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Tue 10 Jun 2008, 08:02 GMT

Bunker-producing refinery is evacuated


Fire at 110,000 barrels-per-day refinery. Processing units are shut down.

The Petroplus Holdings refinery in Antwerp was evacuated on Monday after a valve explosion led to a fire.

The incident took place at approximately 3:00 pm Central European Time (CET) at the Belgium Refining Company (BRC) refinery, which is located north of the port of Antwerp on a 105-hectare site.

According to a statement released by Petroplus, the fire started at the visbreaker unit which processes heavy fuel oils. Refinery and local emergency response teams responded to the incident and the fire was extinguished at approximately 4:15 pm CET.

As a precaution, several processing units were shut down. There is one minor injury reported and no offsite impacts associated with the incident.

"The operational impact of the incident is currently being assessed," the company added.

The bunker-producing Antwerp refinery is an atmospheric-vacuum distillation, visbreaking refinery with a throughput capacity of 110,000 barrels per day. One of the key strengths of the BRC refinery is said to be its extensive hydro-desulfurization capacity which enables the refinery to process a predominantly sour crude slate to produce low sulfur, light and middle distillates, including marine fuel, heating oil, gasoline, naphtha, ULSD and vacuum gasoil.

Petroplus Holdings AG is the largest independent refiner and wholesaler of petroleum products in Europe. It operates seven refineries across Europe: the Coryton refinery on the Thames Estuary in the United Kingdom, the Ingolstadt refinery in Ingolstadt, Germany, the Belgium Refining Company refinery in Antwerp, Belgium, the Petit Couronne refinery in Petit Couronne, France, the Cressier refinery in the canton of Neuchatel, Switzerland, the Reichstett refinery in Alsace, France and the Teesside refinery in Teesside, United Kingdom. The refineries have a combined throughput capacity of approximately 864,000 bpd.

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