Safety and Loss Prevention

Oil and Gas (Downstream)

The incident summaries provide a brief description of the event and highlight key points (including basic causes, critical factors, root causes and lessons learned) in addition to signposting interested readers to the detailed investigation report and selected other pertinent reference materials.

Download Resources

Feyzin - 04 January 1966

Incident: Propane Storage Sphere Rupture. Location: France. Keywords: BLEVE; deluge; Feyzin; fire; hydrate; ice; Joule-Thomson; procedure; rupture; sphere; training; valve. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Romeoville - 23 July 1984

Incident: Amine absorber catastrophic failure. Location: USA. Keywords: crack; embrittlement; explosion; FCC; HAZ; LPG; MEA; PWHT; Romeoville; rupture; SOHIC; SSC; weld. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Grangemouth - 22 March 1987

Incident: Vessel overpressure and catastrophic failure. Location: UK. Keywords: alarm; breakthrough; design; explosion; Grangemouth; HCU; hydrocracker; MoC; procedure; PSV; separator; training. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

La Mède - 09 November 1992

Incident: Bypass Piping Rupture. Location: France. Keywords: building; bypass; control; corrosion; dead-leg; escalation; explosion; FCC; fire; inspection; La Mède; layout; pipe; roof; spacing; USGP; VCE. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Milford Haven - 24 July 1994

Incident: Flare line rupture. Location: United Kingdom. Keywords: alarm, corrosion, DCS, explosion, FCC, flare, maintenance, Milford, MoC, risk, rupture, troubleshooting. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Avon - 21 January 1997

Incident: Hydrocracker reactor temperature runaway. Location: USA. Keywords: abnormal; Avon; depressuring; emergency; exothermic; explosion; field; hydrocracking; management; pipe; procedure; PSM; reactor; runaway. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Avon - 23 February 1999

Incident: Naphtha Spill During Maintenance. Location: USA. Keywords: audit; Avon; corrosion; escape; fire; maintenance; MoC; naphtha; permit; procedure; risk; supervision; training; valve. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Izmit - 17 August 1999

Incident: Furnace Stack Collapse During Earthquake. Location: Turkey. Keywords: communication; earthquake; fire; foam; Izmit; Kocaeli; plan; pollution; power; response; rupture; sloshing; sprinkler; stack; water. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Humber - 16 April 2001

Incident: Deethaniser overhead line rupture. Location: UK. Keywords: communication, corrosion, deethaniser, design, erosion, geometry, Humber, injection, MoC, USGP, washwater. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Texas City - 23 March 2005

Incident: Raffinate splitter liquid overfill. Location: USA. Keywords: blowdown, explosion, fatality, ISOM, MoC, NSU, overfill, procedure, PSV, splitter, Texas, trailer, vent. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Delaware City - 05 November 2005

Incident: Hydrocracker Reactor Nitrogen Asphyxiation. Location: USA. Keywords: asphyxiation; confined; Delaware; hydrocracker; nitrogen; oxygen; permit; procedure; purge; rescue. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

McKee - 16 February 2007

Incident: Propane piping rupture. Location: USA. Keywords: chlorine, dead-leg, design, EBV, fire, fireproofing, freeze, McKee, MoC, rupture. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Anacortes - 02 April 2010

Incident: Catastrophic heat exchanger shell rupture. Location: USA. Keywords: Anacortes; clad; exchanger; explosion; fouling; HTHA; instrumentation; lining; Nelson; PWHT; rupture; shell. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Chiba - 11 March 2011

Incident: LPG Storage Tanks Rupture After Earthquake. Location: Japan. Keywords: Chiba; creeping; domino; earthquake; EBV; explosion; fire; LPG; Natech; seismic; Tohoku; valve; violation. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Richmond - 06 August 2012

Incident: Light gas oil sidedraw line rupture. Location: USA. Keywords: CDU, corrosion, design, fire, fittings, HTSC, pipe, Richmond, risk, silicon, smoke. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Antwerp - 19 November 2013

Incident: steam explosion during valve maintenance. Location: Belgium. Keywords: Antwerp; bolt; caustic; clamp; corrosion; explosion; flange; leak; risk; SCC; steam; torque. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Torrance - 18 February 2015

Incident: FCC Electrostatic Precipitator Explosion. Location: USA. Keywords: erosion; ESP; FCC; explosion; HF; inspection; isolation; leak; maintenance; park; procedure; risk; SCSV; spark; Torrance; valve. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Baton Rouge - 22 November 2016

Incident: Isobutane release during maintenance. Location: USA. Keywords: alkylation; Baton; bonnet; cloud; fire; gearbox; hierarchy; human; isobutane; plug; procedure; release; training; valve. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Rotterdam - 21 August 2017

Incident: xylene column reboiler tube rupture and major fire. Location: Netherlands. Keywords: alarm; CoW; fire; furnace; maintenance; override; oversight; procedure; rupture; trip; risk; Rotterdam; standby. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Superior - 26 April 2018

Incident: FCC explosion and asphalt fire. Location: USA. Keywords: absorber; asphalt; barrier; brittle; bund; explosion; fire; FCC; HF; layout; pyrophoric; procedure; PSM; safeguard; SCSV; Superior; training; transient. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document

Girard Point - 21 June 2019

Incident: Hydrofluoric acid alkylation unit multiple explosions. Location: USA. Keywords: alkylation; BLEVE; copper; corrosion; elbow; explosion; fire; Girard; HF; inspection; nickel; PMI; rupture; safeguards; spray. Author: Peter Marsh.

View document