60% run rates at Dalian Petrochemical’s downstream facilities of its 10 mln tpa CDU post-fire

20-Jul-11

Dalian Petrochemical, a subsidiary of PetroChina, is running the downstream facilities of its 10 mln tpa crude distillation unit (CDU) in Dalian at reduced rates of about 60% after a fire at the unit two days ago, as per ICIS. The CDU has been shut following the fire on Saturday afternoon and no date has been set for it to resume operations. Downstream facilities that are running at reduced rates include a 3.8 mln tpa naphtha hydrogenation unit, a 6 mln tpa gasoline and diesel hydrogenation unit, a 3.6 mln tpa hydrogenation cracking unit and a 3 mln tpa residual hydrogenation unit. This is the fourth incident to plague China’s petrochemical industry over the last six weeks. The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) halted operations at some units at its 240,000 bpd refinery at Daya Bay, Huizhou, after a fire broke out at the complex on 11 July. The affected aromatic and reformer units are expected to be shut for months, while operations at other units have been resumed. CNOOC also suspended production on 13 July at two platforms of the Peng Lai 19-3 (PL19-3) oilfield at Bohai Bay after oil leaks that occurred in early June. A separate spill occurred at CNOOC’s Suizhong (SZ) 36-1 oilfield located at Bohai Bay on 12 July because of an equipment malfunction, causing the company to halt production. The series of incidents has led to questions on safety standards at oil companies in China.