Conocophillips Humber Refinery Case Study

The fire and explosion at the ConocoPhillips Humber Refinery (16 April 2001)

A formal report was made for the incident by COMAH and ConocoPhillips detailing the whole event and the response and action at the time. The events that took place are as follows:

On 16 April 2001 an explosion occurred at ConocoPhillips Humber Refinery after the failure of an overhead pipe. An investigation was launched on the incident, which is required under Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) regulations, by the Competent Authority (CA) and by ConocoPhillips to determine the causes of the incident.

Although the incident could have been potentially fatal and have a large environmental impact, no serious injuries occurred and no long lasting impacts on the

- Reports to ensure proper recording of all inspections and recorded information on process conditions.

The Humber Refinery is located on a 480-acre site, approximately 1.5km from a town with a population of 11,000 and 0.5km from a village with a population of 1,100. The Refinery site is also near a dual carriageway, and a railway line separating the Humber Refinery from Lindsey Oil Refinery.

The possible consequences of a major incident at the Refinery are huge, with the nearby Lindsey Oil Refinery, an incident in one could cause another incident at the other refinery. Also, with a town and a village close to the refinery, there could be some fatal injuries and destruction to some businesses and buildings.

The risks of most oil refineries tend to be similar, there are fire/explosion risks which are caused by the inability to contain flammable liquids or gases that are usually at high temperatures and pressures. There are also risks of some toxic leakage, as components come into contact with compounds used in the process.

A large number of these toxic gases came from the SGP itself, about 80 tonnes, while the rest came from the nearby connected plants as a result of the damage to the pipework connecting the SGP to the other nearby plants caused by the blast and fire. These additional releases fuelled the fire until the flow was stopped by closing the valves.

The Saturate Gas Plant suffered heavy damages as a result of the incident and the explosion. Buildings normally occupied at the Refinery up to 400 metres away from the SGP were badly damaged. Fortunately, there were no people in the direct path of the gas cloud that caught on fire and exploded at the SGP or in the buildings such as the Canteen at the site, which would have been usually