A large explosion ripped through a Conoco oil refinery in northern England today, injuring two people and all but closing the plant down.
Police said the blast, at the Killingholme refinery near Grimsby in Humberside, was a major incident and eyewitnesses described an intense fire billowing vast plumes of black smoke.A spokesman for Conoco, a major US oil company, told Reuters all but two of the units at the plant had been shut down and would remain closed until further notice.
He said 199 people were on site at the time of the blast.
An ambulance service spokesman said two people had been taken to hospital with minor injuries.One of them was thought to be an employee and the other was someone who has a private residence near the refinery, he told reporters.
He could not confirm whether all those on the site had been accounted for, saying: "There is a certain amount of confusion, because it is thought that there were some contractors there at the time of the explosion."
The ambulance service said earlier that four people were still unaccounted for. The spokesman said three ambulances would remain on site.
Conoco and police said it was too early to say what may have caused the explosion.
Mr Richard Hannigan, a spokesman for Humberside fire authority, said 15 fire engines were at the scene.
"We are working with refinery fire-fighting teams to surround the fire with fire-fighting jets", he told reporters.
He said smoke had spread for several miles around the area, but added: "Damage appears to be confined to one small area of the plant".
Conoco's official website says the Killingholme refinery processes some 230,000 barrels of crude oil and other feedstocks per day.
The Conoco spokesman said the explosion took place in a saturate gas plant at 2.20. He said both the refinery's crude distillation units were closed.
"Both crude units are down", he said.They have a capacity in excess of 200,000 barrels per day.The spokesman said a full investigation would be launched into the cause of the blast, but it was likely to take days before the results were known.
The Killingholme refinery produces a wide range of products including gasoline, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and middle distillates such as heating oil, diesel and aviation jet fuel.
Around 60 per cent of its products are exported, with some heading to the United States -the world's largest consumer of energy.