Three employees of Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company were burnt yesterday evening in an explosion at the company's main production facility on Das Island. The men, an Egyptian supervisor and an Egyptian and an Emirati technician, were said to be in stable condition in hospital last night. "They are OK. They are doing very well and everything is fine. It was not a large accident," said Salwa al Hosani, the head of communications at Mafraq Hospital.
Officials of Adgas and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, which owns 60 per cent of Adgas, could not be reached for comment last night. The Das Island explosion was the second recent accident at Adnoc's oil and gas facilities. Three workers died and one was rendered unconscious last month when they inhaled hydrogen sulphide at the Shah oilfield, south-west of Abu Dhabi, from which Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations pumps oil.
At Das Island, natural gas pumped from an offshore field is processed and refrigerated to a temperature below minus 160°C so it can be loaded in liquid form into tankers for transport overseas. The facility, built in the 1970s, is the Gulf's oldest for liquefied natural gas production. tcarlisle@thenational.ae
