One dead, several injured in Rotterdam port blast at Gunvor refinery

A blast at a storage facility for petroleum products at the Rotterdam port in the Netherlands claimed the life of one person and injured several others on Thursday, officials announced. The cause of the incident remains unknown at this time, according to a spokesperson for major energy commodities trading company Gunvor. Gunvor stated that an "incident" took place during maintenance work on a storage tank.

However, a police spokesperson indicated that there were no signs of sabotage, and all potential scenarios were under investigation.

Rotterdam, Europe's largest port, houses oil refineries, liquefied natural gas terminals, and various petrochemical facilities. Among the energy majors operating at the port are Shell, ExxonMobil, BP, and Gunvor Energy. The explosion occurred around 11:30 am. Gunvor expressed its cooperation with local authorities. Shell confirmed that its operations at the port were unaffected by the blast.

Rotterdam Port authorities assured that LNG terminals were not impacted by the incident. ExxonMobil, on the other hand, shut down all units at its 191,000-barrels-per-day Rotterdam refinery due to a power cut, as reported by consultancy Wood Mackenzie. ExxonMobil has yet to provide a comment on the matter. Rotterdam port authorities reassured that there was no link between the blast and the power cut.