BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas — A ruptured pipeline caused a huge fire at a private oil field in Brazoria County on Thursday, authorities said.
The owner of the pipeline is INEOS Oligomers. INEOS, a global petrochemicals manufacturer, is near FM 2004 and FM 2917.
Calls about the fire started to come in at about 1:30 p.m. Galveston residents near Chocolate Bay said they felt an explosion. When they walked outside, they were able to snap pictures of the large fire from across the bay.
Picture below is from Air 11
INEOS said the fire began at a valve site. What caused the pipeline to break is unknown, but INEOS said ethylene and propylene were burning.
The company decided to let the flammable gasses burn themselves out, which took about four hours.
Fortunately, no one was injured.
INEOS said it contracted with a private company for air monitoring in the area.
Below is video from Air 11 showing the fire when it first erupted:
