Royal Dutch Shell PLC subsidiary Shell Nederland Raffinaderij BV’s 404,000-b/d Pernis refinery and integrated petrochemical production site in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, will remain shut down for at least 2 weeks for repair work following a July 29 power outage that caused an explosion and fire at the site (OGJ Online, July 31, 2017).
Shell does not expect to restart the Pernis refinery—Europe’s largest—until sometime during second-half August at the earliest so that damage to the complex’s fire-impacted power station can be fully repaired, the company said on Aug. 1.
While Shell has completed the safe and controlled shutdown of most operating units at the refinery, the operator confirmed a release of hydrogen fluoride occurred on the evening of July 31 during rinse work at one of the already shuttered units.
The source of the hydrogen fluoride leak has been identified and stopped, and no hazardous concentrations have been measured outside the site’s boundaries, according to Shell.
Both the July 29 fire and July 31 hydrogen fluoride release are under investigation, and Shell continues to work with Rijnmondveilig.nl, the official emergency alert service for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area, and DCMR Milieudienst Rijnmond—South Holland province’s joint environmental protection agency—to restore operations at the refinery as soon and as safely as possible, the operator added.
In acknowledging the refinery’s temporary closure will have a potential impact on regional supplies, Shell said it is working to minimize those consequences for customers.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].