Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

In a refinery (62,000 barrels/day), an explosion resulting in a fire ball that was seen several kilometres away occurred in a fuel reforming unit (octane index improvement operation). The fire that ensued was brought under control within 3 hours by the fire-fighters. The rescue team’s strategy consisted in letting the unit burn while protecting the adjacent storage and other units. Without a link being actually established in the first place by the operators, there was a violent storm in geographical zone of the refinery just before the explosion of the unit.