Suncor Energy reports vapor leak detected in refining process equipment in Commerce City
COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (KRDO) – Suncor Energy, the state’s only petroleum refinery, announced there was a vapor leak detected in refining process equipment at the Commerce City Refinery.
In an alert posted online at 11:39 a.m., Suncor wrote, “Refinery personnel are responding to an incident. While you may have heard an alarm or may see smoke, no immediate action is needed. Go to Suncor.com/Colorado for more information and updates as they become available.”
Suncor already shut down in December for repairs following extreme cold weather and two fires.
At 1:06 p.m., Suncor released an updated alert saying operations immediately responded and the lead had been mitigated. Additionally, all workers in the unit were accounted for and there were no reported injuries.
The closure coincided with rising gas prices across the state. Chief Petroleum, a fuel transporting company in Colorado Springs, told 13 Investigates that the lines to fill up their tanks in Aurora are six or seven hours long.
Other trucks were forced to go out of state, and the trip alone was five hours one way, not including the lines.
On Feb. 9, the refinery began repairs and restarted work on one of three plants and expected to have it back up and running sometime this week.
On Feb. 11, Suncor sent out a notification saying the refinery would be conducting electrical repairs as part of the recovery work in Plant 1. People were warned they might see steam coming from various equipment stacks.
A Suncor spokesperson told 9News it’ll take several days to reopen Plant 2 and that they’re still conducting repairs and assessments on the other two.
According to Suncor, data gathered at the Commerce City North Denver (CCND) Air Monitors didn't indicate cause for any acute public health risk with the incident Friday.
