2nd UPDATE:Total UK Lindsey Refinery Fire Under Investigation

30th Jun 2010 16:56

(Adds quotes from union and refinery yield.) By Lananh Nguyen Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Police and the U.K. safety regulator are investigating a fire and explosion at Total SA's (TOT) 200,000-barrel-a-day Lindsey oil refinery in eastern England Tuesday in which one person was killed. The cause of the fire at the Lindsey Oil Refinery in Immingham is unclear. "Our inspectors are on site today to start an investigation, working alongside the Environment Agency, emergency services and police," the U.K. Health and Safety Executive said in a statement. The U.K.'s largest trade union Unite called for "an immediate, independent and comprehensive inquiry" into the death of a worker at the refinery. The 24-year-old man, whose name hasn't been released, was a Unite member. Meanwhile, a regional officer for the U.K.'s GMB union is in talks with the HSE, and will discuss safety with senior refinery managers "as a matter of urgency," a union spokesman said. The blaze, which began in a crude distillation unit around 1200 local time (1100 GMT) Tuesday, was extinguished around 2000 (1900 GMT), according to a spokeswoman for Humberside Fire and Rescue Service. Around 60 firefighters fought the fire in addition to the refinery's own fire brigade. Production was shut down at units affected by the fire, but all other production units are operating normally, a Total spokeswoman said. She declined to specify how much production was curtailed. The refinery's output typically comprises 30% diesel, 25% gasoline, 17% liquefied petroleum gas, 15% fuel oil and bitumen, and 13% kerosene and jet fuel. "Product is being delivered from the refinery via all available means of transport [road, rail, vessels and pipeline]," Total said in an emailed statement. "The full implications of the incident on future product availability are being assessed and although there are currently no supply issues, precautionary allocations are being put in place where necessary to ensure on-going supply security," Total said. Total is cleaning up the affected area at Lindsey plant. "Our foremost priority has been to ensure that the areas of the refinery unaffected by the incident are safe for our workforce to continue to work," it said. The outage was having a muted impact on European oil product markets, traders and brokers said. The Lindsey plant had been partially shut since May 31 for planned maintenance, which was set to finish in late July. Total has been hoping to sell the refinery this year in an effort to cut the company's refining capacity. "I haven't seen any [price impact]," a gasoline trader in Europe said. "As they were...scheduled for maintenance, there shouldn't be much [effect] in the short run," but if fire damage is severe, the market could be affected in the future, the trader added. This month, a jury at a U.K. court found a joint-venture 60% owned by Total and 40% owned by Chevron Corp. (CVX) guilty of failing to prevent a huge fire at its Buncefield oil storage depot in December 2005, according to HSE. The fire at the Buncefield depot--the largest in peacetime Europe--led to concerns that incidents such as a deadly refinery blast at BP PLC's (BP) Texas refinery could also occur on this side of the Atlantic. In the statement, the HSE and Environment Agency said the venture, the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Ltd. was "found guilty of failing to prevent major accidents and limit their effects." -By Lananh Nguyen, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20-7842-9479; [email protected] (Reza Amanat, Paddy Gourlay and Benoit Faucon in London contributed to this report.) (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 30, 2010 11:56 ET (15:56 GMT)