Three workers were killed in an explosion and fire Thursday at a natural gas plant in Gibson, La., according to Williams Partners LP, the company that owns the facility.
The plant, located 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, wasn’t operating at the time of the blast, the company said. The fire happened during maintenance work on a tank known as a “slug catcher,” which is designed to remove liquids and impurities from the natural gas stream that flows through the plant.
The three workers who died were contractors, and two other contract workers were seriously injured, Williams said. None of the 13 Williams employees on site were hurt.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. Our thoughts and prayers are with those injured and their families during this very difficult time,” said Warren Toups, Williams’s operations manager.
The Gibson plant is connected to Williams’s Transco pipeline system—a 10,000-mile network of pipes that moves natural gas from the Gulf Coast to states along the U.S. East Coast. Gas deliveries on Transco haven’t been disrupted as a result of the accident, the company said.
The Gibson facility is about 60 miles from Geismar, La., where a chemical plant owned by Williams exploded in 2013, killing two workers. That facility resumed operations earlier this year.