Impact: HUMAN (On Site At Risk)

A major fire broke out on a refinery processing unit designed to convert heavy oil residues into refined products, resulting in serious damage to the plant.

[ Property Damage $250 Million. Estimated Current Value $259 Million ]

Image credit: ENI

A straight run of eight-inch-diameter line carrying hot oil from the high pressure separator to the low pressure stripper in a refinery hydrodesulfurizer fractured circumferentially in the parent metal in the heat zone about 1.5 inches from a weld. Hot oil at 700 psi and 650°F sprayed across the roadway into the hydrogen units where ignition occurred. An intense fire around the pipe rack in the hydrogen plant caused a 16-inch-diameter gas line to rupture, adding a second blow torch to the fire. More pipes ruptured with explosive force in adjacent areas. The fire resulted in a crash shutdown of the entire 600,000 bbl/d refinery. After six and a half hours, the fire was extinguished. Damage was extensive. The three hydrogen plants and the four hydrodesulphurization (HDS) units were heavily damaged or destroyed. Before the loss, the line which failed was judged as having excessive vibration. It is believed that the hot oil line failed due to fatigue, considered, in turn, to be largely due to hydrogen embrittlement.

[ Property Damage $75 Million. Estimated Current Value $180 Million ]

Image credit: PDVSA

The incident occurred as a two-train, ethylene cracker was being started up after its major six-year turnaround. A spanner was left in the pipework going to the medium pressure stage of a compressor. This resulted in the compressor tripping on high vibration. The trip caused an overpressure in the high pressure stage of the compressor and a loss of containment of hydrocarbon that was ignited.

[ Property Damage $250 Million. Estimated Current Value $273 Million ]

Image credit: Petroineos

A fire broke out at the oil sands refinery in Upgrader 2, an area of the plant that converts bitumen into crude oil products. Approximately 250 people were evacuated from the plant, but no injuries were reported. The fire burned for nine hours before being extinguished. Witnesses reported two explosions minutes apart which sent a fireball six stories high into the air. The plant also suffered ice damage from water used to fight the fire as temperatures in the area fell below -35 C. On February 3, 2005, the company announced that a ruptured cycle line was the most likely cause of the fire. Oil production was reduced from 225,000 bbl-per-day to about 110,000 bbl-per-day for about nine months.

[ Property Damage $120 Million. Estimated Current Value $168 Million ]

Image credit: Suncor

A release of hot light hydrocarbon during the completion of a maintenance activity resulted in a major fire. The fire occurred on a residual fluid catalytic cracking (RFCC) unit that had recently been commissioned as part of a major expansion, doubling the overall refinery capacity. The fire resulted in the closure of the expanded area of the refinery while extensive rebuilding activity was delivered. The value of the property damage loss is currently estimated to be in excess of US$1 billion.

[ Property Damage $1000 Million. Estimated Current Value $1000 Million ]

Image credit: ADNOC

Refinery and local fire fighters spent more than six hours battling a fire on a large oil refinery. A warning was issued to local residents because of thick nontoxic smoke generated from a stack on the site. The fire is thought to have broken out in a furnace. No injuries were reported.

[ Property Damage $150 Million. Estimated Current Value $162 Million ]

Image credit: Essar

On 17 January 1981 at approximately 00:07 hours operators on the plant observed an explosion followed by a fire. They immediately evacuated the area. On-site security initiated the on-site emergency procedures and called both the works fire brigade and the local authority fire brigade. Staff in a nearby control room initiated shut down procedures.

On arrival at the site the fire service set up two cooling sprays onto LPG pipelines within the plant. The deployment of additional water sprays was advised to protect unaffected pipelines (carrying kerosene, white spirit, petrol, fuel gas, high pressure steam, low pressure steam and lubricating oil) from the heat of the burning propane.

Residual propane in the plant was permitted to burn off and the severity of the fire gradually diminished. By 07:58 hours the fire was under control. Isolated pockets of oil residues continued to burn for some hours later.

Propane gas, contained in two 20 tonne storage vessels, was consumed by fire, and the area around the vessels was severely damaged.

The incident investigation believed that the release of gas occurred as the result of a damaged seal on a propane recirculating pump. Fire damage of control cables made process isolation difficult.

Fire severely damaged the de-asphalting plant and pipe work, the supporting structures and the feedstock storage tanks

KEY ISSUES:
• INSPECTION / NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING (NDT)
• ACTIVE / PASSIVE FIRE PROTECTION

Image Credit: Ben Brooksbank

A fire occurred at a titanium dioxide manufacturing facility, resulting in significant damage to the plant and the halting of production of the pigment until repairs could be completed.

[ Property Damage $180 Million. Estimated Current Value $267 Million ]

Image credit: Jorma liiho

At 2:09 p.m. on Friday, February 16, 2007, liquid propane under high pressure was released in the Propane De-Asphalting (PDA) unit of Valero’s McKee Refinery, 50 miles north of Amarillo in the Texas panhandle, near the town of Sunray. The resulting propane vapor cloud found an ignition source, and the subsequent fire injured workers, damaged unit piping and equipment, and collapsed a major piperack. The fire grew rapidly and threatened surrounding units, including a Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) storage area. Fire-fighting efforts were hampered by high and shifting winds and the rapid spread of the fire. A refinery-wide evacuation was ordered approximately 15 minutes after the fire ignited.

Three of the four workers injured were seriously burned, including a contractor. The refinery was completely shut down for just under two months and operated at reduced capacity for nearly a year.

KEY ISSUES:
• FREEZE PROTECTION OF DEAD-LEGS
• EMERGENCY ISOLATION OF EQUIPMENT
• FIREPROOFING OF SUPPORT STEEL
• FIRE PROTECTION FOR HIGH PRESSURE LPG SERVICE
• CHLORINE RELEASE

ROOT CAUSES:
1. The McKee Refinery had no formal written program in place to identify, review, and freeze-protect dead-legs or infrequently used piping and equipment, such as the propane mix control station.
2. The McKee Refinery did not apply Valero’s mandatory Emergency Isolation Valve procedure when evaluating risks in the PDA unit to ensure that the large quantities of flammable materials in the unit could be rapidly isolated in an emergency.
3. API guidance and Valero’s corporate Fire Proofing Specifications standard do not specify sufficiently protective distances for fireproofing pipe rack support steel for processes handling high-pressure flammables, such as the LPG in the PDA unit.

Image credit: CSB

Four reactors exploded after an initial fire in a warehouse in the plant. The toxic gas released due to the fire and explosion affected the local community. Electrical short circuit and improper shutdown was the reason that triggered the incident.

Proximate causes:
• Inadequate tools, equipment & vehicles (Electrical appliances shortcut)
• Failure in following procedure (improper shutdown)

Source: A web-based collection and analysis of process safety incidents (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950423016302285)

A major explosion occurred at a 145,000-barrels-per-day refinery in the north-eastern city of Sendai, hours after the largest earthquake in the country’s history was followed by a tsunami. The fire at the Sendai refinery originated from a land oil product shipping facility. Workers at the refinery were evacuated, and there was no capacity available to extinguish the fire. Fire in the storage and shipping facilities had also damaged a 35,500 barrels-per-day FCC at the refinery.

[ Property Damage $590 Million. Estimated Current Value $651 Million ]

Image credit: JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy

A fire broke out in a wet gas scrubber while heavy maintenance on a unit was being carried out. Personnel were evacuated from the site and there were no injuries. The site was conducting a planned shutdown and maintenance of the plant equipment including the polypropylene plant.

[ Property Damage $150 Million. Estimated Current Value $162 Million ]

Image credit: ORPIC

This explosion was caused by the failure of a valve bonnet in a high-pressure section of a 60,000 bbl-per-day hydrocracker. A vapor cloud formed from the release, ignited, and was followed by a large fire fed by escaping hydrocarbons at high pressure. The explosion resulted in the collapse of a large section of pipe rack and destruction of a large fin-fan cooler mounted above the rack. Many pumps were destroyed and a separator was badly damaged. Approximately 300 fire fighters and 33 fire trucks participated in the two and a half-hour effort to control the fire. Foam concentrate consumed totalled 3,200 US gallons. The hydrocracker was out of service for 12 months.

[ Property Damage $113 Million. Estimated Current Value $205 Million ]

Image credit: SF Gate

Blaze in a warehouse next to oil factory. Fire created massive plumes of smoke in the area. Fire spread to adjacent paint factory. Damaged buildings

Source: A web-based collection and analysis of process safety incidents (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950423016302285)
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