Unexpected Fire at Galp Energia's Refinery in Portugal

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Galp Energia SGPS S.A.'s (ELI:GALP) (Lisbon, Portugal) refinery in Sines, Portugal, has been shut down since January 17, 2009, as a consequence of an unexpected fire. All units are completely shut down and will remain offline for six weeks.

The 225,000 barrel-per-day Sines refinery, which is the largest refinery in Portugal, provides 70% of Portugal's fuel. The refinery suffered an unexpected fire that originated in the utilities factory by the overheating of one of the six power plant turbines. The fire was completely controlled, and no other area was affected by the fire. The refinery will be shut down for six weeks, resuming activities on March 1, 2009, when the units will restart in sequence, starting with the utilities factory, then the other processing units.

The refinery had an overhaul on September 15, 2008, during which all units at the refinery were completely shut down for maintenance. The overhaul was part of the four-year planned maintenance shutdown. During the overhaul workers also prepared the refinery for the new conversion units that the refinery is constructing. For more details, see related September 25, 2008, news article - Sines Refinery Completes Shutdown to Perform Maintenance Work.

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