MOSCOW (MRC) -- An explosion at an oil drilling plant owned by China’s government-backed Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group has left five dead, five injured, while three are missing, reported Reuters with reference to a local county government's statement on Monday.
The accident occurred after the plant, Qilicun, started testing a new thermal technology to increase output on Sunday evening, according to the statement.
The plant, located 40 kilometres east of Yan’an city in northwestern province Shaanxi, is one of the oldest in China.
In 2017, Qilicun produced 385,500 tonnes of crude oil.
"Injured people have been taken to the hospital and their life signs are stable. Rescue work is continuing and the reason for the accident remains under investigation," the government said in its statement.
Yanchang could not be reached for comment. It was unclear if production had been halted at the plant.
As MRC wrote previously, Yanchang Petroleum Yan An Energy and Chemical has recently restarted its Methanol to olefin (MTO) plant following a maintenance turnaround. Thus, the company completed turnaround at the plant on October 14, 2019. The plant was shut for maintenance on August 28, 2019.
The company also operates petrochemical plants at the same site. Thus, located at Shaanxi in China, the polypropylene (PP) low density polyethylene (LDPE) & linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) units has a production capacity of 300,000 mt/year each.
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.
Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum (Group) Corp. Ltd.(abbreviated as Yanchang Petroleum Group), directly attached to Shaanxi People’s Provincial Government, is one of the four qualified enterprises for oil and gas exploration in China. In 1905, Yanchang Petroleum Factory was established; in 1907, drilled the first oil well in mainland China; in 1998 and 2005, two great restructurings were undertaken, resulting in integration and reorganization of Shaanxi YanchangPetroleum (Group) Co. Ltd. and in 2012, it ranked No.89 among top 500 Chinese companies.
MRC