Rotterdam refineries catch fire

Netherlands

ROTTERDAM, August 22, 2017 – Fires erupted in ExxonMobil’s and Royal Dutch Shell’s refineries in the Netherlands on Monday, international media reported.

No injuries were reported in either incident and the blazes were quickly brought under control, according to Reuters.

“We regret the incident and any inconvenience caused to the community,” Ellen Ehmen, spokeswoman for ExxonMobil, told the news agency.

The blaze in the powerformer unit of ExxonMobil’s Rotterdam refinery came as the 190,000-bpd facility was undergoing a USD 1-billion upgrade to increase hydrocracking output by 40%. Operations at the remaining units of the plant were not interrupted, the Reuters report added.

Another small fire was reported at Shell’s 404,000-bpd Pernis refinery in Rotterdam the same day. According to local media it was quickly extinguished.

The incidents came in the wake of a major fire late last month at the Pernis refinery, Europe’s biggest. As a result of damage to the facility, Shell reportedly declared force majeure on propylene supply. The refinery remains shut as repairs continue, and Shell has said in recent days that it hopes to restart most of its units by the end of the month.