EditBlast at Rotterdam port energy facility kills one person
The affected storage tank belongs to Gunvor, the energy trading company that sought to buy sanctioned Lukoil assets but was blocked by the U.S. Treasury
A blast at a storage facility for petroleum products at the Netherlands’ Rotterdam port killed one person and wounded six others on Thursday, officials said, as police investigated the cause of the explosion.
⚡️JUST IN: An explosion occurred at Europe’s largest port
The explosion occurred at the Gunvor Energy oil refinery in Rotterdam. One person was killed and several others were injured.
Emergency services are working at the scene. The cause of the incident is being investigated. pic.twitter.com/a0hq5Tf6TB
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 13, 2026
A spokesperson for major energy commodities trading company Gunvor said an “incident” occurred during maintenance work on one of its storage tanks. A police spokesperson said that there was no immediate sign of sabotage and that all possible scenarios were under investigation.
The port of Rotterdam is the largest in Europe and a major hub for crude oil and fuel imports and storage. It hosts Europe’s largest oil refinery, Shell’s 404,000-barrel-per-day Pernis plant, in addition to other oil refineries operated by BP, ExxonMobil, and Vitol.
The explosion occurred at around 11:30 a.m. (0930 GMT).
Gunvor said it was cooperating with local authorities.
Shell said its operations at the port were unaffected by the blast.
A Rotterdam Port spokesperson said LNG terminals were not affected by the blast. Data from European gas transmission group ENTSOG showed a temporary drop in gas sendout from Rotterdam’s Gate LNG terminal, and then volatile flows. It was not clear if that was a consequence of the blast or an unrelated power outage elsewhere in the sprawling port.
Any prolonged disruption would be closely watched by traders, as Gate is one of northwest Europe’s key LNG import hubs and Dutch gas storage sites are currently only around 40% full, according to Gas Infrastructure Europe data, ahead of the winter heating season.
ExxonMobil said the power outage had been resolved and that its operations were normal at its 191,000-barrel-per-day refinery, declining to confirm an alert from Wood Mackenzie seen by Reuters that all monitored units had shut down.
Rotterdam Port said there was no connection between the blast and the power outage. The port had experienced several power outages earlier in the day, but none were connected to the blast, the local safety authority said.
Last October, Gunvor made an attempt to buy the assets of Lukoil and had to change its top management after the U.S. Treasury opposed the deal and branded Gunvor as the “Kremlin’s puppet”.
Gunvor’s reset: management buy-out signals fresh start after Lukoil debacle
With Reuters
Caption: Videograb from TV footage
Updated: August 14, 2026 - 06:08
