SABINE PASS LNG, L.P. (CHENIERE) — Liquefied natural gas (LNG) — incident on 2020-10-11

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) incident in LA. Reported cause: OTHER INCIDENT CAUSE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.03 OTHER COMMODITY released, $1,162,461 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.

Report number: 20200005.

Operator ID: 32152.

Reported incident date: 10/11/2020 15:28.

Cause detail: MISCELLANEOUS

Cause detail: AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT, TRAIN 1 WAS IN STANDBY AWAITING COMPLETION OF FIN FAN REPAIRS. ON OCTOBER 11TH, AT APPROXIMATELY 1527 HRS, SMOKE WAS OBSERVED NEAR THE TRAIN 1 THERMAL OXIDIZER KO DRUM 11V-1904 BY A FIELD OPERATOR CONDUCTING OPERATOR ROUNDS. AT 1528 HRS, THE DCS OPERATOR INITIATED A MANUAL EMERGENCY SHUT DOWN (ESD) OF TRAIN 1. ON-SITE EMERGENCY RESPONSE PERSONNEL ARRIVED ON THE SCENE AT 1535 HRS WHERE A FLUCTUATING ORANGE FLAME WAS OBSERVED ON THE INLET FLANGE TO THE THERMAL OXIDIZER KNOCK OUT DRUM 11V-1904. AT 1539 HRS THE MUSTER ALARM WAS SOUNDED. THE FLAME WAS CONTAINED AND EXTINGUISHED UTILIZING WATER SPRAY FROM AREA FIRE MONITORS AT APPROXIMATELY 1550 HRS. AT THAT TIME, THERE WAS NO THREAT TO ADJACENT EQUIPMENT OR PIPING. NEARBY EQUIPMENT WAS KEPT COOL USING WATER SPRAY. THE SUBSEQUENT ALL CLEAR WAS PROVIDED AT 1557 HRS. AS AN ESD WAS INITIATED, AN IMMEDIATE NOTIFICATION TO THE NATIONAL RESPONSE CENTER (NRC) WAS MADE AT 1603 ON OCTOBER 11TH, 2020, NRC REPORT # 1289503. THROUGH COORDINATION WITH BOTH PHMSA AND FERC, SABINE PASS SUPPORTED MULTIPLE VISITS AND DATA REQUESTS AND RETURNED TRAIN 1 TO SERVICE ON OCTOBER 24, 2020 WITH THE THERMAL OXIDIZER ISOLATED UNDER A DOCUMENTED TEMPORARY MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE PROCESS. STATUS AS OF 4/28/2021: THE THERMAL OXIDIZER 11V-1904 REMAINS OUT OF SERVICE UNDER THAT TEMPORARY MOC PENDING A FITNESS FOR SERVICE REPORT AND AN OPERATIONAL WINDOW TO RETURN IT TO SERVICE DURING AN OUTAGE. INCIDENT INVESTIGATIONS WERE CONDUCTED BY AN INDEPENDENT 3RD PARTY AND CHENIERE. THESE INCIDENT INVESTIGATION REPORTS WERE PROVIDED TO PHMSA SW REGION ON APR 2, 2021. THE CAUSE WAS AN UNIDENTIFIED HAZARD, THE REVERSE FLOW OF HOT FLUE GAS FROM THE THERMAL OXIDIZER. HAZARD RECURRENCE WAS MITIGATED BY ADDING INTERLOCKS TO PREVENT BACK-FLOW FROM THE THERMAL OXIDIZER TO THE KNOCKOUT DRUM. A FITNESS-FOR-SERVICE EVALUATION WAS PERFORMED ON ALL AFFECTED COMPONENTS. WHERE APPROPRIATE, REPAIRS WERE MADE IN ACCORDANCE WITH INDUSTRY STANDARDS. IN ADDITION, CERTAIN PIPING AND VALVES WERE REBUILT OR REPLACED OUT OF AN ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION. NOTES ON IR PARTS: A5-OTHER NRC REPORT: 1289704 FOR 48HR UPDATE A14-TRAIN 1 OF THE FACILITY WAS SHUT DOWN ON MANUAL ESD. A14B-STARTUP DATE/TIME FOR TRAIN 1 C1B-VALUE ESTIMATED

PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious.

PHMSA standardized cause: ALL OTHER CAUSES — MISCELLANEOUS.

PHMSA indexed costs: $1,162,468 reported total cost, $537,509.781 in 1984 dollars, $1,323,711.209 in current-year dollars.

PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.