A parliamentary question regarding a flaring event at the Woodside Pluto gas plant on 2 August 2018, including duration, emissions, and cause. The answer details the event as a safety measure due to an unplanned outage.

AnsweredQoN 1450Legislative Council
Asked
14 August 2018
Portfolio
Environment; Disability Services

QuestionView source ↗

I refer to the photograph titled 'Emanates From Woodside Pluto', taken on 2 August 2018 found here http://www.robinchapple.com/qdata , and ask: (a) when
did Pluto start venting and flaring gas; (b) how
long did the flaring last; (c) how
much Co2e was released; (d) what
other chemicals were released by volume; and (e) what
was the cause of this release?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
12 September 2018
Responded by
Minister for Environment; Disability Services
Response time
10 days
(a) Flaring is an essential process for safe operations of a gas plant and is normal industry practice. On the day in question, 2 August 2018, flaring commenced at approximately 9:43am.
(b) There were two flaring events on the same day associated with the plant outage, lasting approximately four hours and one hour respectively.
(c) The two flaring events resulted in approximately 270 tonnes of CO2-e being released.
(d) Flaring results in the release of atmospheric emissions associated with the combustion of gas. The dark smoke generated during this event was a result of propane being flared from the compressor circuit.
(e) This flaring event was required as a result of an unplanned production outage. This de-pressurisation is a critical safety control.

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