‘Heavy Fuel Oil Release’ At Superior’s Cenovus Refinery One Day After Propane Leak

SUPERIOR, Wis. – Just one day after an emergency evacuation at Cenovus Energy because of a propane leak, another emergency situation unfolded Thursday involving a “heavy fuel oil release,” according to the Superior Fire Department.

The call for help came in around 1 p.m.

Superior fire crews responded to a report of a “release of heavy fuel oil in a process unit.”

“Cenovus emergency response personnel are utilizing water fog streams and steam to dissipate the petroleum vapors while they reduce pressure in the system,” according to Fire Chief Camron Vollbrecht.

As of 2:30 p.m., Superior fire crews were on scene “providing emergency stand-by and conducting air monitoring,” Vollbrecht said.

No fuel oil vapors have been detected with air monitoring equipment at the time of the news release.

“Non-essential Cenovus personnel are temporarily evacuated from the facility as a precaution. Currently there is no danger to the public,” Vollbrecht said.

Cenovus released the following statement at 3 p.m. Thursday to FOX 21 about Thursday’s incident:

“This afternoon, we had an incident that resulted in an equipment shutdown and venting to the atmosphere. There is no fire and there are no injuries, however we’ve removed non-essential personnel from site as a precaution.

Our on-site emergency response team is managing the incident.”

Superior firefighters cleared the scene around 2:45 p.m.

These two incidents come after Cenovus began restarting the rebuilt refinery in March of this year after a massive explosion and fire destroyed parts of the plant in 2018.