Pollution
Humain
Environnement
Economique

At 2:20 a.m., a violent storm caused voltage variations on the main power supply of a petrochemical platform. A power outage ensued, causing the boilers that supply the entire site with steam to stop operating. The emergency power supply did not take over because the generator protection system had tripped, having detected a directional short-circuit (generation of a fault current by the asynchronous motors). The shift workers secured the production installations from the control room by diluting polymer fabrication in-progress or by stopping the reaction and emptying the reactors. In accordance with safety procedures, the residual gases from the installations, composed of hexane, ethylene, propylene, butylene, traces of H2, and traces of propane, were sent to the flare to be burned. A large flame was observed until 8:50 a.m. It was accompanied by the release of black smoke due to the absence of steam to clear it. Luckily, the wind was not blowing toward the residential area. At about 07:00 a.m., a local resident called the emergency services to report a fire on the site (actually the flaming of the flare). The emergency services, in turn, called the facility operator to inquire about the current situation.

Around 4:30 a.m., the boilers restarted but steam was not immediately produced. From 8:50 a.m., there was enough steam to purify the carbon from combustion to feed the flare.

The installations were scheduled to resume activity at the end of the week. The facility operator drafted a press release but it was not released, in the end.