'Another Alarm Bell For Workers': Why Is Mazyr Refinery On Fire On Regular Basis?
- 23.01.2023, 12:48
Employees of the plant should think twice.
A fire broke out at the new unit for hydrocracking of heavy oil residues at the Mazyr refinery. It is already the second one this month.
What is the reason for the accident at the enterprise? The Charter97.org website asked Artsiom Chernikau, activist of the strike movement, to comment on the situation at the refinery.
- The hydrocracking facility was completed in 2021. On 14 September they started to load the catalyst into it. The dates have been continuously shifted, starting with 2019. This was the most ambitious project in investment and production terms in the history of the plant. In essence, it is a small plant inside the plant. Its estimated cost is more than $1.4bn.
With the introduction of sanctions against the plant, the payback period will increase manifold. The implementation of these projects was supposed to increase the volume of primary oil refining to 12 million tonnes per year. However, after the introduction of sanctions, the company apparently no longer needs to start up this unit.
Apparently, difficulties for the plant arose immediately after construction. Despite the completion of construction in September 2021, startup operations continued in February 2022. After the start-up of all the facilities, the mastery of the new technology continued. For example, during start-up a great deal of research work to select the appropriate composition of raw materials and find the optimum technological mode was not carried out.
The first fire was because of not knowing the equipment, since the official comment says that though the plant was ready two years ago, this part had not been studied thoroughly, hence two fires within a week.
Incidents of this kind should make workers think that if the plant catches fire twice in a row due to commissioning work, it's a wake-up call that the Lukashists' negligence is already directly threatening their lives.
Also there is the danger that if the Lukashenka regime continues to assist in Russia's war against Ukraine, the Ukrainian side has every right to strike at the main facility, and it's not hard to guess what can happen if a drone suddenly flies in, as the refinery is near the Ukrainian border.