Incident Report

Subject:                                     Ponca City rocked by refinery explosion & fire

Date of Email reporting Incident:   Thu 24/07/2003 12:57

Report Detail:

PONCA CITY -- This northern Oklahoma town was rocked by an explosion at the ConocoPhillips plant about 11 a.m. Flames were seen shooting 100 feet into the air and smoke billowed to 3,000 feet.

The fire's black smoke could be seen for miles. At least two are reported injured with burns.
Phillips and Conoco, two of the nation's largest oil and gas producers, merged last August to create Houston-based Conoco-Phillips, the nation's third-largest oil company behind ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco.

ConocoPhillips spokesman Carlton Adams said the late-morning explosion hit the west side of the refinery, but the fire was contained -- but not controlled -- by early afternoon. Ponca City spokesman Sherry Bowers confirmed three people were taken to hospitals with injuries. Tim Crank, a Conoco employ, was flown to Baptist Burn Center in OKC for treatment of injuries not believed to be life threatening. Jason Lotz, a contract employee, was treated and released at an area hospital. Jim Kelsey, a Conoco employee, was expected to be treated and released after being injured in a fall.

Adams said the refinery wasn't evacuated, but the west side was shut down and air conditioning vents closed.
According to the company's Web site, ConocoPhillips now employs 1,701 in Ponca City, down from about 1,900 before the merger.

In addition to the oil refinery, the company also opened a gas to liquids plant that employs 177.
ConocoPhillips refinery here receives both foreign and domestic crudes by pipeline from offshore Gulf of Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas and Canada. The refinery's facilities include fluid catalytic cracking, delayed coking and hydrodesulfurization units, which enable it to produce high ratios of gasoline and diesel fuel from crude oil. Finished petroleum products are shipped by truck, rail and company-owned and common carrier pipelines to markets throughout the mid-continent region.

The plant's major products include: gasoline, diesel, propane, petroleum coke. The plant has the capability of processing 194,000 barrels per day of crude oil and 105,000 BPD of gasoline.