Explosion in a Flammable Gases Pipelines System
A fire occurred in a pipe trench containing about 50 pipelines.The pipelines were carrying a wide variety of hydrocarbons from crude oil to residuals. In addition, there were lines with steam, fuel gas, hydrogen, amine solutions and sour water pipelines. Within 10 minutes of the fire, an explosion occurred followed by larger explosions in the pipe trench as pipelines ruptured. The fire spread to a diesel tank. The refinery had to be taken offline. The fires were extinguished after 12 hours. A lagging fire was concluded with excessive oil in the trench. The pipes ruptured due to no relief valve and being blocked in.
Event Date
February 11, 1979
Record Quality Indicator
Region / Country
Event Initiating System
Classification of the Physical Effects
Nature of the Consequences
Causes
Cause Comments
The reason of the fire is unknown. The following explosions may be explained by that fact that the pipes ruptured due to absence of relief valves in.
Facility Information
Application Type
Application
Specific Application Supply Chain Stage
Components Involved
hydrocarbons pipeline
Storage/Process Medium
Location Type
Location description
Industrial Area
Operational Condition
Currency
Lessons Learned
Lessons Learned
1. Provide adequate clearance below pipes so that drainage is adequate to prevent accumulation of oil.2. Remove steam and other high temperature lines from main pipe alleys to reduce ignition sources.3. Install additional fire fighting water turret monitors to improve first response fire fighting ability.4. Provide a fire break to reduce pipe alley fire exposure.5. Emphasize improved housekeeping, as related to free oil and oil soaked insulation.6. Minimize piping inside tank firewalls.
Event Nature
Emergency Action
The fires were extinguished after 12 hours.
Detonation
No
Deflagration
No
High Pressure Explosion
No
High Voltage Explosion
No
Source Category
References
References
Event description extracted from the UK database ICHEME in PDF.
The ICHEME database is no longer available for purchase, but data can be download as PDF for free.
https://www.icheme.org/knowledge/safety-centre/resources/accident-data/
(accessed October 2020)