Explosion at Petrobras Bunker Fuel Plant Kills Two

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 26 (Reuters) – A heating unit at a Petrobras depot in Brazil used to deal with gas for ocean-going ships exploded on Wednesday, killing two employees, the state-run oil firm mentioned in a press release.

The blast and ensuing hearth broke out about 10 a.m. (1300 GMT) whereas employees had been doing deliberate upkeep on the heating unit, mentioned the press workplace of BR Distribuidora SA, the fuels distribution unit of Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as Petrobras is formally recognized.

The heating unit is used to lift the temperature and cut back the viscosity of bunker gas, a heavy, sludgy refined petroleum product much like heating oil. Heating the gas makes it simpler to load aboard ships.

The hearth on the naval-fuels depot on the Port of Tubarão close to Vitória, Brazil, was introduced underneath management by on-site firefighters and presents no rapid threat to anybody within the neighborhood, BR Distribuidora mentioned in a press release. The names of the lifeless employees weren’t instantly out there, it mentioned.

The hearth is the third deadly accident this yr at amenities owned by or operated on behalf of Petrobras in Brazil’s Espirito Santo state, the nation’s second-highest oil and pure gasoline producer after neighbor Rio de Janeiro. Combined, the accidents have killed 13 and injured at the very least 26.

The accident comes simply over per week after the board of Petrobras authorized a plan for an preliminary public providing of as much as 25 % of the inventory in BR Distribuidora, Brazil’s largest service-station operator and fuels distributor.

The vote to approve the sale was opposed by Chairman of the Board Murilo Ferreira, who mentioned the corporate wanted to enhance its administration earlier than a sale might be set.

Ferreira can also be the chief government officer of Vale SA , the mining firm that owns the Port of Tubarão, Brazil’s largest port by tonnage moved.

The fuels unit at Tubarão provides the bunker gas wanted for vessels together with the large dry-bulk carriers that ship Vale iron ore on the port.

In February an explosion on the Cidade de São Mateus, an offshore oil and pure gasoline manufacturing ship operated on behalf of Petrobras by Norway’s BW Offshore Ltd, killed 9 and injured 26.

Two employees on a pier operated by Petrobras transport unit Transpetro had been killed in July when scaffolding on the website, in Aracruz, additionally in Espirito Santo state, collapsed into the ocean. (Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Christian Plumb)