1 dead and 9 injured! South Korea's third-largest oil refinery explodes

May 23, 2022

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According to Yonhap News Agency, on the evening of the 19th local time, a massive explosion occurred at the S-Oil (Shuanglong) refinery in Ulsan, southeastern South Korea, killing one person and injuring nine others.

The South Korean fire department dispatched 56 fire trucks and chemical special vehicles to participate in the firefighting. Since there were oil storage tanks, oil pipelines and residual flammable gas butane at the scene of the accident, the fire department is still carrying out fire fighting and cleanup work at the scene.

According to local residents, the impact of the explosion was very strong, and nearby buildings were shaking, and the tremor was felt within 10 kilometers of the surrounding area.

The fire pillar soared dozens of meters high, and residents 15 kilometers away also felt the tremor. Some people nearby said that they thought an earthquake had occurred when they heard a "boom" when the incident occurred.

As of 9 am local time on the 20th, 12 hours after the explosion, the fire has not been completely extinguished. The refinery's chief executive plans to issue an apology after the firefighting is complete.

Established in 1976, the refinery has a crude oil refining unit in the Ulsan Aung San Industrial Complex with a capacity of 669,000 barrels per day, as well as lube base oil (44,700 barrels per day) and other petrochemicals. The most important thing is that the plant has a production capacity of 545,000 tons of pure benzene, 1.87 million tons of PX, 660,000 tons of toluene, and 200,000 tons of ethylene.

The company said last month that it raised its crude oil operating rate in the first quarter to an average of 99.6%, adding that crude throughput will likely remain high this year due to strong profit margins. Following the accident, a company spokesman said the company could not currently determine whether its CDU and other facilities would be closed as a result of the investigation.

According to some sources in South Korea, the ignition site was a gasoline alkylation unit, which did not affect reforming and other units. The No. 1 770,000-ton PX unit has been shut down (the unit was originally scheduled to be shut down for 45 days in early June), and the other 1.1 million-ton PX unit is still in operation, but the follow-up impact is yet to be followed up.

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