U.S. wants Chevron to justify new pipe
Source: SF Chron
Responding to concerns raised by federal investigators looking into the August fire at Chevron's Richmond refinery, company officials say replacement pipe being installed at the plant will resist the type of corrosion that led to the blaze.
Investigators with the U.S. Chemical Safety Board have pressed Chevron officials to justify their selection of pipe made with a metal alloy known as 9 Chrome to replace the carbon-steel pipe destroyed in the Aug. 6 blaze.
The federal agency warned Chevron that 9 Chrome pipe at a BP refinery near Bellingham, Wash., was badly damaged by corrosion before springing a leak in February, sparking a fire that caused extensive damage. Chevron responded Wednesday, saying in an analysis to Richmond officials that its new pipe not only meets "all industry and fire safety standards" but would resist the type of corrosion that caused the August fire.
Official test results are still pending, but the company has said the blaze was caused by high-temperature, sulfur-heavy crude corroding away the carbon-steel pipe, which was low in protective silicon.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/U-S-wants-Chevron-to-justify-new-pipe-4122766.php
= new reply since forum marked as read
The problem is they only buy what is required and not one penny more as a GOOD company would do. Oil with sulfur means the potential to make sulfuric acid during the process. More failures can occur if they fail to install the CORRECT pipe with the protection factors to prevent an ACCIDENT.
I did work at a refinery which was removing URANIUM used to change the oil during refining. There was not a lot of money spent to do the job and people were hired to do the job. My job was health physics and contamination control. The workers and work site were taken care of and no contamination was detected when everything was completed. There was nothing like $50 per hour , 1992 with paid breakfast, lunch, and dinners for 12 or 14 hour days.
