TOMAKOMAI, Japan, 30 September 2003 — A major fire at an earthquake-damaged oil refinery in northern Japan continued to rage yesterday causing the sides of a burning naphtha storage tank to collapse, officials said. Billowing flames and black smoke continued to pour out of Idemitsu Kosan’s 32,779-kiloliter (8.5 million-gallon) naphtha tank in Tomakomai, some 750 kilometers north of Tokyo, as of 4:00 p.m. (0700 GMT), about 29 hours after the fire started.
The sides of the circular tank collapsed in on the burning center of the tank about two hours earlier just after the fire brigade was evacuated from the area, a fire official said. “The walls of the tank fell inward toward the center,” said Kenji Takada, the fire official. “It is on the verge of total collapse.”
The remaining structure was five meters (16 feet) high at its lowest point, while the naphtha was around two meters deep, meaning none of the raw material for petrochemical products had spilled, he said. It was unclear how long it would take to burn the rest of the fuel, he said.
Efforts to put out the blaze had been stepped up yesterday with 91 trucks and 313 firefighters and other people engaged in the operation, a Tomakomai city official said. A total of 99,340 liters (25,800 gallons) of fire-extinguishing chemical arrived early yesterday from Tokyo to add to the stockpile in Hokkaido. “Strong winds have been hampering the fire-extinguishing operation,” the official said.
Fire brigades were watering the tank to cool it and prevent other tanks from catching fire before they were ordered to retreat to a safe line. The blaze broke out Sunday morning just before 11:00 a.m. (0200 GMT) amid aftershocks from two massive earthquakes, the first measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, and the second a revised 7.1 that rocked Hokkaido two days earlier, injuring nearly 600 people.
It is the second fire at the refinery in three days after firefighters spent seven hours fighting an oil-tank blaze caused by Friday’s earthquakes. Idemitsu said the refinery had had six fires in the past four years, including the latest two ones. Analysts also said the fire was expected to cause price rises for gasoline and naphtha, a key raw material for chemical companies. “The peak demand season for oil products, especially in northern Japan for heating fuel, is just ahead,” said Kazuhiko Sakuma, an analyst at Daiwa SMBC Securities.
Sakuma said Idemitsu is expected to begin buying oil products from other refiners such as industry leader Nippon Oil Corp. or smaller Cosmo Oil Co. Ltd. to meet supply commitments to customers.
“Firefighters have evacuated the spot after the naphtha tank partially collapsed, but fire vehicles are continuing to spray water unattended,” said a spokesman for Idemitsu.
“We still cannot rule out the possibility the fire could spread to other storage tanks,” he said, adding the company was trying to empty a nearby kerosene tank after having successfully drained another.
More than 300 personnel were involved in trying to put out the blaze, which broke out on Sunday and was the second to strike the 140,000-barrels-per-day refinery after a powerful earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale hit Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Friday. Firefighters later returned to the scene, but it was unclear when the fire might be extinguished or the refinery reopened. “My personal impression is that it doesn’t seem to have grown weaker,” said another official, who added he could see the fire from the window of his office some four km away from the site.
Television news programs showed schoolchildren in the vicinity wearing face masks to protect them from the smoke from the fire. Aftershocks on Sunday had dislodged the lid of the cylindrical naphtha tank, spilling some of the contents, fire officials said.
Naphtha is the key ingredient of ethylene, which is used to make various petrochemical products, ranging from car tires to plastic bags.
Idemitsu sought help to cope with the effects of the fire, and said other firms including Japan’s biggest refiner, Nippon Oil Co. Ltd., had agreed to supply oil products to its customers to meet any shortfall.
