Explosion in Rotterdam kills at least one person, is under investigation

An explosion at a petroleum products storage facility at Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands on Thursday killed at least one person and wounded several others. The cause is unknown and under investigation. Gunvor said an incident occurred during maintenance work on a storage tank. Police said there was no immediate sign of sabotage. Shell said its operations were unaffected, and LNG terminals were not affected. ExxonMobil shut all units at its 191,000 barrels/day refinery due to a power outage, which the port said was unrelated to the blast.

An explosion at a petroleum products storage facility at Rotterdam Port in the Netherlands on Thursday killed at least one person and wounded several others, officials said. The cause of the blast, which occurred at around 11:30 a.m., is unknown and under investigation. Gunvor, the energy commodities trading company that operates the facility, said an incident occurred during maintenance work on a storage tank. A police spokesperson said there was no immediate sign of sabotage and that all possible scenarios were being investigated. Rotterdam is Europe's largest port, comprising oil refineries, LNG terminals, and multiple petrochemical facilities, with Shell, Exxon Mobil, BP, and Gunvor among the energy majors operating there. Shell said its operations were unaffected, and a Rotterdam Port spokesperson said LNG terminals were not affected. ExxonMobil shut all units at its 191,000 barrels/day Rotterdam refinery due to a power outage, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie, but the port said there was no connection between the blast and the outage. Gunvor said it was cooperating with local authorities.