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Economics/Energy/Environment /Disaster Skikda’s LNG
plant explosion is due to gas leak in one pipe Algiers, (AAI) - The
preliminary results of the inquiry opened further to the accident
occurred in the Skikda ’s plant of gas liquefaction revealed that the
cause is not due to the defective state of the boiler but to a liquid gas
leak in one pipe, Chakib Khelil Minister of energy and mining announced
outside the seminar " mining and environment - symbiosis for a
sustainable development " organized this Tuesday at Aurassi hotel. The
Minister added that the board of inquiry and two other teams of experts
who are studying the accident causes to estimate it would elaborate the
results of the inquiry. " The decision which will be taken will take time
", the Minister estimated.
http://www.aai-online.com/english/lire.php?ida=15164&idc=67&PHPSESSID=8ca15773d1cb3443a6abbb207452895b
This is a timeline of the accident and the damage it caused GO TO THIS
SITE FOR SOME BREATH TAKING PICTURES OF THIS.
http://www.timrileylaw.com/LNG.htm RECENT NEWS... January 19, 2004
LNG BLAST Story Still Unfolding ...
LNG Explosion In Algeria Industrial Zone Death Toll
Currently: 27 Workers Injured: 74 Blast Felt Miles Away Port was
designed to load only small LNG Tankers for short distances Cause:
Possibly "Defective Boiler" Which Had Earlier Received "Superficial
Repairs" Facility Destroyed Fires Raged For 8 Hours
BBC NEWS Four killed in Algeria gas blast Monday, 19
January, 2004, 21:35 GMT Full Story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3411651.stm
ABSTRACTS: An explosion at a natural gas complex
in Algeria has killed at least four people and injured about 60 others.
The blast took place at a state-owned liquefied natural gas unit in the
industrial zone of the north-eastern coastal town of Skikda. The
blast, which happened at 1840 (1740 GMT), on Monday is thought to have
been an accident, officials said. Algeria is a major oil and gas
producer and has one of the world's largest natural gas reserves.
"We're still fighting the fires but we have yet to determine the cause
of the explosion," a civil defense official in Skikda told Reuters news
agency. Those injured in the explosion were taken to hospitals in the
region. One witness told Reuters the explosion was felt miles away.
"Everyone in the building rushed out, all windows were blown out,"
another witness, who lived near to the refinery, told state radio.
The Algerian Energy and Mines Minister, Chakib Khelil, has gone to the
scene. Published: 2004/01/19 21:35:52 GMT albawaba.com January 20,
2004 Blast at Algerian liquefied natural gas plant Kills at least 20
people Full Story: http://www.albawaba.com/news/index.php3?sid=268430&lang=e&dir=news
ABSTRACTS: At least 20 people were killed and
more than 70 wounded in a huge explosion that destroyed a liquefied
natural gas plant in Skikda, eastern Algeria, reports said Tuesday.
The director of health for the region told Algerian radio that a fire
broke out at 18:40 on Monday after the very powerful blast ripped through
an area of the plant where many workers were stationed. The fire was
still blazing at early Tuesday. Algeria's Minister of Energy and
Mines Chakib Khelil, who was on the scene, told state radio that the
three liquefaction units had been destroyed in the incident, the reason
for which was not yet known. (Albawaba.com) © Copyright Al-Bawaba.Com
2004 gln nlg gnl
Algeria blast to hit LNG exports, importers calm
Reuters, 01.20.04, 8:19 AM ET Full Story:
By Margaret Orgill ABSTRACTS: LONDON, Jan 20
(Reuters) - A huge explosion at the Skikda liquefied natural gas (LNG)
plant in Algeria will hit the country's gas exports to southern Europe
but importers played down the impact on Tuesday saying they had plenty of
alternative suppliers. The blast ripped through the Skikda LNG plant,
one of two in Algeria, late on Monday killing at least 23 people and
shutting down all activity at the oil and gas refining complex... A
port agent said the explosion, the worst accident at an LNG site in
nearly 30 years, also badly damaged a berth at the nearby port where LNG
tankers are loaded. The port at Skikda is designed to load small LNG
tankers and is used for short-distance exports to southern Europe rather
than for shipments across the Atlantic, Andrew Flower, an independent gas
analyst and former LNG director at BP, told Reuters. "Skikda can only
take small ships. They normally ply across the Mediterranean to Italy,
Spain and France," Flower said... Reuters At least 27 dead in Algeria
blast, refinery shut January 20, 2004 By Zohra Bensemra Full Story: http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp;:400d65e8:2f1f10da5ee06141?type=worldNews&locale=en_IN&storyID=4165226
ABSTRACTS: SKIKDA, Algeria (Reuters) - At least 27
workers died when a gas plant blew up at Algeria's largest refinery
complex on the Mediterranean coast and brought its key oil and gas
activities to a halt, officials said on Tuesday. The powerful blast
and consequent fires devastated the vast petrochemical site in the port
city of Skikda, 500 km east of the capital Algiers on Monday evening...
It was the worst LNG accident since 1975 when about 40 people died in
an explosion in Staten Island, U.S., according to Andrew Flower, an
independent gas consultant... Channelnewsasia.com 21 January 2004 0044
hrs (SST) Algerian gas plant explosion kills 27, injures 72 Full Story: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/67231/1/.html
ABSTRACTS: ALGIERS : At least 27 people were
killed and 72 injured when a huge explosion, apparently caused by a
defective boiler, ripped through a liquefied natural gas plant near the
eastern Algerian port of Skikda, a government minister said. Health
Minister Mourad Redjimi gave the new casualty figures on national radio,
revising upwards from 23 the number of people killed in the country's
worst industrial accident since independence in 1962. The blast,
which occurred at 6:40 pm (1740 GMT) on Monday, had been caused by a
"defective boiler", an official in charge of security at the Skikda
complex said. The official, whose name was not given, said in a radio
interview that shortly before the explosion he had heard "bizarre,
abnormal noises coming from a boiler." He said specialists had filed
a report "more than a year ago" indicating that the boiler in question
was defective. "Superficial repairs" had been carried out on the boiler,
he said. A foreman in a storage depot at the complex had told the
radio earlier that he heard "strange noises and abnormal vibrations
coming from a boiler and valves before the explosion..." A woman
living close to the plant, about 10 kilometres (six miles) outside Skikda,
said: "There was a heavy blast and everything started to shake and the
windows of my apartment were blown out." Speaking haltingly, she said
the complex was engulfed in smoke and flames. "We all ran out, we helped
the handicapped and the old people," she said, adding: "Many of them were
in shock and the children were crying." A local official, in charge of
health in the Skikda region, told state radio that a fire at the plant
had been brought under control early Tuesday after raging for almost
eight hours.
MOBILE REGISTER 1/21/04 More bodies found at LNG
blast scene At least 27 dead at facility similar to terminals proposed for
Mobile Bay Full Story: http://www.al.com/news/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/news/1074680100132040.xml
Staff, wire reports ABSTRACTS: Searchers discovered 10 more bodies at
a liquefied natural gas complex in Algeria leveled by an explosion,
raising the death toll to at least 27, an official said Tuesday.
Seventy-four people were injured and rescuers said as many as a dozen
workers were believed missing... Information available from the
Halliburton Co. of Texas shows that the oil construction giant had in
recent years revamped the Algerian facility to the latest performance
standards... Industry officials and some government officials have
said that such facilities have a spotless safety record, could not
explode, and would pose little risk to surrounding communities. But in
recent months, the
Mobile Register has reported that government
officials have sometimes used faulty studies to make their case to the
public... LNG industry officials maintained that the accident in
Algeria should not affect how the public perceives LNG terminals in the
United States. "I would not make a direct link between the accident
and any U.S. site, Mobile included," said ExxonMobil
spokesman Bob Davis in
Houston. "As tragic as the Algerian accident is, I
don't think it negates the outstanding 40-year safety record of LNG in
the world." Davis said that the Algerian facility is "one of the
oldest LNG facilities in the world, vintage 1970s. I think certainly from
our point of view, the technology on these facilities has advanced
substantially in that 30-year period." But a Halliburton Co. Web site
states that its engineering branch, KBR, updated the entire Skikda
terminal as recently as 1999. The Web site touts the project as a model
of modern American workmanship. "Halliburton Company is pleased to
announce that its recently completed Liquefied Natural Gas Revamp Project
at Skikda, Algeria, has passed all its performance tests," reads the
company press release announcing the project's completion. "KBR's work
included extensive revamp of the three LNG trains and associated
utilities and
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