The fire started at about 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 23 at the Nynashamn refinery. No injuries occurred. According to Nynas, the fire took place in a heat exchanger in a production unit located away from oil tanks. A refinery fire brigade worked with rescue services to put out the fire, which was extinguished at 4:45 p.m. An estimated 100 metric tons of crude oil burned. Nynas emphasized there was never any risk the fire would spread to oil tanks.

Reparation work is well on its way but it will take some time before we are back to normal production, Nynas spokesman Staffan Ceder told Lube Report yesterday. The hydrotreaters that produce specialty oils were not immediately damaged by the fire. We are planning for a sequential startup of the hydrotreaters, and all units are expected to be on-stream before the end of November. The effects on the distillation unit require further investigation.

The fires impact on supply was lessened because it happened when the company had a positive inventory situation for both finished products and distillates during the final phases of a scheduled maintenance stop.

Nynas is in constant dialogue with customers affected by the incident, Ceder said. The supply consequences for the U.S. market are very limited.

We are also increasing feedstock production in other refineries to supply distillates to the hydrotreaters in Nynashamn in order to compensate for the short term loss of production, Ceder continued. We will also have continued supply of naphthenic oil from other supply sources within the Nynas system. With these activities in place, Nynas is counting on being able to manage the majority of the deliveries for the rest of the year.