On 6 December 2016, an operator at a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) processing facility heard a loud noise coming from an area of the plant during start-up, following major maintenance on the process. The operator identified that high-pressure, flammable gas was being released to the atmosphere from a point beneath the insulation of process equipment.
Once the incident was contained, the area was secured and closely inspected for damage. The cause of the incident was identified as the sudden failure of a newly installed gasket within a bolted flange joint assembly. It is estimated that around 20,000 m3 of gas was released to the atmosphere during the incident. There were no injuries or damage to the plant.