A fire occurred on the morning of June 20 at HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd.’s (HMEL) 180,000-b/d, zero-bottoms Guru Gobind Singh refinery near Bathinda in the northern state of Punjab, India.
The fire, which broke out in the refinery’s vacuum gas oil treating (VGO) unit, was under control by HMEL personnel within an hour, the company said in a statement.
The VGO unit was immediately shutdown, and residual oil is being allowed to burn off, according to HMEL, a joint venture of state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. and Mittal Energy Investment Pte. Ltd., Singapore.
No casualties or injuries occurred as a result of the incident, the company added.
Remaining units at the refinery continue to operate, and an investigation is under way to understand the cause of the fire.
“Corrective steps and action will follow after a root-cause analysis is complete,” the statement said.
Processing capacities at Guru Gobind Singh, which was fully commissioned in March 2012, include delayed coking, fluid catalytic cracking, and continuous catalytic reforming (OGJ Online, Mar. 29, 2012).
