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