| A Message to the Community: Flaring
Beginning Sunday, April 1, a planned maintenance shutdown of Shell Deer Park
Chemical Plant’s olefins units will begin. This routine shutdown takes place
every 4-5 years to ensure that the units continue to operate reliably and
efficiently. The olefins units will be restarted in early May.
As part of this shutdown, we must divert any remaining hydrocarbon from the
units to the flare system where it is safely combusted. Flaring will occur at
ground level, but also may be diverted to an elevated flare if a larger capacity
of combustion is required.
Modifications to our inactive elevated flare were made in preparation of
returning this flare to service. We also will modify our active elevated flare
during this shutdown. Modifications to both flares will result in more
efficient operation and reduced disturbances to the community.
In addition, we modified our procedures to help minimize the use of the elevated
flare during a shutdown. These procedures will reduce the emissions associated
with flaring and make the flaring less noticeable.
We understand that our elevated flaring can be a disturbance, which is one of
the reasons why we have taken steps to refurbish our olefins flare system and
modify our shutdown procedures. We appreciate your understanding during the
next month and apologize in advance for any inconvenience our flaring may cause
to the community.
If you have any questions about our operations at Shell, you can contact an
environmental supervisor at 713-246-7212, or community relations at
713-246-6151. |
