Japanese Large Refinery Was Set on Fire

Japan's fourth-largest refiner Cosmo Oil Co., announced yesterday it had to shut down its desulphurisation unit near Tokyo due to a fire at the plant.

The fire, set off by an explosion early yesterday, had been extinguished, and there were no casualties, a local fire department spokesman said.

A spokesman at Cosmo Oil said the capacity of the closed desulphurisation unit was 35,000 bpd. He added that operation of a 240,000-bpd crude distillation unit at the plant would not be affected by the fire.

There was some leakage of toxic gas in the vicinity of the unit initially, but such substance could not be detected after the fire was put out, the local fire spokesman said.