crude oil leak in the Loire after an incident at the Donges refinery

AA / Tunis / M. Belhaj

A leak reported in the TotalEnergies refinery in Donges (Loire-Atlantique), caused the flow of crude oil into the Loire, during the night from Saturday to Sunday.

According to the Loire-Atlantique prefecture, the incident was due to “a 2 cm breach on a weld bead”, which led to a “trickle of flow in the Loire and a phenomenon of iridescence of a surface of approximately 500 m² in the river.

For its part, TotalEnergies indicated in a press release that the leak was quickly brought under control, with the flow stopped “at 1:40 a.m. in the night”. A reinforced containment system was put in place at 8:50 a.m. Sunday morning, it was added.

The prefecture assured, for its part, that no flow of crude oil has been flowing into the Loire “since 3:45 a.m.” on Sunday. Interventions were also undertaken to “sustainably plug the leak”.

A double containment system, including floating booms, was installed to contain the oil. However, unfavorable climatic conditions, such as wind and ebb tide, complicate the complete encirclement of the iridescent zone, adds the same source.

Analyzes carried out on the banks revealed “no trace of hydrocarbon”, and “no anomaly in the air” was recorded, according to TotalEnergies, which specifies that the quantity of product spilled into the Loire “is less at 15 m3”.

The prefecture indicated that an environmental impact assessment is underway to measure the consequences of this incident, explaining that “the iridescent waters should partly disperse naturally and be transferred, by the action of the wind, to the banks. “.

Second largest TotalEnergies refinery in France, with an annual processing capacity of 11 million tonnes of crude oil and a storage capacity of 2.2 million m³, the Donges refinery is not its first incident.

In December 2022, a leak resulted in the flow of 700,000 liters of gasoline, while last February, the refinery was shut down following inspections leading to the discovery of leaks and problems of corrosion.

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