MARTINEZ – Flaring was reported late Tuesday at a refinery operated by the Martinez Refining Company, and officials confirmed Wednesday that it would continue over the next week.
“We are in the process of temporarily shutting down one of our process units at the Martinez refinery,” refinery spokesperson Brandon Matson said Wednesday morning. “The shutdown process will take a few days, during which there will be intermittent flaring to ensure the unit is brought down in a safe and controlled manner, following standard procedures. All appropriate agencies have been notified.”
Matson said following the unit’s shutdown, employees and contractor partners will safely conduct maintenance work over the next few weeks. Following completion of the work, they will restart the unit, during which intermittent flaring will occur again for a few days until the restart is complete.
“The associated flaring with the re-start will again be primarily clean-combusting treated process gas,” Matson said. “Prior to unit re-start, we will notify appropriate agencies and issue another community update.”
The company acknowledged the flaring in a statement posted to social media just before 10 p.m. Tuesday.
The refinery has been under scrutiny for several recent incidents. On Dec. 26, Contra Costa Health Services and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District officials paid a surprise visit to observe the facility’s operations, reliability and safety programs.
The inspection followed flaring in mid-December and a “coke dust” release in October. The latter incident, which nearly led to the cancellation of a local high school homecoming parade, was the third of its kind since July.
The refinery has been in the news since Thanksgiving 2022, when flaring at the facility caused a white powdery substance to rain down on the surrounding area. Tests revealed it contained higher than normal amounts of heavy metals that can cause respiratory issues.
Bay City News Service contributed to this report.
