Medical personnel load an injured man onto a helicopter Saturday to be airlifted to the University of Utah Hospital at exit 214 on Interstate 70 in Utah, after a natural gas explosion at a nearby collection facility. Two people suffered significant injuries, according to Lt. Beau Edic with the Lower Valley Fire Protection District.
Utah Gas Compressor Explosion Injures Two
Richard Nemec
July 31, 2018
An investigation is continuing into an explosion last Saturday that ripped through a natural gas compression facility in eastern Utah, injuring two workers and shutting down the plant.
The Grand Compressor Station near Cisco, UT, about 50 miles west of Grand Junction, CO, feeds supplies to the San Arroyo Gas Processing Plant.
As of late Monday an investigation was continuing into the incident, which included a fire at the station. Local fire protection district personnel and the Grand County, UT, Sheriff’s Department responded to the incident, which was about two miles north of Interstate Highway 70 and 12 miles west of the Utah-Colorado border.
According to Utah oil and gas records, the current owner/operator of the compressor station is Rockies Standard Oil Co. (Cisco Dome Right-of-Way), said a spokesperson in the Bureau of Land Management's Moab, UT, office.
The two male victims, whose identities were not released, were described as sustaining "significant injuries," and they were taken to a nearby hospital.
Running Foxes Petroleum, Incorporated (Running Foxes Petroleum), owner and
operator of the natural gas processing plant near Cisco, Grand County has
requested permission to add equipment. A pneumatic methanol pump will be
installed. The glycol dehydrator has been resized to 2,500,000 cubic feet per day
capacity and the attached re-boiler capacity is lower, 125,000 Btu/hr. The
composition of the supplied well gas has changed and PTE values have been
recalculated accordingly.
This remote Grand County compressor station consists of one 420 hp
compressor engine, one 245 hp compressor engine, one 57 hp power generator
engine, one gas dehydration unit, an inlet separation unit, two storage tanks, heat
exchange equipment including a pneumatic pump device, a thermal expansion
unit, a nitrogen rejection unit, and a flare device. The plant will process as much
as 2,500,000 cubic feet of natural gas per day to produce natural gas and natural
gas liquids.
Running Foxes Petroleum Inc. engages in the drilling and development of natural gas and oil projects in the continental United States. The company primarily focuses on shallow conventional oil and gas, and unconventional shale oil and gas plays in the Mid-Continent and Rocky Mountain regions. Its operations include the Cisco project located in Grand County, Utah; the Nemaha project consisting of the Livengood and Kizler fields located on the western side of the Forest City Basin; the Leavenworth project located in Leavenworth County, Kansas; and the Bourbon Arch project consisting of heavy to medium oil gravity and unconventional gas fields in Bourbon, Linn, and Vernon counties. The company was founded in 1998 and is based in Centennial, Colorado.
UTAH
The Cisco Project, Grand County, Utah.
Production is from the Dakota, Cedar Mountain, Brushy Basin and Salt Wash interbedded channel sandstone reservoirs of Cretaceous Age from 1,000 to 2,000 feet. There are approximately 60 wells of which 15 are producing oil.The Company recently re-perforated all 15 wells and saw production increase from 5 to 7 to 20 to 25 BOPD. The project was originally gas focused but since 2009 low prices have made it uneconomic. The reservoirs have up to darcy permeability, 20% to 28% porosity and are both structure and stratigraphically controlled. The Company is beginning the permitting to inject gas into several wells adjacent to producers. This secondary recovery method was attempted in the 1980s with limited success because of price but production increased about 15% over a 30 day period. The project is cash flow positive and the Company has identified up to 20 development locations.
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CISCO, Utah —
Two men were badly injured Saturday when an explosion occurred about 10 a.m. at a natural gas collection facility near a gas processing plant about 50 miles west of Grand Junction.
The two men, whose identities were not released, were "badly burned" and suffered "significant injuries" in the explosion at a natural gas compression station on the north side of Interstate 70.
The reason behind the explosion was still under investigation Saturday, local authorities said.
"We got called for a building that had exploded with multiple injuries," said Lower Valley Fire Protection District Lt. Beau Edic, whose department was first on the scene. "The parties actually removed themselves and drove to I-70, and we LifeFlighted both of them. They did have very significant injuries from the blast."
Three helicopters were dispatched to the Cisco exit on Interstate 70, where the two men were flown to St. Mary's Medical Center and the University of Utah Hospital. Utah Highway 128 was closed for several hours as the two men were transported out of the area.
The fire was still burning when Lower Valley personnel left the scene about noon, leaving the fire under the control of the Moab Valley Fire Protection District.
"It's a dangerous situation up there with everything they've got going," Edic said. "They've got air monitoring and everything, but they have to let it burn down before they can do any kind of suppression, so it's a lengthy process."
Grand County Sheriff's Deputy Jamison Wiggins said little is known about how the explosion occurred, but he said it was at a collection facility at or near the San Arroyo Gas Plant, which provides compression for natural gas from regional pipelines.
Compression is needed to keep natural gas flowing through pipelines.
He said an emergency valve to the facility was immediately shut off to prevent the fire from burning more gas or spreading to other parts of the plant.
An analysis of oil and gas infrastructure conducted by the Bureau of Land Management's Moab field office in 2005, the most recent report on the San Arroyo plant available, said pipelines there had been in place for 30 to 40 years, but that "it is likely that the equipment would need to be repaired or replaced during the next 15 years."
It is unknown if such repairs or replacements have taken place since that report was issued.
The majority of natural gas produced from fields in the nearby Book Cliffs is processed through the plant, according to the Bureau of Land Management.
The primary function of the plant is to provide gas compression, but it also strips some butane and methane from the natural gas that goes through it.
At the time of the 2005 analysis, the plant was operating at or near capacity.
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July 28, 2018
Explosion near gas plant in Cisco, Utah seriously injures two
SENTINEL STAFF
Two people were injured in an explosion near a natural gas processing plant in Cisco, Utah, near Interstate 70 in the area of the Colorado-Utah state line.
Authorities with the Grand County (Utah) Sheriff's Office said two men were "badly burned" and suffered "significant injuries" as a result of an explosion this morning at a natural gas collection facility near a gas processing plant in the area.
A fire is still burning at the site of the explosion. The Lower Valley Fire Department was among those to first respond to the scene, and their crew continues to try to contain the fire along with other firefighting resources. The flow of natural gas in area pipelines has been shut off.
According to the Bureau of Land Management, the San Arroyo Gas Plant operates near Cisco, providing compression for gathering gas from regional pipelines.
Pipeline systems in the area of the explosion have been in place for 30 to 40 years, but "it is likely that the equipment would need to be repaired or replaced during the next 15 years," according to a 2005 BLM analysis.
Utah Highway 128 is closed near the exit to I-70.
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GRAND COUNTY, Utah (News4Utah) –
Two people were injured in fire at a gas facility around 10:00 a.m. Saturday morning says the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials say a call was received about an explosion at a gas facility at approximately 2 miles north of I-70 off the 214 Exit.
Lower Valley Emergency Services, Grand County Emergency Services, Moab Fire Department and Thompson Fire responded to the scene.
Two victims were transported by medical helicopters to hospitals in Utah and Colorado with unknown injuries authorities say.
The scene is still under investigation officials say. Gas has been shut off and the fire has been put out.
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GRAND COUNTY, Utah —
Two people were injured Saturday in an explosion at a gas collecting facility near the town of Cisco in Grand County.
According to a news release from the Grand County Sheriff’s Office, the explosion happened at 10:13 a.m. at the facility off Interstate 70, about midway between Green River, Utah and Grand Junction, Colo.
Two victims were transported by medical helicopters to hospitals in Salt Lake City and Grand Junction.
Details on the severity of the injuries had not been released Saturday afternoon.
Gas has been shut off at the facility and the fire is out.
The Grand County Sheriff’s Office will investigate the explosion and fire, but were waiting to get access to the facility Saturday afternoon.
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Monday, July 30, 201
gHale
Two people suffered injuries in fire at a Grand County, Utah, natural gas collection facility Saturday morning, officials said.
Grand County Sheriff’s Office got the call there was an explosion at a gas facility at approximately 2 miles north of I-70 off the 214 Exit in Grand County.
Two victims were transported by medical helicopters to hospitals in Utah and Colorado with unknown injuries, officials said.
“We had a report of two individuals that were hurt, we had three helicopters respond to the location,” said Grand County Sheriff’s Deputy Jamison Wiggins.
The condition of the injured is unknown, Wiggins said. One was transported by a medical helicopter to a hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado. The other was flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City.
“It’s an ongoing investigation at the plant right now as to what caused the explosion,” Wiggins said. “But it is a collection facility.”
Police have not released the name of the facility.
“It’s not a pumping station,” Wiggins said. “Usually the gas lines go to the station and then they collect gas.”
Wiggins said workers turned off the gas line shortly after the explosion at 10:15 a.m., but they have yet to go inside.
“There’s no visible flame anymore because they shut off the emergency valve,” he said.