Proceedings Of The Marine

FALL 2015

Proceedings magazine is a communication tool for the Coast Guard's Marine Safety & Security Council. Each quarterly magazine focuses on a specific theme of interest to the marine industry.

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64 Proceedings Fall 2015 www.uscg.mil/proceedings differing classifcations add complexity, especially for test- ing to classify cargoes. As such, the safety data sheet has become the standard to determine cargo grade for barge transport. OSHA regulations stipulate that every hazardous cargo is required to have a safety data sheet; however, the safety data sheet only requires the information be specifc to a certain hazardous material, such as crude oil, and not the specifc cargo being transferred. 4 A signifcant amount of recent test data exists for Bakken crude from several different organizations and agencies. For maritime shipping classifcation, the most important pieces of data are fashpoint and Reid vapor pressure. Industry data indicates that RVP averages somewhere in the Grade B range. A few data points indicate a higher RVP that would result in a classifcation as a Grade A cargo. Typically, crude oil is carried as a Grade B cargo. Based on the data, carrying Bakken crude would be no dif- ferent than traditional crude, other than a few outlying data points. According to the most recent data, "North Dakota Sweet," the trade name for Bakken crude, has RVP values well below some of the most volatile crude oils. However, historical Reid vapor pressure data for North Dakota Sweet shows that samples in 2010 had much higher values of around 9 psi for RVP, making it equivalent to other volatile crudes, such as the Eagle Ford API 57 (see "RVP Compari- son" table). evaporation rate. This is especially useful to know when dealing with crude oils, such as Bakken crude, that may contain more dissolved gases. Classifcation Schemes Difer Among Agencies From a regulatory perspective, the Title 46 CFR Subchapter D regulations are somewhat unique in that fammable liquids are defned based on fashpoint and vapor pressure. Most other regulatory bodies and associations only use fashpoint and boiling point to classify fammable liquids. The International Maritime Organization regulates crude oil carriage in the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships Annex I, setting safety and construc- tion standards specifcally for carrying oil in bulk. The regu- lations make no distinction between oils with high or low fashpoints or different vapor pressures. For packaged haz- ardous materials and other modes of transportation such as rail, fammable liquids are classifed as Class 3 hazardous materials. U.S. domestic defnitions for Class 3 fammable liquids are found in the Department of Transportation's hazardous materials regulations in Title 49 CFR parts 171-180, where a Class 3 fammable liquid is defned as a liquid having a fashpoint up to 140 degrees F. Further categorization based on boiling point identifes the fre hazard, with packing group I representing the greatest fre hazard. The International Maritime Danger- ous Goods Code has a similar defi- nition for Class 3 fammable liquids. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and organizations such as the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the American Petroleum Institute cover storage and handling at shore facilities. NFPA 30, known as the "fammable and com- bustible liquids code," uses a slightly different classification system than the Department of Transportation. While still using boiling point and fashpoint, NFPA identifes fre hazard risk by assigning fammable liquids as either class IA, IB, or IC, where class IA presents the greatest fre hazard. This differs from the Title 49 classifcation using packing groups and the Title 46 classifcation using grades. Transport Safety Considerations For oils such as Bakken crude that use multiple transportation modes, the Data from American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Survey of Bakken Crude Oil Characteristics; American Petroleum Institute Staff Analysis of Crude Oil Samples; North Dakota Petroleum Council Bak- ken Crude Characterization Task Force Presentation of Preliminary Results; Department of Transporta- tion Operation Safe Delivery Update.

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