Leak forces temporary evacuation of Statoil’s Mongstad refinery

Statoil ASA is investigating the cause of a naphtha leak that led to an evacuation and partial shuttering of subsidiary Statoil Refining Norway AS’ 9.3 million-tonne/year in Mongstad, Norway.

Reported to Statoil’s emergency center on Oct. 24 at 7:14 a.m. Mongstad local time, the leak forced shutdowns of unidentified parts of the refinery as well as an evacuation of 108 plant employees not part of the operator’s emergency response team (ERT), which was mobilized to handle the situation, Statoil said.

While Statoil confirmed the ERT stopped the leak by 9:02 a.m. with no injuries reported resulting from the event, the company disclosed no further details regarding the status of current operations at the refinery or where inside the plant the leak was detected.

Statoil said it will investigate the cause of the incident.

Last year, a 35-cu m oil spill occurred at the Mongstad refinery due to corrosion in a pipe at the site, the company said in its 2016 annual report to investors.

Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].