Three contractors were injured Wednesday, when a flash fire broke out at Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s Convent, Louisiana oil refinery.
Flash Fire Ignited at Shell’s Sulfur Unit
The July 4th incident occurred as contractors were working on a hydrogen line located in the facility’s sulfur unit.
The flash fire ignited on the hydrogen pipe, according to a source who spoke to Reuters.
It’s not clear how seriously the workers were injured, though two did require medical treatment.
“Shell initiated its emergency response plan, which included immediately deploying personnel to respond to the incident,” a Shell spokesperson told Reuters on Thursday. “All appropriate agencies were notified. The cause of the incident is under investigation.”
Sulfur Unit Was Shut Last Month for FCCU Overhaul
Shell’s 209,787-barrel-per-day (bpd) Convent, Louisiana, oil refinery is located along the Mississippi River, straddling St. James and Ascension Parishes, about halfway between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The facility produces gasoline and other conventional petroleum products, as well as refinery grade sulfur.
The sulfur unit where Wednesday’s flash fire occurred was shut last month in conjunction with an overhaul of the refinery’s 92,000 bpd gasoline-producing fluidic catalytic cracking unit (FCCU).
Late last year, Shell cancelled plans to permanently shut the gasoline unit and announced the current overhaul.
At the time, the company indicated that the refurbishment would extend the FCCU’s production for at least 4 to 5 years.
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