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Fawley oil refinery apologises for noisy overnight flares

BBC Fawley FlaresBBC
The flares, which can been seen along Southampton Water, have been blazing noisily overnight

An oil refinery has apologised to residents over the levels of noise coming from using flares at its site overnight.

The flares at the Fawley refinery, near Southampton started burning early on Wednesday afternoon.

People living nearby have described the noise from the burning bright flares as "like a jumbo jet taking off".

ExxonMobil said it was using the flares due to "continued maintenance work on one of our units."

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Apologising, ExxonMobil said advance notice of the planned maintenance had been "communicated widely" to residents on Wednesday.

In a statement a spokesman said the work was "running on a little longer than anticipated.... We anticipate exiting the flares during today."

Previously the refinery said the flares are used to combine vapours with steam which are then burned off "to act as a safety valve for the plant".

Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the ExxonMobil Fawley complex produces fuels and chemical products.

In March, a loud blast heard from the oil refinery was caused by a "sudden release of air", Exxon Mobil said.

The plant declared an "operational incident" in November that led to flares being used for several hours.

The GMB union claimed that was caused by the collapse of a structure used to refine crude oil.

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