Construction emergency: Incident at Freeport LNG oil and gas company under control, officials say

Freeport LNG reported that an incident occurred around 11:40 a.m. at the 1500-block facility of Lamar Street at the facility on Quintana Island, according to Brazosport CAER. It’s about 70 miles south of Houston.

The Surfside Beach Police Department said the facility had experienced “a kind of explosion”, but no evacuation order had been given.

All employees at the facility were accounted for, Houston-based Freeport LNG said in a statement. Just after 4 pm, they declared that the situation was under control and limited to the immediately affected area of ​​the facility.

“There is no risk to the surrounding community. The investigation into the incident will continue,” said the company, one of the largest U.S. exporters of liquefied natural gas, or LNG.

When asked directly about the type of chemical that may have been released from the tank, company officials told ABC13 that they were not safe, and advised to ask the Freeport police. Freeport police said to ask the mayor, who then told ABC13 that he was not aware of any release.

Witnesses in the area described that they heard a sound that sounded like a thunderstorm and said that they saw a large fireball in the area by the facility.

The Surfside Beach Police Department’s Navy Department assisted Port Freeport police and the U.S. Coast Guard on the waterways. The beaches are not closed, but Quintana Island was reportedly closed to all incoming traffic during the afternoon.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.