Fire Reported in Distillation Unit at Japanese Refinery

Fire in a distillation unit Tuesday night at an oil refinery in Oita City, Japan, took nearly eight hours to extinguish, local media reports.

The fire broke out at about 9:20 p.m. at the JXTG Energy Refinery in Ichinoshima in what is known as an atmospheric distillation unit, used to separate crude oil into liquefied petroleum gas and light oil.

Adding to the challenge, the burning unit sat nearly 60 meters above ground. Fortunately, the refinery is currently in turnaround for maintenance and there was no crude oil in the distillation unit.

The unit is being closely inspected for structural integrity following the fire.

JXTG is Japan’s biggest oil refiner. The Oita City refinery produces 136,000 barrels per day.