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Portugal's Galp Energia has said that it will shut down its bunker-producing Sines refinery for up to six weeks following a fire at a utilities unit at the plant.

The incident took place on Saturday 17th January at approximately 9pm and the fire was brought under control by the industrial complex’s emergency response team, with no personal injuries or environmental damages, the company said.

The fire was restricted to the utilities unit - an electricity and steam production plant that supplies Galp Energia’s industrial complex at Sines, with no damage to the refining processing units.

After an initial evaluation, the company anticipates that the refinery will remain shutdown for a period up to six weeks. Operations will be gradually resumed after that period.

The Sines refinery started operations in 1979 and has a crude distillation capacity of 10.5 million tonnes, or 220,000 barrels per day.

In September 2008, Galp closed the Sines facility for over 40 days following planned maintenance and restructuring work.

The shutdown lead to the company raising imports of oil products during this period in order to meet demand. It was not understood to have had any serious repercussions on the availability of bunker fuels during the shutdown period.

Petrogal S.A., the brand name used for Galp's bunkering activities, supplies 380-centistoke (cst), 180-cst and marine gasoil (MGO) at Sines. However, ex-pipe deliveries of 380-cst and MGO are only available to tankers working cargo at the refinery.

The country's other refinery in Oporto, produces approximately 100,000 barrels-per-day and is also used as a source to supply marine fuel to the bunker market. Petrogal supplies MGO by pipeline to tankers working cargo at the refinery and other general cargo vessels can take MGO or fuel by road tank wagon (RTW).