BP blames staff for refinery blast

In-Depth

BP has released an interim report into the explosion and fire at its Texas City refinery, admitting that certain BP staff were culpable for the lives of 15 workers.

interim fatal accident investigation report blames a series of failures by BP personnel before and during the start-up of the Isomerisation (ISOM) process unit in the

refinery for an explosion and fire which claimed the lives of 15 workers and injured more than 170 people.

The Isomerisation (ISOM) unit is used to convert raffinate, a low octane blending feed, into higher octane components for unleaded regular gasoline. The unit has four sections, including a Splitter, which takes raffinate and fractionates it into light and heavy components. The Splitter consists of a surge drum, fired heater reboiler and a fractionating column 164 feet tall.

The investigation team determined the explosion occurred because BP ISOM unit managers and operators greatly overfilled and then overheated the Raffinate Splitter, a tower that is part of the ISOM unit. The fluid level in the tower at the time of the explosion was nearly 20 times higher than it should have been.

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