Explosion at refinery in Mangaluru, India, leaves one dead — OilPrice

An explosion and fire occurred at the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. oil refinery in the city of Mangaluru in southwestern India. One worker was killed and at least eight people were injured, OilPrice reports, citing the company and local authorities.

Accident at the hydrotreater unit

The explosion occurred around noon local time on Wednesday. A high-pressure cold separator ruptured in the Coker Hydrotreater Unit.

The fire following the explosion was extinguished over approximately two and a half hours. MRPL said it immediately isolated the damaged unit and deployed emergency and fire services.

According to local reports, the explosion was heard more than 10 kilometers away. Reports also said windows were shattered and buildings near the facility were damaged.

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Plant operations

The company did not say how long the Coker Hydrotreater Unit would be offline, whether the accident would affect the overall processing volume, or the extent of the damage. As of Wednesday evening, MRPL had not announced a complete shutdown of the refinery.

The refinery complex in Mangaluru has a processing capacity of 15 million tonnes of oil per year. It produces diesel fuel, gasoline, jet fuel and other petroleum products for the domestic market and export. The unit where the accident occurred removes sulfur and other impurities from coker products.

MRPL is a subsidiary of the state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation. According to OilPrice, the facility had planned to operate at more than 100% of capacity through March 2027 due to limited diesel fuel supplies and high refining margins following disruptions to energy flows from the Middle East.