Fire breaks out at Essex oil refinery

LONDON (Reuters) - A huge fire broke out at the Coryton refinery in Essex on Wednesday, forcing the plant's owner Petroplus to shut several processing units.

Ten fire engines and seven special firefighting vehicles were called to the scene but there were no reports of any injuries as a result of the fire, which saw flames reaching as high as 30 metres (100 feet).

"As a precaution, several processing units were shut down. There are no reported injuries or offsite environmental impacts associated with this incident," Swiss-based Petroplus, Europe's largest independent refiner, said in a statement.

The Essex fire service said reports of an explosion at the refinery in Coryton, were "unconfirmed." The service said the fire was on the ground floor of the Naphtha Tower at the refinery with "flames 100 feet up the column".

Firefighters launched what they described as a "major foam attack" and used cooling monitors to try and prevent an explosion.

Petroplus did not specify which units had been closed at the 172,000 barrel a day plant or at what rate the refinery was running.

The European gasoline market jumped to a 15-month high after news of the fire.

Benchmark Eurograde gasoline traded as high as $809 (390 pounds) a tonne, its highest level since mid-July 2006.

(Additional reporting by Ikuko Kao)