Kralupy nad Vltavou, 22 October 2018 – On Wednesday 24 October 2018 between 9am and 11am, Unipetrol will organise emergency response training on the premises of its refinery in Kralupy nad Vltavou. Members of the Fire Rescue Service of the Central Bohemian Region and Police of the Czech Republic, representatives of the neighbouring municipalities and responsible employees of the Railway Infrastructure Administration and Synthos Kralupy will also be involved in the training of intervention in case of an emergency. The training will focus on the simulation of intervention in case of the leak of a cloud of gaseous propylene on the refinery premises with its possible spreading outside the site.
“During the training, we will check out the efficiency of emergency plans and preparedness of all internal and external safety and rescue units. With all stakeholders, we will also test functionality of the communication channels in place,” explains Jaroslav Hacko, Production Director of the Kralupy nad Vltavou refinery of the Unipetrol Group.
The prepared emergency training scenario includes the leak of propylene, which is an extremely flammable gas heavier than air, from a tank in the fluid gas warehouse on the refinery premises. The cloud of gaseous propylene will spread on the premises and will hit a large part of it. The emergency training will also include a test of the warning and notification system within and outside the premises, including notifications of authorities and inhabitants of the neighbouring municipalities – Kralupy nad Vltavou, Chvatěruby and Veltrusy. The emergency training will also include a warning siren test. The warning siren signal will be accompanied with information that it is emergency training.
“The emergency training will be followed by its due evaluation. If we find any shortcomings, we will take fast and functional corrective actions in the affected areas,” Jaroslav Hacko concludes.
The refinery and petrochemical group Unipetrol is the only crude oil processor in the Czech Republic, an important producer of fuels, plastics and fertilisers, and the owner of the Benzina petrol station network, which, with its 404 stations, is the largest network in the Czech Republic. Oil is fed to the Czech Republic from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline. From Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Arab and African countries, oil flows through the IKL pipeline (Ingolstadt - Kralupy nad Vltavou - Litvínov), which follows the TAL oil pipeline from Trieste, Italy. In the Czech Republic, two Unipetrol refineries process the imported crude oil – in Kralupy nad Vltavou and Záluží u Litvínova, where the related production of petrochemical products is based. The total volume of oil supplies to the Czech Republic reaches eight million tons a year, of which approximately one third is processed in the Kralupy nad Vltavou refinery.