UpdateCoryton UK refinery fire extinguished - HSE

31 October 2007 15:49  [Source: ICIS news]

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LONDON (ICIS news)--Firefighters have extinguished a blaze at the Petroplus refinery in Coryton, UK, following reports of an explosion, said a spokesman from the UK Health and Safety Executive on Wednesday.

 

The fire was on the ground floor of a naphtha tower and flames were reported to have risen more than 30 metres up the column, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said in a statement earlier.

 

All staff at the refinery have been accounted for. The HSE spokesman added that two people who were reported as missing had since been found.

 

Located in the river Thames estuary 30 miles east of London, the Coryton refinery produces butane, propane, sulphur, propylene, bitumen, fuel oil, jet fuel and gasoline.

 

Coryton’s throughput capacity for crude oil alone is 172,000 bbl/day, with the capability to deliver an additional 70,000 bbl/day of other feedstocks.

 

Petroplus was unavailable to comment on potential production outages caused by the fire.

 

Essex police said they had received a call at 11:30 GMT that stated there had been an explosion at the site and that the tower was on fire. There was a cloud of smoke moving towards Canvey Island but this was not toxic, a spokesman said.

 

Switzerland’s Petroplus bought the refinery from energy major BP in June 2007 for $1.6bn.

 

Additional reporting from Lucy Craymer

By: Mark Watts
+44 20 8652 3214

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