| (12) Employee safety training.
(A) Each operator shall prepare and implement a plan
to train and test each employee at each underground hydrocarbon storage
facility on operational safety to the extent applicable to the employee's
duties and responsibilities. The facility's emergency response plan
shall be included in the training program.
(B) Each operator shall hold a safety meeting with
each contractor prior to the commencement of any new contract work
at an underground hydrocarbon storage facility. Emergency measures,
including safety and evacuation measures specific to the contractor's
work, shall be explained in the contractor safety meeting.
(13) Warning systems and alarms.
(A) All leak detectors, fire detectors, heat sensors,
pressure sensors, and emergency shutdown instrumentation shall be
integrated with warning systems that are audible and visible in the
local control room and at any remote control center. The circuitry
shall be designed so that failure of a detector or heat sensor, excluding
meltdown and fused devices, to function will activate the warning.
(B) A manually operated alarm shall be installed at
each attended storage facility. The alarm shall be audible in areas
of the facility where personnel are normally located.
(14) Wind socks. At least one wind sock that is visible
at any time from any normal work location within the storage facility
shall be installed at the facility.
(15) Barriers. Barriers designed to prevent unintended
impact by vehicles and equipment shall be placed around above-grade
hydrocarbon piping, hydrocarbon process equipment, and surface hydrocarbon
storage vessels in areas where vehicles may normally be expected to
travel or within 100 feet of a public road.
(16) Wellhead, surface piping, and associated valves.
All wellhead equipment, product, fresh water, and brine surface piping,
and associated valves shall be designed, installed, and operated in
accordance with engineering standards to the expected service conditions
to which the piping and equipment will be subjected.
(i) Cavern capacity and configuration.
(1) Crude oil storage. The provisions of this subsection
shall not apply to underground hydrocarbon storage facilities where
only crude oil is stored.
(2) Before storage operations begin. The capacity and
configuration of each hydrocarbon storage cavern (both salt domes
and bedded salt) shall be determined by sonar survey before storage
operations begin in a newly completed cavern.
(3) Salt domes. The capacity and configuration of each
salt dome hydrocarbon storage cavern shall be determined by sonar
survey at least once every 10 years.
(4) Bedded salt. The configuration of the roof of each
hydrocarbon storage cavern in bedded salt shall be determined by downhole
log or an alternate method approved by the Commission or its designee
at least once every five years.
(5) Filing results. Sonar and roof monitoring survey
results shall be filed with the Commission within 30 days after the
survey.
(6) Out-of-service caverns. A sonar or roof monitoring
survey is not required for a cavern that is out of service. A sonar
or roof monitoring survey shall be performed before any cavern that
has been out of service is returned to service, unless the provisions
of paragraph (2) of this subsection apply.
(j) Well completion, casing, and cementing. Hydrocarbon
storage wells shall be cased and the casing strings cemented to prevent
fluids from escaping to the surface or into fresh water strata, or
otherwise escaping and causing waste or endangering public safety
or the environment.
(1) New wells.
(A) All hydrocarbon storage wells drilled in salt domes
after the effective date of this section shall have at least two casing
strings cemented into the salt formation. Sufficient cement shall
be used to fill the annular space outside the casing from the casing
shoe to the ground surface, or from the casing shoe to a point at
least 200 feet above the shoe of the previous casing string.
(B) All hydrocarbon storage wells in bedded salt drilled
after the effective date of this section shall have all casing strings
cemented with sufficient cement to fill the annular space outside
each casing string from the casing shoe to the ground surface.
(2) Well completion report. A well completion report
shall be filed in accordance with the instructions on the form prescribed
by the Commission within 30 days after a storage well is completed
and before solution mining to create the cavern begins.
(k) Operating requirements.
(1) Operating pressure. The operating pressure of each
hydrocarbon storage well shall not exceed the permitted maximum allowable
operating pressure for that well. The permitted maximum allowable
operating pressure is that pressure specified in the Commission permit
or order, or, if not specified in the permit or order, that pressure
stated in the application or the application for amendment to a permit
or order. The maximum operating pressure at the shoe of the lowermost
cemented casing shall not exceed 0.8 pounds per square inch per foot
of depth.
(2) Volume of hydrocarbons stored. The quantity of
hydrocarbons stored in a cavern shall not exceed the permitted maximum
storage volume for that cavern. The permitted maximum hydrocarbon
storage volume is that volume specified in the Commission permit or
order, or, if not specified in the permit or order, that volume stated
in the application or the application for amendment to a permit or
order.
(l) Monitoring requirements.
(1) Pressures. Each hydrocarbon storage well shall
be equipped with pressure sensors that continuously monitor and display
wellhead pressures on both the product and brine sides of the wellhead
at the control room. Each hydrocarbon storage well with a safety string
shall be equipped with a pressure sensor and the sensor shall continuously
monitor the pressure on the safety string at the wellhead.
(2) Pressure gauges. Each hydrocarbon storage well
shall be equipped with gauges on both the brine and hydrocarbon sides
of the wellhead.
(3) Volumes injected and withdrawn. The volume of hydrocarbons
injected into and withdrawn from each hydrocarbon storage well shall
be measured by:
(A) flow meter for each well; or
(B) an alternate method approved by the Commission
or its designee.
(4) Measurement performance. The accuracy of hydrocarbon
volume measurement devices or methods required under paragraph (3)
of this subsection shall be verified at least once each year by a
person who is not an officer or employee of the owner or operator,
or any affiliate of the owner or operator. For purposes of this section,
an affiliate is any person or entity that owns, is owned by, or is
under common ownership with the owner or the operator. In the case
of meters, verification includes witnessing meter calibration or proving
conducted by the owner or operator or an affiliate of the owner or
operator.
(5) Data recording. Within three years of the effective
date of this section, operators shall have installed and have functioning
equipment to electronically record all liquid and gas pressures, volumes,
and flow rates at a frequency of at least once per minute, and all
actuations of the emergency shutdown valve.
(m) Reporting. The operator shall report maximum wellhead
pressures on the hydrocarbon and brine sides of each hydrocarbon storage
well and the net volumes of hydrocarbons injected into and withdrawn
from each hydrocarbon storage well in accordance with the instructions
on the annual report form prescribed by the Commission.
(n) Operations, construction, and maintenance records
retention.
(1) Hydrocarbon injection and withdrawal data.
(A) The operator shall retain for at least three months
all electronic records of hydrocarbon storage well pressures, flow
rates, and hydrocarbon volumes injected into and withdrawn from each
well, and the hydrocarbon inventory of each cavern. These electronic
data shall be recorded at a frequency of at least once per minute.
(B) The operator shall retain for at least five years
the records, reported to the Commission under subsection (m) of this
section, of maximum monthly wellhead pressures on the hydrocarbon
and brine sides of each hydrocarbon storage well and the monthly net
volumes of hydrocarbons injected into and withdrawn from each hydrocarbon
storage well. These electronic data shall be recorded at a frequency
of at least once per day.
(2) Records retention. The operator shall retain for
at least five years the records of measurement performance under subsection
(l)(4) of this section; and testing of safety devices under subsection
(h) of this section. Records of any test of a safety device required
under subsection (h) of this section shall be available for on-site
inspection within 10 days of the date of the test.
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