Williams Partners returns Opal, other plants to service following fire

Williams Partners’ Opal, Wyo., gas-processing plant has returned to service, with a processing capacity of about 1.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, following a full shutdown April 23 due to a fire, the company announced. Four cryogenic processing trains are now operating and a fifth unit, where the fire occurred, remains out of service.

The total capacity of the four operating trains is sufficient to meet customer needs, the company says. The two units most recently placed back in service, TXP-4 and TXP-5, have a combined design processing capacity of 700 million cubic feet of gas per day. TXP-4 was idle at the time of the incident, serving as excess capacity for the facility. TXP-1 and TXP-2 were the first units placed in service and have a combined design processing capacity of 395 million cubic feet of gas per day.

The company, in coordination with regulatory agencies, says it continues to investigate the cause of the incident. Damage was limited to a small area of TXP-3.