Explosion at Enterprise Products refining facility in Mont Belvieu, TX

ABC News ^ | February 8, 2011 | KTRK

[Cincinatus' Wife]

LIVE video at link

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7946342

MONT BELVIEU (KTRK) -- An explosion has rocked a refining facility in Mont Belvieu today, sending flames high into the air

The Mont Belvieu Police Department confirms an explosion about 11:45am at Enterprise Products on Sun Oil Road.

According to its website, "Enterprise owns a state of the art gasoline additive production facility that has been modified to produce isooctane, a motor gasoline octane enhancement additive used in reformulated motor gasoline blends to increase octane, and isobutylene."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I was told by someone who talked with a worker at that plant that a wellhead exploded. fwiw

Also that the control room is burning.

[philman_36]

Oh, that’s not good. And it’s a weekday during normal working hours. Not good at all.
That's not quite right. As long as there was no extra maintenance going on (extra hands in the unit) then the operators would not normally be in the unit itself and would be in the control room, which is a good thing because that's the safest place to be in the whole unit.

[DJ MacWoW]

See the post above yours.

[Ramius]

The ‘It’s Not Terrorism Task Force’ (INTTF) is on the way to the scene now.

Well, in fairness, an explosion at a plant like this really is most likely to be an industrial accident, than it is to be terrorism. Jihadis tend to prefer to blow up ~people~ in public places, not stuff at a factory.

[philman_36]

...a wellhead exploded.
I would take that with a grain of salt. It's an additive unit, after all.

Also that the control room is burning.
Now that sounds bizarre as control rooms are usually built very strongly and are supposed to be built out of nonflammable materials.
Perhaps it's just that the flames were being blown towards the control room.
We'll see as time progresses.

[philman_36]

I saw it. It's doubtful that a wellhead exploded as additive plants don't usually have a drilled well on site. Most of their products are piped in and out. (note the large number of pipes in the pipelines in the pics)
I would say that everything in a refinery or chemical plant is piped in. AFAIK there are no direct wells in any refineries or chemical plants.

[DJ MacWoW]

Thanks. They just don’t have enough accurate info yet.

[philman_36]

Multiple explosions, fire at Mont Belvieu plant
“My ex husband called my kids & told them that him and his crew got out by the skin [of] their teeth," Robin posted on the 11 News Facebook page. "But his truck was right there as the tank blew!”

[ohioWfan]

I’ll pray for him, pax. Thanks for letting us know.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Interesting radar image of smoke direction.

[philman_36]

Large Plant Fire in Mont Belvieu
“I am getting an operations report very shortly. All I can confirm is that we have a fire at the West Storage Facility at the Mont Belvieu plant.
It may not even be at an additive unit!
Early reporting sucks!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Thanks for the info. A snippet your link:

A Houston caller named Pat Headen said she was talking to her cousin inside the plant when the first set of explosions happened. There were three more explosions while they were still on the phone. "Anywhere from eight to 11 explosions," according to Pat's cousin.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Early reporting sucks!

Two of the reporters were talking about how industry hasn't been able to fix the "problem" that this stuff is FLAMMABLE!

[Ron H.]

Do you if the site sits on any of the nearby salt domes?

[Ron H.]

Do you if

Do you know if ....

[philman_36]

Corrected: Fire blazes after explosions at Enterprise Texas NGL complex
Market sources said the explosions and subsequent fire occurred in an iso-octane unit on the west side of the complex, near several storage facilities.

The Barbers Hill Salt Dome

[philman_36]

Two of the reporters were talking about how industry hasn't been able to fix the "problem" that this stuff is FLAMMABLE!
A DUH! moment if there ever was one.

[DoughtyOne]

No, but you can bet your ass the operative words, “...don’t jump to conclusions” will wiggle it’s way in there somehow.

Perhaps the better question is, “Have they blamed Rush, Sarah, the Tea Party, and you and I for this yet?”

In that case, jumping is job one.

[philman_36]

Do you if the site sits on any of the nearby salt domes?
See 56. I was just looking into that.
It appears that they sit at the protrusion to the right.
That doesn't mean that the wellheads are on site.

[DJ MacWoW]

When it comes to reporters I always view them as liberals and liberals are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. It didn’t occur to them that non-combustible fuel would be useless in a combustion engine. Liberals are like that.