A major fire that took several hours to distinguish in the midst of a pounding rainstorm broke out last Tuesday night at YPF's La Plata refinery near Buenos Aires, Argentinas largest refinery, caused by flooding that hit the area. YPF said no injuries were caused by the refinery fire, which it blamed on an extraordinary accumulation of rainwater and power outages in the entire refinery complex.
The rains, almost 16 inches (400 millimeters) in about two hours, hit provincial La Plata after causing widespread flooding and power outages and killing six people in the city of Buenos Aires the day before.
YPF has suspended operations at the La Plata refinery as a result, and the oil company said last week after the fire was put out that it would take them 36 more hours just to drain excess water from the damaged refinery, and at least another seven days before the refinery can renew operations.
Local authorities said the death toll from days of torrential rains had risen to at least 57 people in Argentinas Buenos Aires province, in and around La Plata, following six deaths in the national capital from flooding two days earlier and leaving large stretches of the provincial capital under water.
The company said it would invest $800 million to replace a damaged coking unit where the flood caused a fire with a newer, higher-capacity unit.
YPF's La Plata refinery has a lube base oil plant with a capacity to produce 4,700 bpd of API Group I base oils.
