MOSCOW (MRC) -- Total SA shut a reformer, sulfur recovery unit and a pressure swing adsorption unit at the company's 225,500 barrel per day (bpd) Port Arthur, Texas, refinery after a small fire was extinguished on Tuesday, said sources familiar with plant operations, said Reuters.
A company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that "at approximately 3:56 p.m. (CDT 2056 GMT), an operational upset occurred within the Port Arthur Refinery." The company activated its emergency response team and the affected units were shut down, said Total spokeswoman Melyssa Rodgers.
"No employees or contractor personnel were injured and there was no offsite impact." According to the sources, the 35,000 bpd reformer lost its supply of feedstock and then developed a leak, which led to the fire. The small blaze was quickly put out, but employees were warned by sirens to shelter in place.
Following the reformer fire, a leak developed on Sulfur Recovery Unit 3 and it was shut as well as the PSA unit. The all-clear signal was sounded at about 4:30 p.m. CDT.
The reformer converts low-octane naphthas into higher octane components that are blended into gasoline. A sulfur recovery unit extracts sulfur from hydrogen sulfide taken from motor fuel feedstocks in compliance with U.S. environmental rules.
Pressure swing adsorption units are used to extract hydrogen sulfide hydrogen streams. This is the fourth fire at a Gulf Coast crude oil facility since Thursday. Three fires have been at refineries and the fourth was at crude oil terminal.
As MRC informed earlier, Total says that the EUR950 million (USD1.1 billion) public tender offer it launched for battery major, Saft (Bagnolet, France) in May resulted in Total acquiring 90.14% of the capital and voting rights of Saft Groupe, based on the total number of shares outstanding as of 12 July 2016.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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