Fire breaks out at Bapco’s Visbreaker Unit

A fire broke out at Bapco’s Visbreaker Unit (VBU).

A tube leak in one of the VBU heaters led to the fire in the heater box and stack on Wednesday.

Bapco’s fire section staff, fire squad and operations staff, supported by the Civil Defence personnel managed to put out the fire quickly and effectively.

No injuries were reported. The unit has been safely shutdown, and an immediate investigation has been initiated to identify the causes of the incident and avoid its recurrence in the future.

Bapco thanked all involved in safely managing the incident. “This reminds us all of the potential dangers of our business, but our comprehensive emergency planning and preparedness has helped mitigate the impact”, a Bapco source said.

“The incident has had no impact on Refinery operations and we continue to operate at normal capacity”, the source added.