Motiva upset closes plants

By Sarah Moore
The Beaumont Enterprise
04/15/2003

PORT ARTHUR - The Motiva Enterprises shut down its refinery Monday afternoon after a power interruption caused cooling system failures resulting in huge flares and columns of dense, black smoke.

Plant officials decided to shut down operations for repairs around 4:30 p.m., Bill Wimberley, environmental manager, said.

The adjacent Huntsman refinery, which relies on Motiva for steam, shut down as well.

Plant officials still don't know what caused the power or steam and waterline failures, Wimberley said. They decided to shut down the operations to minimize environmental impact.

As plant production slowed, flares designed to relieve pressure on the plant burned high, sending plumes of black smoke into the sky, but Wimberley said residents had no cause for alarm.

"We had folks out monitoring (air contamination) in the area," Wimberley said. "They made several rounds though the adjoining neighborhoods and didn't pick up anything of concern."

The flares are elevated in order to facilitate wind dispersion, Wimberley said.

By night, the flares were still burning higher than normal, but had noticeably died down, Wimberley said.

The plant malfunction did not pose a possible threat to residents or workers, Wimberley said.

"The system worked exactly the way it was designed to," Wimberley said. "We stayed in touch with Port Arthur police (throughout the incident)."

The plant should be back in operation by this morning, he said.

Reach this reporter at:
(409) 833-3311, ext. 419
smoore@beaumontenterprise.com

Back to report on Motiva upset 4/15/03

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