At about 5:40 a.m. on April 16, 2006, an explosion and fire occurred in the vicinity of vacuum gas oil desulfurization unit in Chiba oil refinery (location: 2 Goikaigan Ichihara, Chiba, Executive chief: Takashi Yajima) of Cosmo Oil Co., Ltd. (Head office: 1-1-1, Shibaura, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Capital: 62.4 billion yen, President: Yaichi Kimura).
We would like to offer our sincere apologies for all the trouble and distress this incident has caused.
The circumstances at 5:00 p.m. are as follows.
| Date of occurrence | April 16, 2006 (Sunday) at about 5:40 a.m. |
|---|---|
| Name of the facility | Vacuum gas oil desulfurization unit (hereinafter HDS)/Hydrogen production unit No.1 (hereinafter HP) |
| Casualties | None |
| Danger of secondary disaster | None |
| Circumstances | Around 5:10 a.m.: no abnormality found in patrol by an operator Around 5:40 a.m.: explosion and fire occurred in the vicinity of HDS/HP Around 5:42 a.m.: enquiry via Ichihara City Fire Department hotline; confirmed that Disaster Control Center had heard an explosion on the site 5:44 a.m.: reported the fire Around 5:48 a.m.: announcement issued to defense services 8:19 a.m.: confirmation that the fire had been suppressed 8:44 a.m.: confirmation that the fire had been extinguished 9:35 a.m.: public fire department leaves site |
| Damage | Damaged areas are being examined sequentially and by 5:00 p.m. the following three openings had been confirmed. (1) Damage to overhead receiver of carbon dioxide absorption tower, hydrogen production unit No. 1 (2) Damage to water pipeline on framework (HP purified water pipeline, pipe size: 2 inches) (3) Opening in flange area of oil pipeline under framework (oil pipeline of HDS product, pipe size: 6 inches) Other damage Some windows and roof slates in the facility and neighboring facilities were damaged. |
| Safety shutdown device | Vacuum gas oil desulfurization unit, hydrogen manufacturing unit No.1, topping unit No. 2, vacuum distillation unit No. 2, hydrogenerated desulfurization unit No. 4 |
| Effects on shipment | Currently under investigation |
| Future plan | The Fire Department and the Police will conduct an on-site investigation at 9:00 a.m. on April 17 (Monday). |
