One dead, six injured in blast at Rotterdam petroleum storage facility

A blast at a petroleum storage facility in Rotterdam's port resulted in one fatality and six injuries on Thursday. Gunvor, a major energy commodities trading company, reported an "incident" during maintenance work on one of its storage tanks. Police stated there was no indication of sabotage and that all possibilities were being examined.

The port of Rotterdam, Europe's largest, houses the country's biggest oil refinery, Shell's 404,000-barrel-per-day Pernis plant, as well as facilities from BP, ExxonMobil, and Vitol. The explosion occurred at approximately 11:30 a.m. (0930 GMT). Gunvor is collaborating with authorities, while Shell confirmed its operations at the port remained unimpacted.

Rotterdam Port stated that LNG terminals were not affected. Initial European gas transmission data indicated a temporary decrease in gas output from Rotterdam's Gate LNG terminal, followed by erratic flows. It remained uncertain whether this was due to the blast or a separate power outage elsewhere in the extensive port. Any lasting disruption would be closely monitored by traders, as Gate is a crucial LNG import hub in northwest Europe, and Dutch gas storage sites are presently around 40% full, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data, ahead of the winter heating season.

ExxonMobil reported the power outage had been resolved and that its operations at its 191,000-barrel-per-day refinery were back to normal, but declined to confirm an alert from Wood Mackenzie, as reported by Reuters, indicating all monitored units had shut down. Rotterdam Port emphasized that there was no link between the blast and the power outage, adding that the port had faced several power outages earlier in the day, none of which were connected to the blast, according to the local safety authority.