BP review could have prevented blast - US agency

31 October 2006 17:57 [Source: ICIS news]

HOUSTON (ICIS news)--BP failed to complete a study of its hydrocarbon disposal system that could have prevented the deadly 23 March, 2005 explosion at its Texas City, Texas refinery, the US Chemical Safety Harzard and Investigation Board (CSB) said on Tuesday.

Speakng at a press conference, CSB chairman Carolyn Merritt and lead investigator Don Holmstrom released the latest CSB findings on the blast that killed 15 workers and injured 180 others at the 460,000 bbl/day refinery.

"What BP experienced was a perfect storm where aging infrastructure, over zealous cost cutting, inadequate design, and risk blindness all converged," Merritt said.

Holmstrom said the blast at the isomerisation unit at the refinery occurred as the unit was being restarted. A blowdown drum was overfilled with hydrocarbons, causing a geyser like eruption into the atmosphere.

An idling truck nearby sparked the blast.

"Our investigation found that this one antiquated blowdown drum was connected to 58 different release valves in the isomerisation unit," Holmstrom said.

He said BP had not conducted a relief valve and piping study - required under federal safety rules - to determine if the blowdown drum was adequately sized to contain a foreseeable emergency release.

Not only did the blowdown drum not hold enough liquid but it also could not assure safe dispersion of flammable vapours through the vent stack, he said.

The CSB has recommended that the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the American Petroleum Institute act to eliminate the use of blowdown stacks as a disposal system.

CSB's investigators had documented eight previous vapour releases from the same blowdown drum from 1994 to 2004, Holstrom said. In six cases, dangerous flammable vapour clouds formed at ground level but did not ignite. In two other cases, the blowdown stack caught fire.

Merrritt said cost-cutting measures by BP were a large factor in the events that led to the explosion. She said the CSB findings describe the drastic effects of corporate cost cutting at the Texas City refinery, where maintenance and infrastructure deteriorated over time, setting the stage for the disaster.

By: Brian Ford
+1 713 525 2653

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