Posted on 06/22/2022 11:20:48 AM PDT by Zhang Fei
According to two sources, around the time of Russia's late February invasion of Ukraine, a cyber unit of Russia's GRU military intelligence service again conducted targeting-reconnaissance operations against a major U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter, Freeport LNG.
U.S. LNG exports have long been a priority concern for Russia, viewed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a means for the United States to undercut Russia's domination of the European gas market.
On June 8, Freeport LNG suffered an explosion at its liquefaction plant and export terminal on Texas's Quintana Island. The damage suffered means the facility is not expected to resume major operations until late 2022. The June 8 disruption had an immediate impact in spiking already soaring European gas prices and has reinforced Russia's ability to hold gas supplies to Europe at risk in retaliation for the European Union sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine. U.S. LNG futures have fallen significantly since the explosion.
One source tells me that the FBI is investigating the cause of the explosion. Responding to a question as to whether the FBI and its Cyber Division were involved in the investigation, the FBI told the Washington Examiner, "We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into this matter."
But what actually happened on June 8?
Well, a June 14 press release from Freeport LNG notes that "the incident occurred in pipe racks that support the transfer of LNG from the facility's LNG storage tank area to the terminal's dock facilities. ... Preliminary observations suggest that the incident resulted from the overpressure and rupture of a segment of an LNG transfer line, leading to the rapid flashing of LNG and the release and ignition of the natural gas vapor cloud. Additional investigation is underway to determine the underlying precipitating events
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
Ukraine ping
IMHO, low probability of Russian involvement, but not outside the realm of possibility, especially if they are confident in their ability to cover their tracks. Even if discovered, it’s a pretty good way for the Russians to assess the nature and severity of political reactions to these kinds of moves. Still, the odds of this being a maintenance snafu are non-trivial, given the caution with which the energy sector is staffing up, because of the financial carnage from just a few years back, when dozens of significant players went bankrupt.
Pure tin foil hat material.
Ping the FR Neocons…
I don’t think there isn’t a crime the FBI won’t do. Corrupt to the bone.
Makes sense. They cross the open border in Texas disguised as illegal immigrants blew it up and then disappeared on a bus to Washington DC.
FBI investigation? May as well just blame the company and get it over with. Any Orc involvement will be swept under Biteme’s rug.
Maybe so, but every time something goes boom in Iran, we all assume Israel and the Mossad were behind it.
Was the explosion simply and accident, probably, it could also be Russian Sabotage.
Yes. FBI would be my first guess.
RUSSIA, RUSSIA, RUSSIA!🙀🙀
LOL - FBI is more likely
Of course they did. They also destroyed all sorts of food processing plants, poultry plants and farms. All sorts of stuff
LOL…OK.
I could easily be persuaded that these type events are the work of the Obama cartel. Disruption of material that is essential to a society is very much a part of the rules for radicals.
Seems like an obvious design flaw if such a thing was possible .
This is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of why ALL SCADA Systems need to be isolated from the .net !!!
Sure it’s convenient for Management and Operators to be able to make a connection and View/Adjust/Control remotely but it’s not worth the risk and I will cite this one explosion and more than likely the reason for this explosion.
Occams razor suggests radical leftists....
I’d be very curious to know of any SCADA system that is connected to the internet.
Is the CIA still operating? I’ve heard they are selling off property in Langley to Tic-Toc.
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