Poland’s Synthos facility explosion affects production but leaves no injured

LONDON (ICIS)–An explosion on Thursday night at a Synthos petrochemicals facility in Oswiecim, south Poland, has affected some production units but left no injured.

The facility has the capacity to produce 120,000 tonnes/year of styrene, 225,000 tonnes/year of styrene butadiene rubber (SBR), 275,000 tonnes/year of synthetic rubber, and 275,000 tonnes/year of emulsion styrene butadiene rubber (E-SBR), according to ICIS data.

Synthos declined to comment at the time of writing; details of the incident are still emerging.

The explosion happened at around 18:45 local time on 7 January on one of the external installations, thought to be part of its rubber production.

Market sources said the incident occurred at the E-SBR unit, adding that rubber stored at the facility had likely been burnt.

A fire which lasted around 45 minutes subsequently broke out at the plant, possibly because of a furnace explosion.

Local media reports also said there had been minimal surplus emissions into the atmosphere or water, but that production/technological lines are down.

It remains to be confirmed whether there is also damage to the pipework/pipeline which is supplying gas to this part of the installation.

Synthos is still investigating the incident and the potential impact on its raw materials and products, a source from the company said.

Additional reporting by Marta Fern, Melissa Hurley, and Jane Massingham