Published October 26, 2017 Features Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA RDSB) reported emissions from its Deer Park, Texas, refinery and chemical facility following a leak of benzene.

In a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Shell said the emissions event happened Wednesday over a four-hour period. The cause, it said, was rooted in an Oct. 10 incident in which “a flange leak occurred at the Phenol 2 unit.”

The refinery said the flange leak is ongoing, and the material released is benzene, which is a component of crude oil that has carcinogenic properties. read more

By Dan Molinski Published October 03, 2017: Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell reported a leak and emissions Tuesday at its Deer Park, Texas refinery and chemical plant. “A leak was found on the bottom of debutanizer distillation column. The cause of the leak is still under investigation,” the refinery said in a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. FULL ARTICLE

The refinery’s largest crude distillation unit, the 270,000-bpd DU-2, restarted on Sunday morning and was on circulation by midday, the sources said. Other units are being brought up to operating temperature and readied to resume production following the restart of DU-2. Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said the Deer Park refinery was “still in startup. Nothing to add.” Shell began saying on Sept. 8 that the refinery was in startup mode. FULL ARTICLE

FULL ARTICLE

AUGUST 27, 2017

HOUSTON (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc said its Deer Park, Texas, refinery and chemical plant complex may be shut for up to a week because of Tropical Storm Harvey’s impact on the Houston area. Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said following a controlled shutdown of the complex including the 325,700 barrel per day (bpd) refinery on Sunday, only essential personnel would remain at the plant through the end of the week.

Reporting by Ernest Scheyder and Erwin Seba; Editing by Andrea Ricci read more

Nepotism: the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs.

THE FOLLOWING INTRODUCTION INCLUDES COMMENT FROM A SHELL INSIDER SOURCE

Daryl Riemer (26 years old) was hired externally to Shell Deer Park Refinery into a dept where his manager Jeffrey Gribnau, is his brother-in-law. 

In a Shell internal email dated 25 April 2016, Jeffrey gives all kinds of excuses of how it wasn’t nepotism and their code of ethics wasn’t violated.

The job position Riemer took is normally filled internally from very experienced employees. 

No surprise then that his appointment has generated debate and resentment leading to the leaked internal emails, which can be read below. read more

Royal Dutch Shell PLC reported a leak at the gasoline-making unit of its Deer Park refinery in the Houston area.

“Personnel discovered a leak of naphtha from an elevated pipeline at the Catalytic Cracking Unit,” it said in a filing to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. 

It said the incident caused emissions that began Wednesday night and ended Thursday afternoon. 

The Deer Park refinery is a joint venture between Shell and Mexico’s national oil company Pemex.

Write to Dan Molinski at [email protected] read more

Dylan Baddour, Houston Chronicle: Tuesday, August 11, 2015

On Sunday morning, hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic gas were accidentally released from the Shell Oil facility in Deer Park.

According to reports from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 326,166 pounds of butadiene escaped through an open valve on a spherical tank between 10:40 am and 11:35 am.

Neil Carman, a chemist with the Sierra Club of Texas and a former power plant inspector for the TCEQ, said that butadiene is a known human carcinogen, but that its molecular structure allows it to dissipate quickly in the hot summer air. The chemical is commonly expelled in car exhaust, but Carman said the quantity in the Shell incident was concerning. read more

Source: Reuters – Wed, 22 Jan 2014 09:19 PM

Jan 22 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc emergency personnel were trying to contain a fire at its facility in Deer park, Texas, the oil company said in a message posted on a community information phone line on Wednesday.

The Deer Park facility houses a 327,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and a chemical plant and is a 50-50 joint venture between Shell and Mexican national oil company Pemex.

The fire will not affect the community, industrial neighbors or other operating units at the facility, the message from an environmental supervisor at the plant said. read more

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to pay more than $118 million to resolve allegations that its refinery and chemical plant near Houston emitted harmful amounts of benzene and other air pollutants, the Justice Department said. The company also agreed to pay a $2.6 million civil penalty. Chronic exposure to benzene, a carcinogen, can cause leukemia…

COMPLETE ARTICLE

RELATED:

Shell cuts deal with U.S. to cut pollution at Houston refinery

HOUSTON | Wed Jul 10, 2013 5:01pm EDT

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc has agreed to cut pollution at its joint-venture 327,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, according to an announcement on Wednesday by the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Under the agreement, which will take the form of a consent decree entered in U.S. District Court, Shell will install at least $115 million worth of equipment that will cut pollution from safety flares at the Deer Park refinery and adjoining chemical plant, according to the announcement. read more

On three dates, records showed, Shell emitted more toxic compounds in a single day than its permits allowed in an entire year.

Shell Reports Equipment Failure, Flaring at Deer Park, Texas, Refinery -Filing

Published March 10, 2013 by Dow Jones Newswires

Shell Oil Co. said equipment failure at its Deer Park Refinery in Deer Park, Texas, resulted in flaring Saturday, when a release of acid gas was routed to a flare stack during normal procedures, a report to the U.S. National Response Center said.

The filing didn’t specify which unit or units were involved in the incident, nor did it say whether the event had an impact on production.

A Shell representative wasn’t immediately available to comment. read more

U.S. Gulf Coast gasoline rose for a fifth day after fire broke out at a Royal Dutch Shell Plc refinery in Texas.

The 340,000-barrel-a-day Deer Park plant had a fire at about 9:30 a.m. local time, said Kimberly Windon, a company spokeswoman in Houston. The fire “was quickly isolated and contained to one unit,” and there were no injuries, she said.

Conventional, 87-octane gasoline on the U.S. Gulf Coast strengthened 1.88 cents to a discount of 12.75 cents versus futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 4 p.m., the narrowest gap since Jan. 8, data compiled by Bloomberg showed. Reformulated, 84-octane gasoline rose 0.88 cent to 9.75 cents below futures. read more

Jul 5, 2012

DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Royal Dutch Shell Plc. (RDSA.LN) reported flaring at its 327,000 barrel-a-day refinery July 4 in Deer Park, Texas, according to a filing with the National Response Center. A Shell spokeswoman declined to comment.

A compressor problem at Shell Oil Co’s 157,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Martinez, Calif., caused flaring at the facility on June 28, according to traders doing business with the company. It wasn’t known which refinery units were affected.

Motiva Enterprises LLC reported unspecified equipment failure June 30 at its 235,000 barrel-a-day refinery in Convent, La., according to a public filing. read more

Fri May 18, 2012 6:35am EDT

May 18 (Reuters) – Shell Oil Co said emergency personnel responded to a release at a sulfur unit at its 327,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) joint-venture Deer Park, Texas, refinery, according to a message posted in a community information line.

Earlier, Shell reported shutdown of an unspecified unit at the refinery on Thursday, according to a filing with the U.S. National Response Center.

SOURCE

The settlement was reached after Harris County accused Shell Chemical, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, of failing to notify officials about the toxic releases

HOUSTON September 6, 2011 (AP)

Shell Chemical LP has agreed to pay $500,000 to a Texas County over five different air pollution events at its Deer Park refinery.

The settlement was reached after Harris County accused Shell Chemical, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC, of failing to notify officials about the toxic releases. There are two schools and many homes close to the Shell refinery in Deer Park, about 18 miles southeast of Houston.

Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan says he is pleased Shell agreed under the terms of the agreement to notify officials within 24 hours of any chemical releases. The law already requires petrochemical companies to notify the county, but Shell apparently failed to do so in five events between 2008 and 2010. read more

By John Donovan

26 February 2011

Bloomberg News has reported the release of an unknown amount of the deadly chemical benzene at its Deer Park refinery in Texas.

According to one source, “Being exposed to benzene can lead to a host of diseases“.

Extract: “The worse case is associated to acquiring acute myelogenous leukemia, a type of disease that involves the production of cancer cells in the blood. Leukemia prevents the while blood cells from growing properly. White blood cells are the main components of the body’s immune system. With them impaired, the body becomes more prone to developing other diseases. This is a life-threatening condition brought about by exposure to benzene”.

The benzene incident comes 10 years after Royal Dutch Shell made a commitment to invest $400 million over eight years to reduce the release into the atmosphere of toxic chemicals at its nine refineries operating in the USA, including Deer Park and the Martinez refinery in California.

Bloomberg says: “U.S. refineries must notify the National Response Center if they release hazardous substances in excess of reportable quantities, according to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund”. read more