Petrotel Lukoil Refinery, fined over 20K euro for hydrogen sulfide pollution

The Petrotel Lukoil SA Refinery was fined 100,000 RON (over 20,661 euro), after authorities noted important excesses regarding emissions of hydrogen sulfide.

The institution of the Prefect of Prahova County asked on Wednesday the Environment Guard to identify the source of the powerful smell notified by dozens of citizens of Ploiesti and the surrounding area and to establish if the pollution limits were exceeded, excesses being discovered following controls of emissions of hydrogen sulfide.

"Due to the fact that the olfactory discomfort was believed to be industrial emissions, the standing team of the National Environment Guard - the Prahova County Commissariat checked all the emissions monitoring stations belonging to refineries in the city of Ploiesti and noted that at the monitoring station in the Lagona area, which belongs to Petrotel-Lukoil SA, the H2S- hydrogen sulfide indicator was exceeded in the timeframe 06.30-07.00, reason for which the company was checked," shows an informative bulletin sent on Thursday by the Institution of the Prahova County Prefect.

According to the quoted source, the company in the case has in construction the project titled "Building complex for retrieving RS3 sulfide", and on Wednesday the gases started moving from the DGRS installation (Gas Desulphurization and Sulfur Retrieval) from the old furnace to the new, according to the investment program.

"During operations, for a short period of approximately 30 minutes, the gases were directed to the flame. Due to the dispersion conditions, the value recorded for the H2S indicator was of 218.04 ug/mc, over the admitted limit value of 15 ug/mc. Immediate measures to reduce emissions through the HPM(hydrofining Petrol-Diesel), cokers and catalytic cracking installations. At the same time, the combustible gas flow was increased for the flame pilots to burn the traces of hydrogen sulfide. According to the data from the monitoring stations, since 10:00, the recorded values returned to admitted limit values," the Prahova Environment Guard representatives said, at the request of the Prefect's Institution.

In this context, the society was fined 100,000 RON, according to Law 278/2013 regarding industrial emissions.