In a refinery, a leakage of distilled petroleum intermediate and hydrogen occurred around 7:51 p.m. in the desulphurisation unit and was followed by an explosion and fire of both substances, in the form of a pool fire and a jet flame from a pipe.

An emergency shut-off valve was activated, and nitrogen injected. Water was used to cool down the installations. The External Emergency Plan was activated leading to traffic interruptions on adjacent highways, confinement order on the neighbouring population and environmental evaluation. Measurements for toxic agents led by the public health service came with negative results.

In all, about 70 m3 of kerosene and 200 Nm3 hydrogen were involved in the accident, which led to material damage in the affected unit.

An investigation was carried out and specifically looked at all modifications, maintenance operations, construction works and inspections performed on the installation. A phenomenon of corrosion – erosion of a pipe due to a bad design of the manifold caused a pipe rupture.

The operator modified the manifold and improved its emergency plan (communication between the Crisis Unit and the different actors).