Incident damages crude unit at OMV’s Schwechat refinery

OMV Aktiengesellschaft, Vienna, will delay restart of its 9.6-million tonnes/year refinery at the operator’s integrated complex in Schwechat, Austria, following an early June upset that occurred at the tail end of the 2022 turnaround.

An unidentified mechanical incident occurred on June 3 that damaged the refinery’s main crude oil distillation unit and caused slight injuries to two individuals at the site, OMV said in a release.

As a result of the incident, scheduled maintenance at the refinery, which has been ongoing since Apr. 19, will be partially delayed, according to the operator.

An assessment of damage remains under way, and a definitive timetable for duration of the extended shutdown has yet to be determined, OMV said.

Without disclosing further details surrounding the incident, the operator said it will work closely with its customers and suppliers to mitigate any impact on product availability.

Confirmation of the June 3 incident follows OMV’s end-May announcement that it was completing final works and checks of the turnaround and preparing systems for restart.

In a May 31 release, the operator said refinery staff was in the process of slowing returning equipment to operation at the site, which potentially would result in flaring.

At the time, overall production was scheduled to resume once all system parts were safely in “warm” mode and integrated back into the production process.

According to OMV’s website, the 2022 turnaround only involved the refining portion of the Schwechat complex, which also produces ethylene, propylene, butadiene, and aromatics. In addition to maintenance and inspection of the refining plants, OMV said it also was using the turnaround period to execute modernization works that would prepare the refinery—Austria’s only—for a reduced-emissions future.

Schwechat’s petrochemical plants are scheduled for routine turnaround activities in 2023, the operator said.