We would like to offer our sincere apologies for all the trouble and distress caused by the fire that broke out in our Chiba oil refinery around 5:40 a.m. on April 16, 2006.
The circumstances at 5:00 p.m. on April 28 are as follows.
| Accident Investigation Committee |
The first meeting of the Chiba Oil Refinery Accident Investigation Committee for the Vacuum Gas Oil Desulfurization Unit and the Hydrogen Production Unit No. 1 was held on April 27 (Thursday). The Committee members including the third-party academic experts and officers from relevant authorities deliberated for two hours on the cause of the fire and how the Committee should proceed from here. Following the deliberations of this Committee meeting, we will continue our investigation into the cause of the fire and consider appropriate measures against reoccurrence of such an accident. (Please refer to the following table for the Committee Members.) |
|---|---|
| Situation of facilities | The facilities in the area where the fire broke out are shut down, namely the vacuum gas oil desulfurization unit and the hydrogen manufacturing unit No.1. We are now examining the damage and checking the soundness of these facilities in preparation to reopen them. The facilities which were shut down at the time of the fire remain shutdown, namely the atmospheric distillation unit No.2, vacuum distillation unit No. 2, and hydrogenerated desulfurization unit No.4. |
* We will continuously and fully cooperate with the relevant authorities and make our utmost efforts to identify the cause of the fire and to take measures against future reoccurrence.
<Committee Members>
| Position | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Third-party Advisor | Tokyo Institute of Technology, Honorable Professor |
Eiji Oshima |
| Chairman | Cosmo Executive Director(Responsible for safety) | Masahide Furuzono |
| Vice Chairman | Cosmo Director (Executive Chief, Chiba Oil Refinery) | Takashi Yashima |
| Committee Member | Cosmo Director (General Manager, Refining & Technology Dept.) | Masatoshi Sawada |
| Committee Member | Cosmo (General Manger, Safety & Environment Control Dept.) | Kazuto Ichikawa |
| Committee Member | Cosmo (Deputy Chief, Chiba Oil Refinery) | Teruyuki Takishima |
| Committee Member | Cosmo (Deputy Chief, Chiba Oil Refinery) | Yukihiro Tanaka |
| Committee Member | Cosmo (General Manager, Safety Environment Office, Chiba Oil Refinery) | Hideki Esashi |
| Third-Party Observers | Industrial Safety Div., Commerce, Industry and Labor Dept., Chiba Prefecture Information Service and Research Dept., the High Pressure Gas Safety Institute of Japan Fire Prevention Div., Ichihara City Fire Department |
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