Five boat crewman were burned severely Wednesday night whentheir two tugboats apparently ran smack into a Sonat feeder lineabout six miles east of Venice, LA, causing a rupture and a largeexplosion. The injured crewman had to be airlifted to theUniversity of Alabama’s regional burn center. The fire was put outby about 11 p.m.

About 50-100 MMcf/d of production was shut in by the rupture ofthe 14-inch diameter Romere Pass Line, but Sonat said firmtransportation would not be affected. The accident apparently wasresponsible for an early morning spike in natural gas futures,which reversed direction later in the day (see Futures MarketReport this issue).

Sonat declared a force majeure and stopped taking nominationsThursday morning at five receipt points: South Pass Block 27,Romere Pass Receiving Station and Mississippi Canyon Blocks 20, 109and 194. Shippers at the above points were told to take theirnominations to zero for today’s gas day. There was no estimate onwhen service would be restored.

According to a report from one of the crewmen aboard the LadyMelinda, the vessel was dragging something when it snagged thepipeline near the main pass into the Mississippi River shortlybefore 8 p.m. Once the explosion occurred and the Lady Melindacaught fire, another boat came to her aid, the Coast Guardreported. All three crewman of the second boat also were burned andwere forced to jump into the water. They were rescued later by aJayhawk helicopter.

Coincidentally, 51 workers had to be evacuated Wednesday nightafter a jackup drilling rig, the Ocean Crusader, caught fire in thegeneral vicinity of the Sonat rupture. None of the workers wereinjured and the fire was extinguished yesterday. Diamond Offshoreowns the rig, which was working for Basis Exploration.

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