By Liz Hampton and Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) – A explosion and fire on Wednesday hit the massive Freeport LNG liquefied natural gas plant on the Texas Gulf Coast, prompting an evacuation of nearby beaches and sending U.S. natural gas futures sharply lower.
There were no injuries and the fire that broke out about 11:40 a.m. local time was contained by noon, the company said. An “all clear” had been issued by mid-afternoon, allowing employees to re-enter the facility, according to Freeport Police Department Chief Raymond Garivey.
Garivey said his department had not received word of any plant closure related to the fire, adding that they would typically be notified if a facility was shutting as a result of an incident.
Freeport LNG did not say what caused the fire and provided no comment on the status of plant operations. An investigation into what prompted the explosion was underway, a spokesperson for the company said.
The explosion comes at a time when global demand for LNG has soared as European countries look to wean themselves off gas from Russia, following its invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
The plant can process up to 2.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day (bcfd) supercooled into a liquid for export. Earlier in the day, it was drawing about 2 bcfd of pipeline gas. One billion cubic feet of gas is enough to supply about five million U.S. homes for a day.
U.S. natural gas futures sank following news of the explosion. They closed down about 6% at $8.699 per million British thermal units (mmBtu). They had hit a near 14-year high of $9.664 earlier in the day.
The explosion also led to the evacuation of visitors at nearby beaches and parks and prompted the closure of Quintana Island, where the facility is located, the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
The Chemical Safety Board said it was aware of the incident and monitoring the situation to determine if it should deploy a team.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver, Sabrina Valle in Houston and Scott DiSavino in New York; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
