Bacton - Pipelines blowing up - Press shutting up - gas price going up.

Something very, very odd is not going on. There was a bang / explosion / fire at Bacton (Norfolk) gas terminal just over 24 hours ago... It was mentioned on Channel 4 News immediately it happened. ( see this from a Shell Corporate watcher however)

There has not been a mention in the UK Press / TV all day.

Press blacked out for a reason ... perhaps Harry Windsor is guarding it with the armed Police that the BBC reported in January.

See last nights post Bacton explosion last night - The Bigger the Bang the Louder the Silence. and the one from late Thursday night Bacton Gas Explosion - immediate gas price rise in UK of 18%

APX has the spot price up 1p over the day to 58.28 p per therm frm 52 p before the fire/ bang / explosion. Price UPDATE Saturday 1/3/08 56.67 p per therm

Forbes 4 pm EST Friday 29th and Reuters report ATP Oil & Gas Corp. Friday said a fire at its Bacton facility in the U.K. had no current impact on its existing production in that country.

In a statement, the company said that of the facility's four terminals, the one that handles natural gas wasn't affected by the fire. They state that it is currently producing 65 million standard cubic feet per day of its U.K. production through Bacton.

ATP are a fascinating company, truly bottom feeders they " acquire and develop properties, many of which have proved undeveloped reserves (“PUD’s”) at the time of acquisition that are economically attractive to ATP, but not strategic to exploration-oriented oil and gas companies" 5 year share price ;

The original report from the Eastern Daily Press on 28th is still available on line. EDP On line also have Bacton explosion probe begins yesterday ... "Officials last night could not say what had caused the explosion, but assured an investigation would be held. Shell plant manager at Bacton, Don Paulino, refused to say how close the explosion had been to causing a major incident. And he declined to comment on whether the explosion happened near any flammable materials, saying it was in “a watery area”.

"Among the nearest people to the explosion and fire were Richard and Anna Hollis, who own the Castaways Holiday Park next door to the site.Mr Hollis said: “I heard the blast. It sounded like a bomb going off. The fire probably lasted for about 20 to 25 minutes.”And he was not confident of finding out the full truth about the incident, adding: “They won't tell us every-thing about what happened, based on my previous experience of the gas companies.”His wife added: “We could see flames and smoke shooting up into the air and the siren was going off very loudly. “It was really alarming. We could see billowing black smoke. The fire was right in the centre of the terminal and there were helicopters flying all around.” (Pic taken by Ann Hollis)

"A statement from the company said: “There is no threat to the health of personnel at the site. The incident will be investigated by Shell and the relevant authorities, as is normal under these circumstances.”

Nuthin ' to see..Move along there now ... move along. Except EDP Online have just posted ..9.30 GMT "Yesterday a five party investigation - with experts from Shell, the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agency, police and fire service - began into the cause of the blast in the waste water system at the Shell terminal. Shell said it could not speculate on the extent of the damage or cause of the blaze until the investigation was complete, or say how long the plant will remain shut down.But North Norfolk MP Norman Lamb said the fact that there were no firefighters stationed at the Bacton site needed to be looked at urgently." More all very, very odd.

A Forum thread has mentioned it and the picture heading the post was taken from five miles from the plant.