WATCH: Malfunction at oil refinery in Haifa, heavy smoke as excess gas burned off

A malfunction was reported at the Carmel Olefins plant belonging to Oil Refineries Ltd. (also known as the Bazan Group) in Haifa on Wednesday afternoon, with a torch at the site activated to burn off excess gases.

Video from the scene showed a large flame and plumes of dark smoke spewing from one of the chimneys at the site.

The Environmental Protection Union in Haifa stated that the black smoke from the chimney meant that not all the gases were being burnt off, thus polluting the air and violating emission permits. The union called for Bazan to be closed immediately, instead of waiting for a few years.

Despite the claims by the union, the Environmental Protection Ministry stressed that the national air monitoring system in the Haifa Bay had not found any above-average concentrations of pollutants in the air as of Wednesday afternoon.

The ministry stated that it will examine the data in depth after receiving an incident report from the company, to ensure it acted in compliance with the requirements of the emission permit.

Earlier this month, a fire broke out in one of the facilities at Bazan oil refineries in Haifa due to a damaged pipe in the continuous catalytic reforming system. Immediately after the fire broke out, the factory’s emergency team began working to extinguish the flames, while Fire and Rescue Services were called to the scene.

No above-average pollution was reported in that incident either.

An executive committee established by the government recommended in April that Israel remove the petrochemical plants from Haifa within 10 years. The recommendations would end Bazan Group’s oil-refinery operations in Haifa, which have long been accused of releasing significant amounts of pollution into the environment around Haifa Bay. Bazan’s operations date back to before the establishment of the state in 1948.

Haifa Bay, with its petrochemical plants, oil refineries and industrial chemical plants, along with Israel’s largest port, is one of the country’s main centers of environmental pollution.