Back to normality after the incident at AVIA's facilities in the Port of Bilbao

• ​The rapid and effective activation of AVIA's Internal Emergency Plan, as well as the coordinated intervention with the different emergency services, enabled the situation to be brought under control in a short time.
• The incident occurred in the transfer facilities during a routine pumping process and did not affect any of the storage tanks.
• After the corresponding process of revision, repair and replacement of the damaged elements, the plant will resume 90% of its production capacity in the next few days.

Zierbena, 28th August 2022 - The incident that occurred last Saturday at the AVIA fuel storage facilities located in the Port of Bilbao was brought under control in just 3 hours. During a normal product unloading process, the transfer unit with which the pumping process is carried out failed for reasons to be determined and affected the transfer pumps and an auxiliary tank. The storage tanks were not affected.

The technical inspections that are periodically carried out by the authorised companies on the different equipment are in force and, specifically, the affected pumps had been inspected two months ago and had passed all the operating and safety requirements.

"Two months ago we carried out a review of the equipment affected in the incident and verified its optimal operation. Of course, this was an unfortunate incident", stated Jesús Bueno Sáiz, head of AVIA's production plant.

The rapid and efficient activation of AVIA's internal emergency plan and the excellent intervention of the various emergency services left yesterday's incident as an unpleasant anecdote. It could be described as a record time intervention. There was no personal injury or damage to third parties, no environmental damage and no risk to public health. Neither has the activity of the Port of Bilbao been affected by the incident. In the end, there was only minimal material damage.
"I would like to thank the different fire brigades of the Provincial Council, BBG, Petronor, TEPSA, Port of Bilbao, Security Forces, as well as the internal personnel who were present at the time of the incident, for their excellent intervention and collaboration. They have shown great professionalism and that a proper activation of the protocols works and minimises the impact", says Endika Sánchez Aguirre, General Manager of AVIA.

Now to look ahead

As of this Sunday, work has already begun at AVIA to restore normal activity at the facilities and guarantee, as always, the supply of products to customers and consumers.

About AVIA

AVIA is one of the main national oil operators, with almost 200 service stations and a network of 35 diesel distribution warehouses for the supply to the retail consumer of diesel for agricultural, automotive, industrial and heating use, covering practically the entire country.
AVIA also markets lubricants for the automotive and industrial sectors and other energies such as biomass and biofuels (LPG and NGV). AVIA is not only a leading player in the Spanish market, it is also a brand that has been present in Europe for more than 80 years, where there are more than 3,000 service stations in 14 countries, all of them linked to independent operators.

www.aviaenergias.es

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