Sunoco US refinery explosion forces closure of ethylene unit

The cause of the late Sunday explosion was under investigation. The fire, while still burning, was contained by firefighters, the company said, according to news reports. 

No one was injured, no surrounding communities were evacuated, and local air monitoring has not detected any risk, according to news reports.

The Marcus Hook refinery has a capacity of 178,000 bbl/day, according to news reports.

The Marcus Hook petrochemical complex also produces a combined 980,000 tonnes/year of polypropylene, benzene, cyclohexane, propylene and toluene, according to ICIS plants and projects.

According to reports, Sunoco said it would increase production at its Philadelphia and Eagle Point, New Jersey refineries to compensate for the lost output, but the company would not  give specific figures as to how much production was down at Marcus Hook or how much output would be increased at the other facilities.

Sunoco did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ICIS news.

After the announced production cut, gasoline futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose 5.25 cents to $1.7331/gal early Monday, while heating oil increased 4.94 cents to $1.4682/gal.

($1 = €0.74)

For more on ethylene visit ICIS chemical intelligence
To discuss issues facing the chemical industry go to ICIS connect
For more on the Sunoco complex at Marcus Hook visit ICIS plants and projects

< previous article(ICIS Chemical Business podcast November 2, 2009)

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