Loud bang heard at Fawley Refinery near Southampton on Friday night

People living near the refinery said their windows were shaking after they hard a massive bang. Fire crews and police were on standby at the plant owned by ExxonMobil. The firm said: ‘We have identified that the cause of the noise earlier this evening was a sudden release of air from a utilities line on a unit that was already shut down for maintenance.

‘There was no risk to communities, there have been no injuries and operations are continuing as normal. We apologise for the obvious concern that the noise will have caused to residents.’

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Waterside police said: ‘We have received reports of a loud bang at Fawley Refinery. This was also heard by officers from the Waterside Police team and officers from Response and Patrol who were in the Waterside area. Police immediately responded to the scene. The refinery have stated that at this time there is no concern to the public and the incident is being investigated.

‘Refinery employees will be searching the site to confirm and identify any issues but everything is stable and no issue has been identified by sensors or CCTV. Fire crews are on standby and the Waterside team will be patrolling the area.’

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