One killed one, in critical condition after a gas leak in Petron Refinery in Bataan

Miami
September 1, 2008
Story 1: One killed one, in critical condition after a gas leak in Petron Refinery in Bataan

One killed and one in critical condition after being exposed in chemical substance used to refine crude oil in the refinery complex of Petron Corporation in Bataan or also known as Petron Bataan Refinery.

The two victims are employees of Petron Bataan Refinery and were identified as Anthony Jed Q. Reyes, the operation technician, 24, resident of Balanga, Bataan and Nicolo S. Balonzo, chemical engineer, 24, native of Magallanes, Sorsogon.

Reyes was declared dead on arival, while Balonzo is on critical condition and confined in St. Joseph Hospital in Balanga, Bataan.

Based on initial report from Bataan Provincial police office the incident occurred at around 4:30 am of September 1, when some employees saw the two lying on the floor, both unconscious, at the Sour Water Treating Facility inside the Petron Bataan Refinery Complex.

According to the Public Affairs office of Petron, the two technicians had been performing a maintenance task to address a high liquid level condition in a waste water collecting drum, and appear to have been inadvertently exposed to hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas. But, this has yet to be confirmed according to Petron.

The Sour Water Treating Facility is an open area, there were no other victims because at that time the work is only limited to the two.

The two has to drain water from a drum after the hydrogen sulfide was separated from water. Petron explained that a crude oil contains this kind of chemical and have to be separated from the oil and water because this is considered as toxic chemicals. Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas is normally heavier than air, but when agitated, it can erupt from the confines of the pipe in levels of toxicity which can paralyze the lungs.
Petron also denied earlier reports that there has an explosion or gas leak at their Refinery when the incident happened.

Petron management also conducting their own investigation on what really happened that lead to the untimely death of their two employees.