The Deer Creek Volunteer Fire Department told people on July 9 to avoid major U.S. Highway 81 in the area “due to a major fire at the ONEOK plant,” posting an image of a large plume of dark smoke.
Energy Transfer has notified all the appropriate regulatory agencies and says there will be an investigation into the cause of the incident. However, it is unclear when the gas pipeline will resume normal operations.
Venture Global LNG has said it planned to make a FID to build CP2, to be located on the Calcasieu Ship Channel in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, in mid-2023 with first LNG expected in 2026.
The decision is a setback for Enbridge, which has proposed building the $750-million tunnel to address concerns that Line 5 could spill into the Great Lakes.
“Our control center immediately shut in the line and the area was secured,” Energy Transfer said in an emailed statement. No injuries were reported from the explosion and fire.
“Today’s strong [natural gas price] advance ... not only reflected some bullish spillover from the oil [market] but also a much smaller storage injection per the EIA than had generally been expected,” said analysts at Ritterbusch and Associates, a consultancy.
New Fortress Energy will own 20% of the JV with Apollo Global Management and get $1.1 billion in proceeds from an LNG infrastructure sale.
“We know refiners are going to have to continue to run at a high rate to keep up with demand. And so the expectation is that the crude supplies are not going to build as dramatically next week,” said Phil Flynn, analyst at Price Futures Group.
The agreement marks NextDecade’s fourth LNG supply deal this year, three of which have been with Chinese customers.
Pipeline operators have shown leadership in trying to curb emissions, including initiatives in planning CO₂ lines.