(75c) The HDAY-4 Unit Catastrophic Fire. Three Decades of Asset Integrity Opportunities

The 1984 Amuay refinery hydrodesulfurization unit 4 (HDAY-4) fire caused the crash shutdown of the 630,000 barrel-per-day refinery. Three hydrogen plants and four HDS units were heavily damaged. Despite the magnitude of emergency and demanding activities to control it, none of the refinery personnel or 133 emergency responders were injured. I was a young fire chief and directed the emergency response operations. The fire caused a loss of $151 million in today’s money. A hot oil line, known to have excessive vibration, failed in fatigue due to hydrogen embrittlement.