The Wyoming Refinery in Newcastle resumed operations months after a clear explosion in February forced the facility to stay inactivity for repairs.
The refinery was closed after the February 12 accident, which was called the PAR PACIFIC of Houston “operational disorder.” The company will not provide details of what happened beyond the “main raw heater that must be replaced” and that there was “unexpected equipment malfunction and cannot be avoided”, according to interviews with Wyofile and the company's contacts with state officials.
The Emergency Administration in Weston Province on Facebook has posted the accident that a “heater exploded” in a refinery.
No injuries were reported.
Dallas Scholes, Director of Public Affairs in Barcelona, told Wyofile, while some fuel production resumed on April 21, it will continue some time before the refinery returns to 20 thousand barrels per day.
“When you return one of these facilities online, you should take it slow,” said Scholes. Since the equipment was in lethargy for months, and make sure that everything works properly and safely takes time, from raising the heat to ensuring that the oil can move. “There is a lot that is participating, and our first first in this process is to make sure it is safe, and this is what we focus on.”
The company does not expect when the refinery will resume full operational capacity, but it offers updates on a Website Drawn to the accident.
Even with the closure of fuel production, the workforce in the refinery was working hard, according to Skuls.
“They are some people who work incredibly hard, and they were doing a lot of additional transformations,” he said. “We have used everyone on the site, and we have really brought many good experts to fill the gaps and make things work. They were working with a wage all the time. I'm really proud of what they were able to progress and do.”
The facility produces gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and roban from Powder River Basin raw, according to the company. Scholes said the economic impact on the region motivated Barvik Bar to restore the work refinery as soon as possible.
“We have stored a lot (from unaccounted raw), but this is one of the reasons that make us want to work as quickly as possible – so we can make sure that oil is still flowing and is still available, and ensuring that our producers are still working with pay at the end of the day as well.”
“The explosion”
The company does not use the term “explosion” in public communications facing the year, and instead it indicates the accident as a “operational level”. However, in a March 24 message To the Ministry of Wyoming, Environmental Quality, Health, Safety, Security and the Environment, Michael Baldwin wrote, “During the evening of February 12, the (refinery) witnessed an explosion in the raw heater … which led to a complete closure of the refinery.”
The accident did not result in any liquid spills or large -ranging emissions, by air or powder, according to the company. “There were no emissions that left our fence line,” said Scholes.
Organizational officials are still in the process of investigating the accident in coordination with Par Pacific.
“Things can get worse, and we live every day to do everything we can to make sure it's not.”
Dallas Scholes, Bar Pacific
The cause of the accident is still unclear. The company refused to clarify. “The information) has not been transferred to,” Scholes told Wyofile.
In a written connection to Deq, the company refers to “unexpected equipment malfunction and cannot be avoided” that happened at about 10:37 pm on February 12.
“They were just trying to restart the fireplace and take over the boom,” said Weston Gilbert Nelson, who has been informed by the company several times since the accident.
Scols said Bar Pacific is studying what happened to cause the heater's failure. “At any time when an accident occurs, we are all on the deck to make an investigation to search for the lessons learned that we can apply to any of our other facilities.
“Oil and gas refineries can be a dangerous profession,” Schools added. “Things can go well, and we live every day to do everything we can to make sure that they do not do it. We were incredibly lucky, and we have developed new systems. We do new checks. This is not something that anyone wants to see repeated, so we can bet that we will do everything we can to make sure that this does not happen again.”
In the following days, the general updates of the company noted that the cold cold and a plan for the locals are likely to see more vapor than usual as the crews used boilers to try to prevent the equipment from freezing. “20 was less than zero when all of this was happening,” Schools told Wyofile.
The company also informed the population that there would be more revival than usual. Pillars often burn the remaining gasoline fumes to reduce their dangerous effects, which leads to flame at the top of the stack. Later, the refinery asked the state permission, which was granted, using a temporary kettle to prevent the equipment from freezing, as the state documents appear.
History of accidents
The refinery is located south of the main West Street and a half miles from Newcastle Secondary School. The refinery was created in 1927, and officials were quick to point out that it was town – On the edge of the black hills, with a population of about 3,300 – grown around it.
Par Pacific, who also manages refineries in Hawaii, Peling, Montana, Takoma, and Washington, acquired the facility in 2016.
Under a former owner of the first decade of the twentieth century, Hermes Consolidated, based in Denver, was a well -known refinery company A series of accidentsIncluding the leakage of March 2002, which rained 20 tons of silica stimulus on a part of the city, which resulted in a 2008 settlement with 47 Newcastle residents. The settlement details were not revealed. In the last part of this contract, the refinery received nine “violation notifications” from Wyoming Deq, which led to $ 427,400 in civil sanctions.
The US Environmental Protection Agency has also taken action against the refinery at the time.
The company paid a civil penalty of $ 150,000 in 2009 and agreed to invest $ 14 million in promotions to settle many alleged emissions violations mentioned by the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2010, Wyoming Refing pushed a $ 157,500 penalty to the Environmental Protection Agency “failure to prepare, provide and implement an appropriate and complete response plan for the facility.”
Scols said Bar Pacific giving priority to safety and environmental compliance. “We have certain equality standards that may not have existed before, and we are constantly working to improve operations.”
A 2023 Wyming Deck Inspection ReportThe most recent available, designed, “There were no famous concerns during these inspections.” The refinery inspection report was also included as “great compliance.”
“The safety of our workers and society is our 1st priority.” “We are very proud of our employees who live in the Newcastle community, and they have been.
From 2017 to 2022, the total oil refining capacity of Wyoming decreased by 27 % – from 177,500 barrels per day to 125,850, According to the US Energy Information Department. The state moved from five oil refineries to four in 2021 when it transformed HollyFrontier Sinklair Cheyenne oil refinery to produce “renewable diesel”, which uses agricultural products – not oil – to produce fuel.