LONDON – Oil company Chevron suspended nonessential work at a refinery in southwestern Wales on Friday as it joined authorities in investigating an explosion that killed four workers.
A fifth worker was in critical condition in a hospital, said Chief Superintendent Dean Richards of Dyfed Powys Police.
Richards said none of those killed had been formally identified, “and this process may take some time.”
The British news agency Press Association reported that three of the dead were male painters and the fourth was a woman on fire-watch duty, without citing its sources.
The blast at the Pembroke refinery left one 730-cubic meter (25,775-cubic foot) tank scorched and crumpled, and a nearby tank also was damaged.
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Jane James, speaking for Chevron, said the tank had contained a liquid which has been used before at the plant but she did not identify it.
“Tank maintenance is a regular occurrence, and this was planned work involving members of our contractor work force – routine work which has been carried out before,” she said, reading a statement. She did not respond to questions, nor did Richards.
James said the plant remained operational but that nonessential work had been suspended on Friday.
Police and Britain’s Health and Safety Executive were leading the investigation, with help from the Environment Agency Wales.
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Chevron was bringing in specialists from the United States to assist, she said.
The explosion was reported just after 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) Thursday at the refinery, which specializes in processing heavy, lower-quality crude oils. The blast sent thick black smoke pouring from a storage tank which was undergoing maintenance.
Greg Hanggi, the refinery general manager, pledged to “take every step possible to determine the series of events that led to this tragic incident and ensure that any lessons learnt from it will be integrated into the business and shared with our industry partners.”
In March, Chevron Corp. announced it was selling the Pembroke refinery along with other marketing and logistics assets throughout the U.K. and Ireland to Valero Energy Corp. of San Antonio, Texas for $1.73 billion. The refinery employs 1,400 people.
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