Incident
At 1:40pm on Tuesday 3 June 2008, an export gas pipeline ruptured near the gas plant, causing a fire in a large section of the plant. No one was injured and all employees on the island were moved to a safety point within 20 minutes of the explosion. One hundred and fifty-three staff were evacuated later that day, with 13 staff staying on the island to monitor the situation. Chief Executive Officer G. Steven Farris said, "Our priorities are the safety of our personnel, securing the facilities, assuring that the environmental impact is limited to the island and resuming throughput of oil and gas production...No-one was injured, all personnel are safe, and the rupture and fire appear to be contained on the island."
The explosion and resulting fire caused a full plant shutdown, reducing Western Australia's supply of energy by up to 35%. Apache's managing director, Tim Wall, said, "It's pretty easy to say there is a lot of damage here and we are looking at alternatives to try to get gas to market as soon as possible but it will be at least several months before we have partial sales." He estimated it would be at least three months until the plant was at least partially operational, when the less-damaged processing plants for John Brookes and East Spar are brought back online. The John Brookes and East Spar plants produce 150-200 terajoules of gas daily, compared to 370 terajoules when all plants, including the significantly damaged Harriet plant, were fully operational. Approximately 80-90% of the island's gas is used by industrial customers, with small amounts provided to Synergy, the state's largest electricity retailer.
Read more about this topic: 2008 Western Australian Gas Crisis
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