Australia: Two workers injured in refinery explosion

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Caltex says producton not affected by explosion at Lytton refinery

By KERM YERMAN

Caltex Australia Ltd said on Tuesday output from its 100,000 barrel per day Lytton refinery in the state of Queensland was not affected by an explosion which injured two workers.

"It was on a unit which had been shut down for repair and does not affect production at all," acting refinery manager Jeff Fisher told Reuters.

The affected part of the refinery was a regeneration unit for the refinery's reformer, which is not run continually.

"It is a separate unit which is not involved in the production as such," he said.

It was not known what caused the explosion, which led to one worker taken to hospital for damage to his hands and cuts and abrasions, while a second suffered minor injuries.

"We are doing a full investigation, but it appears there was a release of gas and that gas exploded. It was a one-off bang, and there was no subsequent fire," Fisher said.

Caltex Australia Ltd is half owned by a joint venture between Chevron Corp (CHV-N) and Texaco Inc (TX-N) .

Link http://www.canoe.ca/MoneyOil/mw_oilnews8.html

-- Carl Jenkins (Somewherepress@aol.com), February 23, 2000

Answers

Carl

Last night's tv news showed a huge fire resulting from an explosion at an oil refinery in Azerbaijan (sp). Haven't seen an article about it online yet, but the cause of the explosion was given as "careless cigarette smoking."

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), February 23, 2000.


OhMyGosh!

"Two hurt in refinery accident. U.S. power grid shutdown may ensue."

-- (strawberries@nd.cream), February 23, 2000.


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