Top ten: oil and gas disasters

There was also some damage to the neighbouring industrial facilities. A faulty boiler was initially blamed for the incident. Investigations however indicated that a large release of hydrocarbon from a cold-box exchanger was ignited upon ingestion into the boiler. Train 6 of the LNG Complex re-started in May 2004 and Trains 5 and 10 in September 2004.

Trains 20, 30 and 40 were destroyed in the incident representing 50% of the capacity of the LNG complex.

Source for all statistics and information: Marsh’s Energy Practice
Events have been ranked in terms of financial damage not human casualties

2.
Type: Fire/ Explosion
Event Date: 25/06/2000
Location: Mina Al-Ahmadi, Kuwait
Estimated Cost: $380,000,000
Current Value: $590,000,000

The explosion occurred when employees were attempting to isolate a leak on a condensate line between an offsite NGL plant and the refinery gas plant. Three crude units were damaged and two reformers were destroyed. The fire was extinguished approximately nine hours after the initial explosion. F

ive people were killed and 50 others were injured. The initial investigation into the loss indicated a lack of inspection and maintenance of the condensate line, which was not owned by the refinery. Confusion caused by the ownership issue is also thought to have delayed the isolation of the line.

3.
Type: Blowout
Event Date: 10/08/2004
Location: Mediterranean, Egypt
Estimated Cost: $ 190,000,000
Current Value: 250,000,000

A fire broke out during drilling operations at an offshore gas production platform following a well control incident. The fire on the production platform, initially under control, spread to a nearby jack-up drilling rig (owned by a major drilling contractor) which suffered significant damage and collapsed.

All 79 people on board the drilling rig were safely evacuated. The production platform, with 150 people onboard, had been evacuated before the fire spread.

4.
Type: Blowout
Event Date: 10/07/2004
Location: Mediterranean, Egypt
Estimated Cost: $ 190,000,000
Current Value: $250,000,000

A jack-up drilling rig was drilling a natural gas well when a gas blowout occurred during drilling operations. There was an explosion followed by fire which was initially contained on the jack-up. For reasons unknown, the fire then spread to the platform where it continued to rage for over a week before being brought under control.

More than 150 workers on the jack-up and platform were evacuated with no casualties. The drilling rig sank and was not salvageable. The platform was damaged beyond repair and its destruction was ordered by Egypt’s petroleum minister.

Less than a year after the accident, production at the Temsah field was back on-stream at full production rates.

 

5.

Event Type: Fire/Explosion
Event Date: 31/01/2002
Location: Raudhatain, Kuwait
Estimated Cost: $180,000,000
Current Value: $260,000,000

Four people were killed in an explosion and fire at an oil gathering centre, gas booster station and power substation. The explosion occurred after a leak from a buried oil pipeline in the gathering station spread to a power substation, sparking the blaze.

The flash explosion and resulting blaze hit the gathering centre and the adjacent gas booster station. Nineteen people were also injured in the incident suffering mainly first and second degree burns.

The fire was extinguished two days after the event. Kuwait’s production dropped by 600,000 bbl/d after the accident, with the oil gathering centre formally re-opened on 25 January 2005.

6.
Type: Fire Explosion
Event Date: 22/11/2002
Location: Port of Mohammedia, Morocco
Estimated Cost: $130,000,000
Current Value: $190,000,000

Following torrential rain, rising floodwater allowed waste oil floating on its surface to be brought into contact with hot equipment on this refinery causing explosions and a fire. A second blaze broke out and several storage tanks reportedly caught fire and exploded.

Damage to the refinery was extensive and two people were killed with a further three reported missing. Later reports said that two or three production units had been affected by the fire. The processing units affected were the crude unit, the 20,000 bbl/d vacuum distillation unit, the 24,000 bbl/d catalytic reformer unit and the 24,000 bbl/d distillate hydrotreater.

7.
Type: Blowout
Event Date: 01/07/1975
Location: Fateh L3, Dubai, UAE
Estimated Cost: $79,000,000
Current Value: $ 340,000,000

The Fateh field L-3 development well had reached 4,180 ft when a ‘kick’ occurred. The kick control effort was terminated and the rig abandoned when gas broke around the 20 inch shoe and bubbled up under the platform. Eight days after the blowout, the gas ignited and after two weeks the rig and platform disappeared beneath the Arabian Gulf.

8.
Type: Fire
Event Date: 03/04/1977
Location: Umm Said, Qatar
Estimated Cost: $76,000,000
Current Value: $280,000,000

A 260,000 bbl tank containing about 236,000 bbl of refrigerated propane at 45ºF failed catastrophically and the wave of liquid propaneswept over the dikes and inundated the 51,000 bbl/d process area before igniting. An adjoining tank containing 125,000 bbl of refrigerated butane also was destroyed, as was most of the process area.

The fire burned out of control for two days and was extinguished after eight days. The tank weld failure was considered to have three possible causes, including micro-biological sulphate reducing bacteria being introduced by hydrotesting the tank with sea water.

Reportedly, the tank weld that failed had been repaired following a weld failure incident one year earlier in which 14,000 bbl of propane were released and a massive vapour cloud travelled 500 feet but did not ignite.

 

9.

Type: Vapour Cloud Explosion
Event Date: 15/08/1987
Location: Juaymah, Saudi Arabia
Estimated Cost: $ 65,000,000
Current Value: $140,000,000

At this gas processing plant, a series of electrical power interruptions caused several shutdowns of one or both of the identical 165,000 bbl/d gas fractionation process trains. The parallel trains were separated from one another by approximately 100 feet. At the time of the loss, the propane feed was approximately 100% of design capacity for Plant I and 25% of design capacity for Plant II.

It is believed that there was a release of approximately 1,900 bbl of propane in Plant I over a 30 minute period. Ignition of the large vapour cloud is believed to have been by a security vehicle which had stalled and was being restarted. The probable source of the propane was a flange in a four inch diameter relief valve line.

 

10.
Type: Material Failure
Event Date: 11/05/1977
Location: Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia
Estimated Cost: $55,000,000
Current Value: $200,000,000

A 30 inch diameter crude oil pipeline failed and destroyed three pressurised spheroids, pumping units and other equipment. Ignition was caused by motor vehicles.