Fawley oil refinery incident caused by cooling unit collapse, union says

Flares were seen by a photographer on the Isle of Wight, 25 miles (40km) away

An incident at an oil refinery that led to flares being used for several hours was caused by the partial collapse of a cooling unit, a union has said.

The incident happened at Fawley, Hampshire, on 8 November.

GMB has also claimed the alleged collapse was caused by corroded steel supports and that the incident ruptured a pipe causing a gas leak.

ExxonMobil said it would be "wrong" to speculate about the cause until investigations were complete.

The use of flares at the site to manage excess gas could be seen for miles around., for about four hours.

About 2,500 staff and contractors work on the 3,250-acre (1,300 hectare) site which first opened in 1951

A GMB spokesman said the alleged collapsed structure was a "fin fan" cooler receiving liquid petroleum gas (LPG) from a fractionating tower, used to refine crude oil.

It was thought to have been caused by "structural steel rusting out and the cooler collapsed on to it", he said.

The union said a picture taken at the site shows a large platform-like structure, beside a tower, apparently sagging on one side onto vertical supports.

'Shutdown procedure'

The spokesman added: "There was a big gas escape. It can hang in the air, could be ignited.

"The wind was blowing the right way and blew the gas away, which was lucky."

He said the flares were part of the company's "shutdown procedure".

GMB said this picture shows a large platform-like structure beside a tower apparently sagging on one side onto vertical supports

In a statement, ExxonMobil, which operates the site, said: "Safety is our top priority and we take any such incidents very seriously.

"We are investigating the incident and fully cooperating with the Health and Safety Executive [HSE] in its own inquiries.

"The cause of the incident has not yet been determined and it would be wrong and unhelpful to speculate until that work is complete."

It added operations at the refinery had continued throughout, with no disruption to customers.

"We are now working towards shortly re-starting a small number of units we took offline on 8 November," it continued.

Previously the firm said no-one had been reported injured in the "operational incident".