A gas leak and a subsequent fire were reported inside IRPC Industrial Zone, Muang District, Rayong Province, Thailand at 9.00 PM on September 2. By the next 30 minutes, staff and officers managed to isolate the fire and were working to put it under control. A local media reported that the cause of the fire was a gas leak from a flange gasket of a high-pressure pipeline in the facility which processes heavy oil into petroleum products.
The leak generated a very high heat that ignited the fire while causing the pressure in the system to drop. As a response, staff initiated the safety system to block the pressure, which allowed residual gas to go out of the fair shaft for incineration. The released gas is burned at the fair chimney to prevent it from emitting in a diffused gas state uncontrollably.
There were no reported injuries as all staff were inside the control room when the fire erupted, the report said. IRPC and the authorities were waiting for all residual gas to be burned before conducting safety inspections and repair. Petrochemical market participants expected the incident to affect the company's propylene and polypropylene production.
