Blast hits China chemical plant

An explosion hit part of an oil storage facility on Monday at Dragon Aromatics, an independent petrochemical producer in eastern China, Xinhua reported.

The blast happened around 7 p.m. local time at a pumping station for a condensate storage at the plant in Zhangzhou in Fujian province that produces paraxylene, or PX, a chemical used in making polyester fiber and plastics, state media said.

PX is normally produced from heavy naphtha, which can be derived from condensate after it has been processed in a splitter. A condensate splitter produces both light and heavy naphtha. The new Dragon plant was designed to produce around one million tonnes a year of light naphtha, which will be marketed to other Chinese petrochemical plants that operate ethylene facilities.

Xinhua cited the plant as saying one injury had been reported. It was not immediately known if any of the plant’s production facilities were affected or shut.

Dragon Aromatics officials were not immediately available for comment.

The Zhangzhou fire department said on its microblog 430 fire fighters were sent to the scene. The fire department said pictures circulating on social media purporting to show dead and injured were fake.

Dragon Aromatics, owned by Xianglu Group, a Taiwanese petrochemical group, is one of the largest independently-run PX producers in China.

The plant is set to expand its condensate splitter by almost 40 percent by end of this month to 5.5 million tonnes a year (137,000 barrels per day), an industry source has said.

A condensate splitter processes condensate into naphtha, which is then used as feedstock to produce PX.

There have been protests in China against petrochemical plants because of concerns they contribute to pollution.

In 2013, Dragon Aromatics delayed it’s opening of $3 billion unit due to a small blast.

The blast was attributed to leaks at a hydrogen pipeline during testing of a 3.2-million-tpy hydrocracker unit, a company official said at the time. No causalities were reported.

At that time, the company had won 4 million tonnes in import quotas for condensate for 2013, and had secured about five shipments of condensate – a light crude ideal for making petrochemicals – including supplies from Iran and Indonesia, traders said at the time.

The plant opening had been by delayed by slower-than-expected construction and problems in gaining environmental clearance.

SOURCE: CCTV - AMERICA