One CDU down in ExxonMobil Singapore fire

03 May 2007 06:17  [Source: ICIS news]

By Jeanne Lim

(updates with latest developments, analyst and market comments)

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--A fire broke out at ExxonMobil’s Singapore refinery at 01:15 local time (18:15 GMT) on Thursday, killing two people and injuring two others, a company spokeswoman said.

The fire at the refinery at Pulau Ayer Chawan, Jurong Island, has since been put out but one crude distillation unit (CDU) remained shut, communications manager Eva Ho said in a statement.

The 115,000 bbl/day CDU, which is one of two at the refinery, was shut down immediately following the fire while the other, which has a capacity of 185,000 bbl/day, continues to operate, Ho added.

It wasn’t clear whether the company’s aromatics unit was affected by the fire at the US major’s Jurong Island refinery, another company official said.

“We are still checking the refinery situation and cannot comment further on this,” he added.  

The 300,000 bbl/day refinery processes feedstock for its petrochemical plant producing 400,000 tonnes/year of paraxylene (PX) and 150,000 tonnes/year of benzene.

So far, it appears that downstream production has not been affected by the fire at the refinery.

“No impact has been heard on the market as far as polymers as concerned,” said Aaron Yap, a trader at Singapore-based petrochemical firm, Integra.

The fire didn’t have a substantial impact on the naphtha market during the morning, a Singapore-based broker said.

The company said that its other refinery at its Jurong site was not affected. The CDUs at Jurong have a combined capacity of 225,000 bbl/day. 

Meanwhile, the cause of the fire has yet to be determined, ExxonMobil’s Ho told ICIS news.

All parties involved in the fire were contractors, and the two injured have been sent to the hospital, the firm said in a statement issued a few hours after the incident.

“We are sorry that this has happened. We are greatly saddened by this tragic event and express our deepest sympathy to the families of those affected,” said the refinery’s manager Steve Blume in the statement.

The company said that it was cooperating with the Singapore Civil Defence Force and other relevant agencies to investigate the incident.

James Dennis and Mahua Mitra contributed to this article.

By: Jeanne Lim
+65 6780 4359

For the latest chemical news, data and analysis that directly impacts your business sign up for a free trial to ICIS news - the breaking online news service for the global chemical industry.

Get the facts and analysis behind the headlines from our market leading weekly magazine: sign up to a free trial to ICIS Chemical Business.

Printer Friendly