A fire hit Indian petrochemical producer Hindustan Petroleum-Mittal Energy's (HMEL) Guru Gobind Singh refinery in India's northwestern state of Punjab early this morning.
The fire started near the quench oil pump at the producer's 1.2mn t/yr naphtha-fed cracker because of an oil leak which generated thick smoke, according to HMEL on 24 February. The fire was localised and brought under control by 10am local time (4:30am GMT), with no casualties reported.
But it remains unclear if the fire has been fully extinguished. There was no impact to other units in the complex, HMEL said.
The producer has been gearing up to start commercial operations at its cracker as well as its downstream 450,000 t/yr high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and 800,000 t/yr linear low-density PE/HDPE plants this quarter. HMEL has been conducting trial runs at this plant since December.
Participants close to the producer are expecting start-up delays of around three months because of the fire.
The producer last year started operations at its new 500,000 t/yr polypropylene (PP) plant in the same complex in Bathinda. But the new plant and its older 400,000 t/yr PP plant have been operating at reduced rates because of feedstock shortages.
Argus has reached out to HMEL for further comments about the impact of the fire on its petrochemical operations. But the producer was unable to give further comments as investigations are still ongoing.

