Report: Two powerlines failed preceding Monday's Chevron flaring event
Part of the Chevron Richmond Refinery was operating without a backup power source when a loss of power caused significant flaring Monday afternoon, according to a report released by Chevron.
Hours before the flaring, an electrical line feeding a portion of the facility failed, eliminating backup power to a segment of the facility, according to the report released Friday.
“On November 27, 2023, at approximately 11:30 a.m., an electrical line feeding a portion of the facility tripped open, eliminating the designed electrical redundancy, or backup power, to a segment of the facility," the report stated.
According to the report, a secondary electrical line feeding the facilities kept the system operational. Chevron said during the inspection of the electrical line failure, the secondary power line also failed at 3:25 p.m.
“Power was unexpectedly lost, impacting a portion of the facility, including a steam generating system. The loss of power and reduced steam availability resulted in the activation of the facility’s safety systems and significant visible flaring,” the report said.
Operations personnel worked quickly to stabilize the impacted operating equipment and redirect and preserve available steam to minimize and eventually stop the flaring event," the report said.
The report also said that air monitoring systems remained under regulatory limits and well below California health standard limits, no injuries or loss of containment occurred as a result of the event and that a Level 1 CWS was activated at approximately 3:43 p.m. about 18 minutes after the incident began.
The report also said that during the time period of flaring, "no obvious detections were seen at community air monitoring stations."
During this time, facility operations were not impacted as the secondary electrical line feeding the same systems was still operational. At 3:25 pm, during the inspection of the electrical line failure, the secondary power line experienced a failure. Power was unexpectedly lost, impacting a portion of the facility, including a steam generating system.
On November 28, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued Chevron four citations. One, for "public nuisance," and the other three for "visible emissions violations from flares." BAAQM said the investigation is still ongoing, and more violations may be issued.
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