A fire and explosion occurred at the Pengerang refining and petrochemicals complex in Malaysia's southern state of Johor, leaving five dead.

 

The incident occurred on Sunday (March 15) night and an emergency response team had been activated, state news agency Bernama reported on Monday, citing the Petronas-Saudi Aramco joint venture that runs the operation. The Johor state fire and rescue department said the fire and a blast occurred on Sunday night at the diesel hydro treater unit, which was removing sulphur from raw diesel using hydrogen gas.

 

Other than the fatalities, one person has suffered burns, the fire department said, adding that the cause of the fire was under investigation.

 

It was the second fire in less than a year at the $27 billion Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Malaysia's southern state of Johor.

 

The massive project includes a refinery, which will process around 300,000 barrels per day of crude oil when fully operational, and petrochemical plants with annual production capacity of 3.3 million tonnes.

 

Petronas [PETR.UL] and Saudi Aramco each have a 50 per cent stake in the PRefChem joint venture, which owns and operates the refinery and some petrochemical plants at PIC.

 

Pengerang Refining and Petrochemical (PRefChem), the joint venture, said a thorough investigation was ongoing and that it was cooperating with authorities.

 

In April 2019, an explosion and fire occurred at the plant's atmospheric residue desulphurisation unit (ARDS), a unit that removes sulphur from fuel oil, which is then used to produce gasoline. There were no casualties then.