Fire shuts down three production units at Kinder Morgan's Elba Island LNG

Houston pipeline operator Kinder Morgan has temporarily shut down three production units at the company's Elba Island LNG export terminal after a piece of equipment caught fire.

Kinder Morgan confirmed that a fire erupted earlier this week on a mixed refrigerant compressor for a production unit known as Train 2 at the Savannah, Georgia facility. Crews were able to put out the fire using firefighting equipment on site, the company reported.

No injuries were reported but the company has temporarily shut down Train 2 and two neighboring production units as a precaution. All other units at the 10-train facility remain in operation.

Kinder Morgan notified state and federal regulators about the incident while a investigation into the cause of the fire continues. The company is developing plants to bring the production units back online.

Located on an island in the Savannah River, the facility houses 10 small-scale liquefied natural gas production units known as trains that, once all of them are in operation, will be able to make a combined 2.5 million metric tons of LNG per year.

The final production unit is in the middle of being brought into service.

Kinder Morgan began the months-long startup process for other production units in February 2019 and sent out the facility's first export shipment in December 2019.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Read the latest issue of the OGV Energy magazine HERE.