Operator reveals cause of fire at Iran’s Bandar Abbas refinery

Privately held Aftab Oil Refining Co. has identified the cause of a fire that broke out on July 10 at its more than 300,000-b/d refinery at Bandar Abbas in Persian Gulf Industrial City, Hormozgan Province, Iran (OGJ Online, July 10, 2023).

Unsafe operation of a truck transporting crude oil materials during a period of excessive traffic in the operational area of the refinery led to the fire, which subsequently spread to the manufacturing plant’s storage tanks, Aftab said in a release.

The operator confirmed the incident did not result in any casualties, and that—with the core of the fire quickly contained—“the situation returned to normal.”

Aftab did not reveal whether the fire damaged any processing or production units at the refinery, the second largest of Iran’s 11 refineries.

Located on 140 acres in southern Iran, the Bandar Abbas refinery—which processes crude oil and condensate feedstock it receives from South Pars field—was slated to reach a production capacity for finished products of 33,000 b/d during first-half 2023 following completion of unidentified expansion works, Aftab said in October 2022.