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By Reuters 
1 hour ago
Rogan Ward and Wendell Roelf
Durban – An explosion rocked South Africa’s second-largest crude oil refinery in Durban on Friday, injuring even people, local emergency services said.
Engen, which operates the plant and is majority owned by Petronas of Malaysia, said a fire broke out around 0510 GMT and was extinguished at 0645 GMT.
“I saw a huge fireball in the center of the refinery with thick black smoke coming from it. A few minutes later, many vehicles passed my house,” Shane Lloyd Pretorius, a Durban resident, told Reuters.
The extent of the damage or impact on production at the 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) refinery was unclear.
The injured are in stable condition, said KwaZulu-Natal emergency medical services spokesman Robert McKenzie.
Engen said in a statement that the cause of the fire was under investigation. He did not mention injuries or production and said he would provide another update later.
A Reuters witness at the scene saw several fire trucks spraying foam on the affected part of the refinery, as well as ambulances, metropolitan police and national police waiting.
Africa’s most industrialized economy has six refineries, four using crude oil and two synthetic fuels as feedstock. It is a net importer of petroleum products.
The country’s third-largest crude oil refinery, a 100,000 bpd facility operated by Astron Energy in Cape Town, also exploded earlier this year.
The main SAPREF refinery, which is also located in Durban and is a joint venture between BP and Shell, said the incident at the Engen facility had no impact on its operations.
The Engen refinery and SAPREF are part of a major petrochemical hub on the east coast near the port of Durban.
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