**Orlen Unipetrol’s Litvínov Refinery Faces Flood Threat Amid Recent Restart**
In a recent operational update, Orlen Unipetrol, a leading refining and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic, has announced its readiness to implement crisis measures at its 5.4-million tonne/year (tpy) integrated refining and petrochemical complex in Litvínov. The warning comes amid an ongoing “extraordinary flood” event in the region, which poses a significant threat to the plant’s infrastructure and operations.
The flooding, caused by a low-pressure storm system named Boris, has resulted in mass flooding events and deaths in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Romania. The weather event began its slow move through central Europe the week of September 9 and has necessitated rigorous precautions from Orlen Unipetrol to minimize potential damage and ensure the safety of employees and the surrounding environment.
At its refining and petrochemical sites, internal crisis teams are actively formulating strategies to mitigate the impacts of the weather event on plant technologies, equipment, feedstocks, and finished production. Furthermore, the network of Orlen gas stations across the Czech Republic is coordinating necessary measures to restore safe operation of gas stations that were closed due to flooding as of 4:00 p.m. local time.
Just days before this latest threat, Orlen Unipetol successfully restarted operations at its refining and petrochemical complex in Litvínov. The restart followed the complete shutdown and declaration of force majeure on production from the sites to remove an unexploded aerial World War II bomb discovered on August 21. The bomb, weighing 230 kg and containing approximately 100 kg of explosives, posed a significant risk due to its long-term chemical time igniter using acetone for delayed detonation.
The bomb’s successful removal via controlled detonation by the Czech Police and Fire and Rescue Services