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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 8:32 p.m., Sunday, February 17, 2008

Fire shuts down Tesoro refinery production

Video: Tesoro Fire Press Briefing

By Gordon Y.K. Pang
Advertiser West O'ahu Writer

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

A fire engine from the Nanakuli station connects to a fire hydrant outside the Tesoro Hawaii refinery to feed firefighters inside mopping up after a fire that broke out in one of the refinery’s petroleum product processing units. The fire started after a power outage at 10 on Saturday night. The refinery’s on-site fire brigade was joined by 40 city firefighters from stations in the area.

Below, top to bottom: Processing units are bathed in floodlights, firefighters rest after fighting the fire, and the Honolulu Fire Department Mobile Command Center stops near the refinery's entrance.

Photos by RICHARD AMBO | The Honolulu Advertiser

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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KALAELOA -- Tesoro Hawaii workers were attempting to gradually restart the processing units at its Kalaeloa processing plant today after a power outage caused a fire at one of the units late last night.

A Tesoro spokesman said the shutdown was not expected to affect the state's fuel supply. Tesoro is one of two refineries in Hawai'i. The other, owned by Chevron, also is in Kalaeloa's Campbell Industrial Park.

"We don't anticipate any supply issues, fortunately, so that's a good thing," said Nathan Hokama, Tesoro spokesman.

The company was still investigating what caused the 10 p.m. Saturday outage. It took about an hour for Tesoro and Honolulu Fire Department personnel to put out the fire and cool the processor so the fuel inside would not re-ignite, Hokama said. What type of fuel was being produced at the unit that caught fire has not been disclosed.

There were no injuries or evacuations caused by the incident.

Power at the entire refinery was shut down until about 2 a.m. Hokama said.

This afternoon, the company was gradually bringing the units back up.

"Each unit has a different function and there are about a dozen major units," Hokama said. Some help distill imported crude oil while other units further refine the oil into gasoline, diesel oil, jet fuel, bunker fuel for ships and fuel oil for electrical utilities.

About 95,000 barrels of crude oil are processed daily at the refinery, Hokama said.

"Based on what (Tesoro executives) were told, there shouldn't be an impact to the supply because they do have an inventory in the tank farm," he said.

The refinery is located at 91-325 Komohana Street on the southeastern portion of Campbell Industrial Park.

The facility was constructed in 1972 and has been operated by PRI and BHP Petroleum. Tesoro took over the refinery, as well as retail gas stations and distribution facilities, in 1998.

Six HFD engine companies and the HFD hazardous materials unit responded to the alarm, HFD Capt. Terry Seelig said.

A command post was set up and HFD firefighters stood by as a precautionary measure as Tesoro workers started to bring power back to the refinery.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com.