Fire breaks out at Shell chemical plant in UK, nearby Essar refinery unaffected

MOSCOW (MRC) -- A fire which broke out at a Shell-owned chemical plant on the same site as Essar Oil UK’s Stanlow refinery in northwestern England has been extinguished, reported Reuters.

Essar said that operations at its refinery were unaffected by the fire, the cause of which is currently unclear.

The Shell Higher Olefins Plant (SHOP) is separated from the refinery by a road and rail tracks. Essar operates the chemical plant as well as the refinery.

"Earlier this afternoon, a fire occurred at the SHOP chemical plant," an Essar spokesman said. The fire was extinguished later on Wednesday, he added.

"Operations and production of fuels and other products from Stanlow Refinery have not been affected. All supplies to customers are normal," the spokesman said, adding all staff were safe and accounted for.

At Stanlow, Shell uses ethylene to manufacture polymer, lubricant and detergent intermediates, plasticisers and detergent alcohols, according to its website. Shell was not immediately available for comment.

Earlier on Wednesday, fire engines from five different locations were sent to the 200,000 barrel per day oil refinery.

"There was a report of a large plume of black smoke. We have several pumps at the scene," a spokeswoman for the Cheshire fire service said. In a statement, the service said engines from five locations were on the scene.

Essar Oil UK, owned by the Indian billionaire Ruia brothers’ Essar Group, bought the refinery near Ellesmere Port from Shell in 2011. Around 900 people work at the refinery, according to its website.

"The site produces a range of oil products including about one sixth of Britain’s transport fuels annually - about 4.4 billion litres of diesel, 3 billion litres of petrol and 2 billion litres of jet fuel," Essar Oil UK’s website said.

We remind that, as MRC wrote earlier, in January 2018, Royal Dutch Shell plc (Shell) announced a final investment decision on the redevelopment of the Penguins oil and gas field in the UK North Sea. The decision authorizes the construction of a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel, the first new manned installation for Shell in the northern North Sea in almost 30 years. The redevelopment is an attractive opportunity with a competitive go-forward break-even price below USD40 per barrel. The FPSO is expected to have a peak production (100%) of circa 45,000 boe/d.

Royal Dutch Shell plc is incorporated in England and Wales, has its headquarters in The Hague and is listed on the London, Amsterdam, and New York stock exchanges. Shell companies have operations in more than 70 countries and territories with businesses including oil and gas exploration and production; production and marketing of liquefied natural gas and gas to liquids; manufacturing, marketing and shipping of oil products and chemicals and renewable energy projects.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA reported no damage to its refineries or oil operations at the country’s main producing region, the Orinoco Belt, from a 7.3-magnitude quake that shook the nation’s northeastern coast, two sources from the state-run firm told Reuters.

PDVSA’s facilities at its Eastern division were working normally as well, the sources added.

As MRC reported earlier, in the first week of August 2018, the Venezuelan-run 335,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Isla refinery in Curacao was down after an operational problem triggered a blackout.

We also remind that Curacao’s Isla refinery is considering offers from 15 companies interested in temporarily operating the 335,000-barrel-per-day facility to replace the current operator, Venezuela’s ailing PDVSA state oil company, the refinery and the Curacao government said in a joint statement in late July 2018.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Fire engines were sent to Essar Oil UK’s 200,000 barrel per day oil refinery in northwest England after smoke was spotted, although the scale of the fire was unclear, reported Hydrocarbonprocessing with reference to a local fire service spokeswoman.

"There was a report of a large plume of black smoke. We have several pumps at the scene," a spokeswoman for the Cheshire fire service said. In a statement, the service said engines from five locations were on the scene.

She added there had been no reports of casualties. Essar was not immediately available for comment.

"Firefighters have been called to reports of a fire at Stanlow Oil Refinery... All staff have been accounted for and have been evacuated," the fire service said in a statement on its website.

Local news outlets reported witnesses said they saw a large flash and a fireball explosion.

Local fire crews were working with onsite firefighters to extinguish the fire which is believed to be in a manufacturing building within the plant, the fire service said.

Refinery monitor Genscape said all units at Stanlow were currently online.

Essar Oil UK, owned by the Indian billionaire Ruia brothers’ Essar Group, bought the refinery near Ellesmere Port from Shell in 2011. Around 900 people work at the refinery, according to its website.

"The site produces a range of oil products including about one-sixth of Britain’s transport fuels annually - about 4.4 billion liters of diesel, 3 billion liters of petrol and 2 billion liters of jet fuel," Essar Oil UK’s website said.

Last September, Essar Oil UK said it expected a US250-million upgrade of the refinery to improve its basic profit margin by USD1 a barrel as it will be able to process a greater variety of cheaper crude oils and raise output.

As MRC wrote previously, in 2015, Russian oil major Rosneft signed a preliminary agreement with the Essar group, controlled by the Ruias, to buy a 49% stake in Essar Oil’s Vadinar refinery and supply 100 million tonnes of oil to the latter for the next 10 years.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Initz Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of SK Chemicals, has successfully commercialized its ECOTRAN PPS (polyphenylene sulfide) compounds in collaboration with Hyundai Mobis, a global auto parts supplier, as per BusinessWire.

ECOTRAN is the first material in the global auto industry that addresses the problem of headlamp haze by applying a super engineering plastic to automotive headlamp holders.

Initz is a joint venture of SK Chemicals Co. Ltd. and Teijin Ltd. of Japan. The two have successfully developed the world’s first chlorine-free PPS resin.

PPS is an engineering plastic which has been increasingly replacing metal materials in accordance with the "lightweighting" trend that has been sweeping the automotive industry for all cars and trucks but especially for electric vehicles. PPS is considered a super engineering plastic as it's highly resistant to both heat and corrosive chemicals. Initz produces PPS resin by using environment-friendly techniques that generate no byproducts and very few gases and impurities.

Working closely with Hyundai Mobis, Initz has succeeded in resolving the lamp haze issue by incorporating glass fiber using specially formulated resins to produce the new material. Thus the new product fundamentally addresses all the engineering problems.

The reliability of Initz’s PPS was confirmed through a methodical harsh environment test in which a headlamp of the new material was cycled (turned on/off) repeatedly for 70 hours straight and 8 test items for 3 months. Hyundai Mobis said it would use Initz’s PPS material in all of its headlamps in an effort to completely eliminate lamp haze.

"This material technology is applicable to products immediately after being developed and to extend a specific product line without variation, so Initz’ PPS will have a great impact on the market," an automotive industry expert said.

"We have resolved the troublesome automotive problem of headlamp haze by utilizing our technology and experience we have gained in developing the world’s first chlorine-free PPS," Initz CEO Hyo-kyung Kim said. "We will now expand our presence in the global auto parts market through continued development of materials technology."

Initz is expected to secure a competitive advantage in the global race for better automotive materials given that its PPS resin has resolved the haze problem of headlamps, which is one of key parts which determine the exterior appearance of a vehicle.

As MRC informed previously, in December 2017, SK Global Chemical completed its acquisition of Dow Chemical’s packaging product business.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Texas environment regulators should coordinate shutdowns of oil refineries and other petrochemical plants during major storms to avoid big releases of air pollution like during last year's Hurricane Harvey, said Reuters with reference to a report.

A year ago Harvey dumped more than 60 inches (1.5 meters) of rain on southeastern Texas, halting refineries that produce a quarter of US fuel and damaging infrastructure.

Texas industry, including refineries and petrochemical plants, released an extra 8.3 million pounds (3.8 million kg) of air pollutants including cancer-causing benzene, during Harvey, said the report by the Washington-based Environmental Integrity Project.

Most of that pollution was released in the Houston area, where refineries did not shut until the rains arrived, three days after Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a warning for coastal counties. Much of that pollution resulted from equipment malfunctions and electrical outages, emissions that could have been avoided if the state coordinated early shutdowns, the report said. In Corpus Christi, refineries that shut before rains came released less pollution on average, the report said.

Houston suffered three high ozone days, which can be dangerous for people with lung and heart conditions, following Harvey, including the worst day for smog in Texas in 2017.

"The state should take a more hands-on approach for future storms because with climate change we are going to have more storms like this," said Tom Pelton, a spokesman at the EIP, headed by former Environmental Protection Agency director of civil enforcement, Eric Schaeffer.

The report recommended that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality "plan, coordinate and stagger the often- complicated shutdowns of major industrial facilities during hurricanes and other disasters, as well as the subsequent restarting of plants," to reduce pollution.

It also recommended that the state not suspend pollution reporting requirements during future natural disasters as it did for months after Harvey.

TCEQ spokesman Brian McGovern said every storm is unique and every plant is unique, so developing a one-size-fits-all approach "would be a virtually impossible task."

Refining companies should invest in robust backup power generation systems and the best available pollution controls to reduce emissions during storms, EIP said.

The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, an industry group, had no immediate comment on the report's recommendations and wanted to review the entire report before responding, spokesman Michael Frohlich said.
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