ExxonMobil apologises over Fawley refinery flares and smoke

EXXONMOBIL apologised to residents for noise, plumes of smoke and flares coming from chimneys at Fawley oil refinery.

The petrochemicals giant tweeted an apology to neighbours "who may be experiencing increased noise levels" from the site last Friday, adding: "Our team is working hard to minimise any disruption."

Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire Service confirmed it had been made aware of the "organised" flaring at the refinery, after concerns were raised by people as far afield as the Isle of Wight.

An ExxonMobil spokesperson told the A&T: "The process interruption on Friday (10th February) was caused by a power supply trip, with the site’s operating systems and procedures safely isolating the affected processing units.

"These steps see us divert hydrocarbons that form part of our site production process to our flares, enabling both the safe standdown and then restart of the units."

He added: "Flaring is an approved and controlled safety and operational mechanism used in the oil and gas industry around the world.

"We inject steam into the flare to aid combustion and a clean flame, however the flare can be smoky for a period while we build up the volume of steam.

"The addition of steam can, sometimes, lead to a rumbling sound. The Environment Agency strictly regulates emissions from our site.

"We do appreciate that the use of our flares can cause concern and disturbance, but please be assured that the process is completely safe and we always work hard to minimise the duration of use."

The refinery also fired its flares last November as part of an "operational incident" that saw the partial collapse of a structure at the site.

Following that incident an ExxonMobil spokesperson said no one had been injured and apologised to local residents for any "inconvenience" caused.