Ethane gas leaked Monday from the surface infrastructure of an underground storage cavern at Boardwalk Louisiana Midstream's salt dome complex west of Plaquemine, Iberville Parish officials said.
But workers were able to halt the leak of the flammable gas and repair the damaged equipment tied the cavern's access well by midmorning Monday without needing a community evacuation, a shelter-in-place order or road closures, the officials added.
Parish officials said that the leak resulted in no injuries or fires and presented no off-site impacts because the area had been isolated early on.
"We appreciate the quick response and coordination of all involved in bringing this incident to a safe resolution," parish officials said in a Facebook statement shortly before 10 a.m. Monday.
The repairs were finished about 30 minutes after the leak was stopped at 9:23 a.m. Monday, parish officials said.
Ethane is a colorless, odorless gas that is extremely flammable and can explode once mixed with air, according to industrial safety data sheets. Ethane makes up a small part of natural gas and can also be extracted during oil refining.
Boardwalk's Choctaw Hub has 16 underground caverns carved from the Bayou Choctaw salt dome west of Plaquemine and La. 1 off La. 1148.
The caverns, which are hundreds to thousands of feet deep and have billions of cubic feet of capacity, are mined by pumping fresh water underground to eat the salt and create brine.
After being mined, some caverns are then used to hold petroleum products, including ethylene, propylene, propane, natural gas and ethane, state energy records show. The petroleum products in storage are often held as a liquefied gas under pressure. Portions of them are regularly added and removed from the caverns, quarterly reports to the state show.
Ethane is primarily a feedstock for production of ethylene, which is used to make plastics, antifreeze and detergents, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Boardwalk Midstream's caverns are linked to pipelines that serve Gulf Coast and Southeastern industries, power providers and liquefied natural gas export terminals, according to state energy records and the company.