. Who reviews these results?

6. What follow up is conducted if repairs or replacement is warranted?

Chevron needs to determine the factors that were responsible for this loss of containment as well as what inspection criteria needs to be changed to prevent any future occurrence. If companies would use basic investigation tools and learn to ask the right questions these catastrophic failures can be avoided or at the very least minimized.  It doesn’t take a seasoned professional to realize that lighting a fire under management is far cheaper than putting one out.

John Taylor is president of Nova Data Testing, a leading non-destructive testing company.  For all your ultrasonic testing needs, go to, http://ultrasonictestingndt.com