One killed in Chinese petrochemical plant fire

ONE person was killed by a fire which broke out at an ethylene glycol facility belonging to the state-owned China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec), say news reports.

Press states that the fire broke out at the plant in the Jinshan District of Shanghai, China at about 04:28 local time on 18 June, and was under control by 09:00. Reuters reports that the fatality was a third-party vehicle driver, while a company employee suffered minor injuries.

Reportedly, the company said it launched environmental monitoring after the fire and has not recorded any impact on surrounding water.

According to press, an investigation into the cause of the fire is underway.

The fire reportedly occurred at an ethylene glycol facility owned by Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Company (SPC), a subsidiary of Sinopec, one of China’s largest integrated energy and chemical companies. The Jinshan subsidiary has the capacity to process 16m t/y of crude oil and produce 700,000 t/y of ethylene. It also produces organic chemicals, and synthetic resins and fibres.

Sinopec says SPC is currently the most important domestic producer of refined oil, intermediate petrochemicals, and synthetic resins and fibres. However, Reuters says the company does not expect the shutdown will have a significant impact in the market.

News of the fire comes after Shanghai’s recent emergence from a strict lockdown to counter the Omicron variant of Covid-19, which lasted about two months.