Pioneer shuts down Opal gas plant after fire
Pioneer cryogenic natural gas processing facility expected to be down two to three weeks following incident
March 31, 2008
(Opal) - Enterprise Products Partners L.P. announced that operations at its Pioneer cryogenic natural gas processing facility in Lincoln County, Wyoming have been suspended following a release of natural gas and subsequent fire that occurred on Thursday, March 27, 2008.
No injuries resulted from the incident, which was restricted to a small area within the plant. Crews are in the process of determining the extent of the damage and have begun an investigation into the cause of the incident. Enterprise reported the incident to the appropriate government authorities and personnel on the scene worked closely with emergency responders to secure the site.
Based on preliminary findings, Enterprise expects the facility to resume service in approximately two to three weeks. In the meantime, all natural gas volumes are being diverted to the partnership's adjacent silica gel natural gas processing plant. Prior to the incident, the Pioneer cryogenic facility was processing about 550 million cubic feet of natural gas per day and extracting approximately 26,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids. Enterprise does not expect the service interruption to materially affect the partnership's gross operating margin or net income for 2008.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (PXD) is one of the largest publicly traded partnerships with an enterprise value of more than $20 billion, and is a leading North American provider of midstream energy services to producers and consumers of natural gas, NGLs, crude oil and petrochemicals.
In early 2006, Enterprise Products Partners L.P bought the ownership interest in the Pioneer silica gel natural gas processing plant in Opal, Wyoming from TEPPCO Partners. Enterprise purchased the existing Pioneer plant, together with all of Jonah Gas Gathering Company’s rights to process natural gas originating from the Jonah and Pinedale fields for $38 million.
Some information for this article obtained from an Enterprise Products Partners L.P. media release.
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