Unipetrol restores the operation of its distribution terminal located in front of its refinery in Kralupy nad Vltavou. An explosion without subsequent fire took place on Thursday, March 22 on one of empty storage tanks. The tank was being prepared for its future operation by employees of an external contractor. This work was not related to the currently performed planned turnaround of the Kralupy Refinery.“On Friday afternoon, the Police of the Czech Republic completed the on-site explosion investigation and handed the site back to us. The initial inspection of our expert team confirmed no major damage at the affected technology. The empty storage tank where the blast occurred is damaged. We estimate that we will restore operation of the entire terminal in the coming days,” said Krzysztof Zdziarski, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unipetrol, and added: “Our thoughts are now with those who were injured and with families of those who lost their lives. We expressed our condolences and offered our help, whatever it is, through the supply companies who employed those workers. When the investigation of the Czech Police and our internal investigation team is over, we will know more about how the unfortunate event and will take appropriate actions. The same will be required from our partner companies. We have already called them to re-train their employees and we will increase our controls that everybody on the site follows the safety and working regulations and rules. We would like to express once again our thanks to the Integrated Rescue System teams for their professional immediate intervention and effective assistance. At the same time we do apologize to the inhabitants of the surrounding communities and towns for the inconvenience.”
"At the weekend, our expert team performed a detailed technology and security check. The explosion damaged a storage tank which was empty and not in operation at the time of the explosion. The rest of the terminal’s equipment is undamaged, safe, and fully functional. Therefore we put the distribution terminal into full operation today," Krzysztof Zdziarski, Chairman of the Unipetrol Board of Directors, said and added: "We have asked our contracting companies to re-train their employees. We have also intensified continuous inspections of compliance with safety and labour regulations."
The extraordinary event at the distribution terminal located outside of the refinery did not affect the regular production turnaround of the Kralupy Refinery. That’s why this turnaround, or else planned production shutdown, due to the regular maintenance of all technologies in the premises according to the legislative and technical and technological requirements, started today according to the original plan. "Maintenance and upgrading work started today, as planned. The end of the turnaround is scheduled for May 9," Krzysztof Zdziarski said.
Source: Unipetrol
