Explosion at MOL’s Tiszaujvaros petrochemical plant in Hungary kills one

A pipeline explosion at Hungarian oil and gas group MOL's petrochemical plant in Tiszaujvaros that killed one person and injured several others was an industrial accident, the company said on Friday.

A picture posted on social media by Prime Minister Peter Magyar showed a plume of thick black smoke and flames at the site earlier in the day.

MOL executive chairman Zsolt Hernadi said at a briefing that a pipeline at the Olefin 1 plant had blown up and there was an "entirely unexpected" explosion of hydrocarbons.

"This is an accident, there was no external intervention nor external involvement, neither us nor the authorities saw (anything like that) so such conclusions must not be drawn," he said.

ONE DEAD, NINE INJURED

Hernadi said one employee died and nine had to be taken to hospital or treated at the scene, with a rescue protocol enacted three minutes after the explosion. 

Economy and energy minister Istvan Kapitany told the briefing that two workers who had been seriously injured were no longer in a life-threatening condition. Seven others had sustained lighter injuries, he said.

MOL shares were down 2.6%, the biggest fallers on Budapest's blue-chip BUX index.

The Olefin 1 plant is a steam cracker unit at the petrochemical plant, with a production capacity of approximately 370,000 metric tons of ethylene per year. There are two steam crackers in Tiszaujvaros with 660 kt/y of ethylene capacity according to MOL's website.

Hernadi said the second steam cracker, Olefin 2, can fully meet the needs of customers. He said the Olefin 1 plant was operating under an extended lifespan. 

MOL uses the majority of its ethylene internally to manufacture polyethylene plastics, which are sold to the plastics and packaging industries.