From TOM KNAPP, Lancaster PA Online, November 26, 2018

A “major gas leak” was repaired Monday evening near McCaskey High School, but not before at least two area businesses were evacuated and power was cut to residents in the area.

Lancaster fire Capt. Todd Hutchinson said the leak was found in a pipe under North Franklin Street between McDonald’s and Viet My Oriental Food Market.

The businesses were closed and employees were moved to the school until the issue was resolved, Hutchinson said. Franklin Street was closed to traffic for a few hours between Lehigh and New Holland avenues.

UGI was called at around 6 p.m. because of an odor of gas in the area of North Franklin and North Reservoir streets. The utility company summoned the fire department to assist, Hutchinson said.

Readings in the area indicated a “lower explosive limit” of 100 percent, he said, which means the atmosphere was at its lowest flammable limit. Power was cut to the area, Hutchinson said, which is standard practice when there’s a significant gas leak.

Crews checked gas readings door to door as UGI workers attempted to track down the source of the leak, Hutchinson said. “After we found it, UGI was able to isolate the leak and repair it,” he said. One lane of Franklin Street remained closed as of 9:30 p.m. Monday because of damage to the roadway.

Incident Time: 2018-09-26 08:21:00

Nearest City: Piedmont, WV

Incident Type: NATURAL GAS PIPELINE

Material: NATURAL GAS

Suspected Responsible Party: TRANSCANADA

SkyTruth Analysis: Lat/Long: 39.478333, -79.041667 (Explicit)

Report Description
/// THIS IS A 48HR PHMSA UPDATE TO NRC REPORT # 1225754 /// UPDATED INFO: NO EVACUATIONS

TEMPORARY SERVICE WILL BE IN PLACE BY 9/28/2018 AT 0800 CSX RAILROAD HAS BEEN NOTIFIED NO FATALITIES OR INJURIES REPORTED INITIAL REPORT:

CALLER IS REPORTING THAT HEAVY RAINS CAUSED A LAND MOVEMENT ALONG THE PIPELINE RIGHT OF WAY WHICH FORCED A TRANSMISSION PIPELINE OUT OF THE GROUND CAUSING A RELEASE OF NATURAL GAS TO THE ATMOSPHERE. REPAIRS ARE EXPECTED TO EXCEED $50,000.

*INCIDENT MAY AFFECT 800-1200 CUSTOMERS *MAX OPERATING PRESSURE FOR THE LINE IS 70 POUNDS, AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT THE LINE WAS OPERATING AT 58 POUNDS.

The world’s LNG plants and regasification plants are listed here:

http://globallnginfo.com/World%20LNG%20Plants%20&%20Terminals.pdf

Notice the United Arab Emirates UAR is located in the Arabian Sea. That’s where one very active LNG plant is located, and the product must be shipped through the Strait of Hormuz:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strait_of_Hormuz

Some 35% of the petroleum shipped by sea passes through the Strait, though it is only 21 nautical miles wide. This includes the LNG as well.

So a LNG carrying ship explodes, hit by a rocket, a torpedo, or even a lucky mortar shot. How much energy is involved? About as much as an atom bomb is available, but it is not likely to go off as an atom bomb size explosion. Presumably any projectile that pierced a pressure tank and insulation would start the burning of methane, too. It would produce quite a fire, heating the methane in the tank that had been broached, rapidly building pressure and expelling the gas, which would burn at the front between the gas and air. This would produce a heated column drawing in more and more air.

The adjacent tanks (they are spherical) would be heated until they burst from internal pressure and a substantial natural gas would be ejected into the burning atmosphere. Short of an experiment, likely an accidental one, it would not be possible to know how much energy would come from the explosion and how much from the radiant heat. But you certainly wouldn’t want to be close!

A known scheme is sabotage by a small boat run by a few men willing to die, which you can find in the Middle East. Alternatively, by a torpedo from a submarine might also occur. Below the surface the effect on the sub would be much reduced.