PetroChina Dalian shuts 200,000 bpd CDU after fire

BEIJING: PetroChina has shut down a 200,000 barrel-per-day crude distillation unit at its Dalian refinery after a fire on Saturday, an industry source and state media said.

The accident happened just two weeks after the CDU was restarted after it was shut for around 40 days for maintenance.

The fire, caused by a leak at a heat exchanger in the CDU, started on Saturday afternoon and was put out at around 8 pm, China state television said.

No casualties were reported. It is not clear when the CDU would resume operation.

An industry source said no other units were affected by the accident.

The Dalian refinery, PetroChina's largest, has three CDUs with total crude processing capacity of 410,000 bpd.

The refinery has planned to raise July crude runs to 317,900 bpd, up 63 percent from 194,670 bpd in June, after the maintenance of the CDU, an industry source has said.

PetroChina has set up a team to take charge of the clean-up work to prevent other secondary disasters, state television said.

Exactly a year ago, also in Dalian, a pipeline explosion triggered a major offshore oil spill, forcing PetroChina operated WEPEC refinery to cut processing and importers to divert cargoes elsewhere.

Saturday's fire is the latest in a string of accidents in the Chinese oil industry over the past few weeks.

China National Offshore Oil Company's Huizhou refinery shut its 800,000 tonne-per-year aromatics unit after a fire broke out on Monday, two industry sources told Reuters.

An oil leak hit China's largest offshore oil field last month, which the government's oceanic administration said was the fault of operator ConocoPhillips.

Copyright Reuters, 2011