Blast at South Korean oil refinery kills one worker, injures nine

One person died in a blast at South Korea’s S-Oil Corp’s Onsan refinery in Ulsan, and nine others were injured late on Thursday night, an Ulsan Fire Department official said on Friday (20 May).

S-Oil is the country’s third-largest refiner, and its main shareholder is Saudi Aramco.

The 669,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery is located about 380km southeast of Seoul.

S-Oil said in a regulatory filing that it has halted production at its No. 2 alkylation unit and related processes at its Onsan refinery due to a fire.

Fire broke out while workers were testing the facility’s alkylation processing unit following a regular maintenance procedure, Yonhap news agency reported, citing authorities at the fire department.

Massive bursts of ongoing fire at S-Oil refinery plant at Onsan Industrial Complex in Ulju-gun. Authorities have said they believe the explosion was caused during the processing of crude oil into petroleum.

A full investigation will take place into how this fire occurred.

For more information, go to www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/blast-at-south-korean-oil-refinery-kills-1-worker-injures-9