MOSCOW (MRC) -- An electric fire Saturday morning on the ExxonMobil facilities in Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon (Seine Maritime) resulted in a plume of smoke, below the regulatory thresholds, which could remain visible for several days, it was learned on Sunday, reported EN24 with reference to the industrial group.
"On Saturday, October 19, around 8 am, an electrical trip led to the shutdown of the ExxonMobil Chemical France steam cracker. To decompress the installation safely, the gases were sent to the torch, "said Sunday the petrochemical group in a" information to residents ".
In addition to the town hall, Atmo Normandie, a regional air quality monitoring association, approved by the Ministry in charge of the Environment, has been informed, as well as the Dreal (regional direction of the environment, of the planning and housing), we learned from the communication department of the group. "We have made information to residents to reassure them," said the same source.
"Further checks were conducted Saturday on the steam cracker and will lead to technical interventions before the restart phases of the facility. This is why the torch could remain visible for a few days. The current staff is making every effort to limit the duration and impact of this incident, "according to the information given by the group, which" apologizes to residents for the inconvenience. "
In a statement, Atmo Normandy ensures that, according to its measures, "a slight increase in sulfur dioxide concentrations is observed in the morning (Saturday) well below the regulatory threshold of information and recommendation."
The commune of Notre-Dame-de-Gravenchon, on which the ExxonMobil refinery is located, merged since 2016 with smaller neighboring municipalities to become Port-Jerome-sur-Seine, about forty kilometers from Havre.
As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
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