Three workers were injured when a 20-inch diameter gas gathering pipeline owned by OGE Energy Corp. unit Enogex exploded at about 11 a.m. CDT Tuesday about 50 miles southwest of Oklahoma City, OK, the company told NGI.

The line was undergoing maintenance at the time of the incident, but it is not yet know if the explosion was related to the work, Enogex spokesman Brian Alford said. The three injured are Enogex employees and have been taken to an Oklahoma City hospital.

Early Tuesday afternoon the company was waiting for residual gas to burn down before beginning its investigation. The line has a capacity of 85 MMcf/d, but Alford said he did not know how much gas was flowing at the time of the explosion, which happened in a rural area.

The incident follows a recent spate of gas pipeline and well mishaps. Earlier this month an Enterprise Products Partners LP pipeline in North Texas experienced a rupture (see Daily GPI, June 9). EOG Resources recently experienced a well blowout in Pennsylvania (see Daily GPI, June 8). And earlier this year the practice of using natural gas in a “blow down” procedure to clear pipes was blamed for a deadly blast in Connecticut (see related story).

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