Tarragona chemicals park running normally after IQOXE blast leaves two dead

LONDON (ICIS)–Operations at Tarragona’s chemicals park in Spain are running normally after a blast at IQOXE’s facilities left two dead and eight injured.

On 14 January around 19:00 local time (18:00 GMT) a large explosion at the facilities of Industrias Quimicas de Oxido de Etileno (IQOXE) caused a subsequent fire which the emergency services got under control on Wednesday morning.

IQOXE has the capacity to produce 140,000 tonnes/year of ethylene oxide (EO), among other products.

Rail and road cargo transport in the surrounding areas were at first affected but have been re-established. Only passenger train lines remain shut.

“Yesterday [Tuesday] at 18.41 there was an explosion in one of the four derivative products plants, specifically in the new plant that was put into operation in June 2017 and that had been running normally,” said IQOXE on Wednesday morning.

Petrochemicals majors like BASF, Covestro, Dow, or Repsol have operations in the area.

A spokesperson for BASF said its operations were unaffected.

“Our facilities are located very close to IQOXE’s but we are running operations normally. Supply of raw materials or logistics are not affected,” said a spokesperson for BASF.

“There was some initial disruption to logistics, but everything has been re-established now,” the BASF spokesperson added.

The president for the Tarragona chemicals trade group AEQT, Francisco Montoya, confirmed other plants in the area are running normally.

Dow confirmed to ICIS on Wednesday afternoon it had stopped its alkoxylation plant in Tarragona “as a precautionary measure” to ensure safe production.

Dow produces in Tarragona, among other products, low density polyethylene (LDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), ethylene, or propylene.

“Employees and contractors are safe and there were no major impact at the plant. Currently inspections are taking place in the whole complex and as soon as we have the confirmation that production can be started safely we will communicate,” said Dow.

“At this point in time it is too early to comment on the potential impact of supplying our customers.”

The company added that it is assessing the impact to its supply chain for the Tarragona facilities and “alternative options” where needed.

Germany’s Covestro, which produces methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) in Tarragona, confirmed to ICIS its operations are unaffected by the blast.

“However, we are following the instructions of the emergency services to ensure the safety of our workers,” it said.

Moritz Lank, Senior Analyst at ICIS, said: “We would assume that the 140,000 tonne/year EO unit and the derivative units are down, because of the fire as it would be unsafe to produce EO which is highly explosive.”

Front page picture source: David Oliete/AP/Shutterstock

Maps by Miguel Rodriguez-Fernandez

Adds information from Dow, Covestro, and ICIS analyst comment in paragraphs 11-18