Fire at Shell’s SM/PO plant in Moerdijk extinguished

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SINGAPORE (ICIS)–Firefighters on Wednesday morning extinguished the fire at Shell’s joint venture styrene monomer (SM)/propylene oxide (PO) plant (MSPO-2) at Moerdijk in the Netherlands, the company said in a statement.

The blast happened at the reactor of the MSPO-2 installation at the Moerdijk production site around 23:00 central European time (CET) (21:00 GMT) on 3 June.

“The firefighting service declared that the fire was extinguished around 06:00 CET,” the company said in a statement.

“The incident occurred while the installation was temporarily shut for routine maintenance,” it said.

Two employees were treated in hospital for light injuries following the incident, the company said.

No harmful concentrations of emissions were released into the air following the incident, based on on-site tests, Shell said.

“An investigation into the cause of the explosion has been initiated. Shell Moerdijk will work closely with government authorities. Other installations at Shell Moerdijk are currently operating according to plan,” it added.

Players in the European styrene market said they were braced for some potential impact on pricing and availability, although many said this may not be felt immediately.

Video footage of the explosion and fire has been uploaded to YouTube.

Truong Mellor, Tom Brown and Stefan Naidu contributed to this story