Systemic Failures Led To Explosion That Shut Texas Gas Plant

(Bloomberg) -- The blast at a massive Texas gas export plant last June was caused by inadvertently removed overpressure protection and closed valves, federal regulators said Saturday in its first in-depth public review of the incident.

The regulators revealed never-before-seen photos from the Freeport LNG explosion that included a large fireball, mangled equipment and a piece of pipe thrown hundreds of feet away. They added that another projectile severed equipment that impacted local water supply. 

Two days before the explosion, a plant operator submitted a report noting something was wrong, with a pipe having been out of place. But no senior Freeport LNG employees followed up or looked into the matter, regulators said.

“There were a lot of things Freeport LNG weren’t doing that similar facilities do do,” said Bryan Lethcoe, a director in the office of pipeline safety within the Department of Transportation. “So I do think it’s a fair statement to say that up to now, they’ve had some systemic issues.”

Regulators didn’t disclose when the plant, which was shuttered after the explosion, will resume operations. There are still portions of the site that need to be repaired, Lethcoe said, adding that Freeport LNG is waiting on some equipment to arrive from the manufacturer to make some repairs. 

The domestic natural gas and global LNG markets have been awaiting the restart of the plant. Output from the facility could resume in March but is unlikely to provide a boost to global LNG supplies this quarter, according to estimates from BNEF.  

There was no Freeport LNG representative at the event Saturday morning, attended by dozens of people from the local community in an auditorium at Freeport’s high school, where the athletic teams are known as the “exporters.” 

The company said it did not have a comment. 

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2023 Bloomberg L.P.