Longford, Esso Australia - Major Gas Plant Accident (Extracts from the Australian Royal Commissions Report, June

1999) Summary On 25 September 1998, a heat exchanger (reboiler) on a demethanized rich oil tower ruptured from a low temperature brittle failure. Within a minute of the rupture, 10 tonnes of hydrocarbon vapor and liquids were released to atmosphere. Fire and explosions followed resulting in two employee deaths and eight injuries. The supplies of gas to domestic and industrial users in the state of Victoria were halted for approximately 2 weeks. Esso is virtually the sole supplier of gas to Victoria. Accident Background 1.1 At Longford in south-eastern Victoria, Esso Australia Resources Ltd (Esso) operates three gas plants to process gas flowing from wells in Bass Strait. It also operates a Crude Oil Stabilisation Plant (CSP) at Longford to process oil flowing from other wells in Bass Strait. The gas plants are known as Gas Plant 1 (GP1), Gas Plant 2 (GP2) and Gas Plant 3 (GP3). They are numbered in the order in which they were built, starting with GP1, which commenced production in March, 1969. 1.2 Esso is a subsidiary of the Exxon Corporation (Exxon), which is incorporated in the United States of America. Under an operating agreement, Esso operates the wells in Bass Strait and the plants at Longford on behalf of a joint venture with BHP Petroleum (Bass Strait) Pty Ltd (BHP). BHP is a subsidiary of The Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd. It takes no part in the actual operation of the plants.
1.3 On Friday, 25 September 1998, at about 12.26 in the afternoon, a vessel

in GP1 fractured, releasing hydrocarbon vapors and liquid. Explosions and a fire followed. Two Esso employees, Peter Bubeck Wilson and John Francis Lowery, were killed. Eight others were injured. Supplies of natural gas to domestic and industrial users were halted. 1.4 The vessel which failed was a heat exchanger, GP905. It was also known as a demethaniser reboiler because it operated to heat rich oil at the bottom of a piece of equipment known as a Rich Oil Demethaniser (ROD). Near GP905 was another heat exchanger, GP922, which preheated rich oil flowing from the ROD on its way to the Rich Oil Fractionator (ROF). GP922 had developed leaks at its flanges some time before the accident and attempts were being made to repair them at the time GP905 failed.
1.5 Immediately before its failure, the temperature of GP905 was well below

its normal operating temperature and may have been as low as -48C. The normal operating temperature was in the vicinity of 100C. The low temperature of GP905 was due to the loss of lean oil flow in GP1. Hot lean oil flowing through GP905 was the means by which it was heated to its normal operating temperature. 1.6 The lean oil flow in GP1 stopped when the pumps known as the GP1201 pumps tripped and were not restarted. Notwithstanding the loss of lean

oil flow, cold rich oil and, subsequently, cold condensate continued to flow through GP905 causing its temperature to drop. 1.7 The GP1201 pumps were out of operation for some hours. When they were eventually restarted there was a flow of warm lean oil into GP905 for a short time. The higher temperature of the lean oil flowing into the cold reboiler caused stress in the vessel. This resulted in its brittle fracture at one end. 1.8 The rupture of GP905 released a large volume of hydrocarbons in the form of vapour. The vapour subsequently ignited giving rise to a series of explosions and fire. The fire was not fully extinguished until 27 September 1998. 1.9 Because of the explosions and fire, all three gas plants at Longford were shut in and supplies of gas ceased. The final restoration of gas supply to all consumers took place by 14 October 1998. Description of Gas Plant 1 Gas Plant 1 (GP1) is a refrigerated lean oil absorption plant. By using low temperatures and high pressures, it employs lean oil to absorb hydrocarbon components from incoming gas. Lean oil is a light oil similar to aviation kerosene. The lean oil absorbed methane, ethane, propane and butane and became rich oil. Using lower pressures and higher temperatures, the rich oil was then distilled to release the hydrocarbons. After releasing these products, the rich oil became lean oil again and the process was repeated. A simplified flow diagram of the process in GP1 is provided in the attachment. Incoming Gas

Longfords inlet gas comes from three main fields offshore in Bass Strait: Marlin, Barracouta and Snapper. The Marlin and Barracouta fields came on line in 1969 and the Snapper field in 1981.

The gas and associated hydrocarbon condensate is delivered by pipeline to the onshore processing facilities at Longford and Long Island Point (LIP). Those facilities are designed to separate products with a commercial value from the inlet gas and condensate. Those products are natural gas, which consists principally of methane; ethane, which is used in the petrochemical industry; and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which consists principally of propane and butane. The heavier hydrocarbons that are left are fed into the CSP adjacent to the gas plants at Longford. Natural gas is sent by pipeline from Longford to domestic and industrial users in Melbourne and elsewhere in Victoria. A mixture of ethane, propane and butane (known as raw LPG) is sent by another pipeline to LIP outside Melbourne where the ethane is separated from the LPG and piped to petrochemical plants operated respectively by Huntsman Chemical Company Pty Ltd at Footscray and by the Kemcor group of companies at Altona. The propane and butane are separated and both are exported or sold locally. In 1969 when the facility at Longford was established, there was only one gas plant (GP1) and a crude stabilisation plant. The commissioning of GP2 in 1976 and GP3 in 1983 enhanced the sites capacity. GP2 and GP3 used newer technology to process the gas, namely, a cryogenic process. This process does not use absorption oil. Instead, a series of expansions and liquid separations followed by recompressions are used to remove the ethane and heavier components. Some sections of this cryogenic process

are designed to operate at very low temperatures, well below those found in GP1.

As the raw gas is piped from offshore, it cools and its pressure is lowered. Under these conditions both water and hydrocarbons condense to form quantities of liquid which accumulate in the lower parts of the pipeline when gas flowrates are low. Some parts of the pipeline are lower than others because the pipeline follows the contours of the sea bed on which it rests. These aggregations of liquid are known as slugs and can weigh up to several tonnes.

Absorbers

GP1 is equipped with two identical absorbers, designated A and B, which are operated in parallel. The gas is fed into the lower part of the absorbers at a temperature of -20C. As the lean oil drops from tray to tray, it absorbs much of the ethane, propane and butane contained in the gas travelling up through the valves in the trays. By this process, the lean oil becomes rich oil (i.e., saturated with heavier hydrocarbons: ethane, propane and butane), which is taken from the absorber when it reaches the rich oil trap tray (i.e., second lowest tray). Gas that enters the lower part of the absorbers carries some condensate. This condensate drops to a separate tray at the bottom of each absorber. From there it goes to a reboiler to be heated in order to drive off as much methane as possible. Ethane and some propane are vaporized with the methane. This methane and the other heavier gases join the gas travelling up the absorber. The gas which is not absorbed by the lean oil flowing down the absorber is mostly methane and this is taken off at the top of the absorber to be sold as natural gas. The remaining condensate is piped from the base of the absorber to a flash tank, known as GP1105A, after passing through a heat exchanger known as GP919. A portion of the remaining condensate could be directed to a demethaniser in Gas Plant 2 where more effective ethane recovery was possible but this was not in operation at the time of the accident. The condensate at the bottom of each of the absorbers is heated by heat exchangers known as reboilers (GP903A and B). Warm liquid propane is circulated in the shell around the tubes. The condensate temperature is adjusted by the operator to control the proportion of condensate that is vaporized. If the temperature in the bottom of an absorber is allowed to drop, there is less vaporization and a corresponding increase in the production of condensate in the absorber. Absorber B played a major role in the events of 25 September 1998. The reboiler associated with the Absorber B is GP903B. The temperature of the condensate in the bottom of the Absorber B was regulated by a temperature control system, known as TRC3B, which, by means of an automatic valve, controlled the flow of warm propane liquid toGP903B. By this means the temperature of the condensate was held at a level set on the TRC3B controller in the control room. There was a valve which could be manually operated by the area operators to bypass the automatic TRC3B valve, when necessary, to control the amount of propane flowing into GP903B and hence the temperature of the condensate in the bottom of Absorber B. Condensate is taken from the bottom of the Absorbers under level control LC9A or 9B through heat exchanger GP919 to the condensate Flash Tank GP1105A. The composition of the condensate is dependent upon the temperature at the bottom of the Absorber. The lower the temperature the higher proportion of methane and ethane. The level controllers can be overridden by the temperature controller TC9B on the exit from exchanger GP919 when the temperature falls below -3C.

The consequences of this control system arrangement is that when TC9B overrides LC9B, the level of condensate can build up beyond the set point with the result that condensate can enter the rich oil stream. Rich Oil Demethaniser (ROD) The rich oil leaves the absorbers through the level control valves LC8A and LC8B which then flows to a flash tank, known as the Rich Oil Flash Tank (GP1108) where some of the methane gas flashes off the rich oil at a lower pressure. There is a large pressure drop across these level control valves and they do not provide a tight shut off. This drops the temperature of any gas passing through the valves known as the JouleThompson effect. The methane from GP1108 is compressed and most of it recycled to the inlet of the plant.

Rich oil from GP1108 is divided in two streams before reaching the Rich Oil Demethanizer (ROD) through a series of heat exchangers known as GP904, GP924, GP925 and GP930. One stream (the rich oil cold feed) is taken through GP924 and fed into the ROD at -30C. The other stream (the rich oil warm feed) passes through GP904, GP925 and GP930 and enters the ROD at 10C. The rich oil enters the center part of the ROD tower. At the bottom of the tower the rich oil is heated by means of a reboiler known as GP905. This was the heat exchanger that failed. A stream of pre-saturated lean oil, known as reflux, is fed into the top of the ROD at temperature of -20C. By the time the vapors caused by the heating of the rich oil reaches the top of the ROD, the temperature has dropped sufficiently so that only methane and little ethane is left. Heavier hydrocarbons condense and flow to the bottom of the tower as rich oil. The methane from the top of the ROD joins the lean oil stream discharged from pumps GP1201A, B and C and flows to the Oil Saturator Tank (GP1110).

The rich oil from the bottom of the ROD flows through the heat exchanger known as GP922 on its way to the Rich Oil Fractionator (ROF) GP1112. GP922 is the heat exchanger that was leaking on the day of the accident. GP922 preheats the rich oil going to the ROF by means of hot lean oil on the shell side of the heat exchanger. The rich oil passes through the tubes of GP922.

The temperature at the bottom of the ROD is controlled by TRC4. It does so by regulating the flow of lean oil through GP95 and GP922. If the maximum flow of lean oil through GP905 does not deliver the required temperature in the bottom of the ROD, TRC4 would cause the lean oil to bypass GP922, partially or wholly, so that the lean oil is hotter when it reaches GP905.

The rich oil from the ROD is preheated by GP922 (if not bypassed) and enters the ROF tower at 140C. Some lighter components are vaporized at this stage with the remaining oil passing down to the bottom of the tower, where it is heated to a temperature of 285C by means of gas-fired reboilers GP501A and B. These reboilers vaporize the remaining ethane, propane and butane. What remains is lean oil. The oil is circulated through the reboilers by pumps, known as GP1204A, B and C. From the

discharge side of these pumps a stream of lean oil is also taken off and transferred back to the shell side of GP922. The amount of lean oil that is taken off is governed by the rate of pumping from the Oil Saturator Tank. Lean Oil Recycle Lean oil is pumped by GP1204 from the bottom of teh ROF, some flowing through a fired reboiler and returning to the bottom of the ROF, with the remainder flowing to GP922 and GP905. There it provides the heat to boil the rich oil in the bottom of the ROD and to preheat the rich oil on its way to the ROF. The lean oil leaves GP905 at a temperature of about 77C and is further cooled by a fin-fan cooler, GP910. It is pumped by a booster pump known as GP1201 through GP904, GP924, GP925 and GP930. The lean oil is cooled by the cold rich oil passing through these heat exchangers.

Before the lean oil reaches these heat exchangers, the methane from the top of ROD is injected into the stream so that the lean oil becomes saturated with methane. The process is assisted by the low temperature to which the lean oil is chilled by the heat exchangers through which it passes. The purpose of pre-saturating the lean oil with methane is so that the lean oil does not absorb methane when it enters the top of the absorber towers.

After the entry of the methane to the lean oil stream and cooling in the heat exchangers, the lean oil goes to the Oil Saturator Tank where any methane not absorbed by the lean oil is flashed off to fuel gas or recompressed and fed to the incoming gas stream at the from end of the plant.

The saturated lean oil is transferred from the Oil Saturator Tank by pumps GP1202A and B. Most of this lean oil is sent to the absorbers via a heat exchanger, which is the lean oil chiller known as GP911. This chiller uses propane as a refrigerant. It lowers the temperature of the lean oil to approximately -20C. At this temperature it enters the absorbers and the process begins again. A smaller quantity of the lean oil taken from the Oil Saturator Tank is pumped to the top of the ROD as reflux.

Emergency Response

It was concluded that the initial gas cloud was ignited within 30-60 seconds by the gas fired heaters located 170 metres away. The flames emanating from GP905 impinged on overhead piping, smaller pipes began to rupture after a few minutes, large pipes rupturing after 20 minutes. A large fireball was recorded following another vessel/pipe rupture approximately 1 hour after the initial deflagration. It was agreed that no attempt would be made to extinguish the fire until all fuel sources had been isolated. Monitors were set up to keep surrounding piping and vessels cool. These were relocated as the wind changed. LPG accumulators nearby were adequately protected by the water deluge systems.
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It took approximately 2 days to isolate all the hydrocarbon leaks in the area and achieve complete extinguishment.