2nd Shell oil sands refinery leak in 5 days hurts shares

TORONTO (CP) – Shares of Shell Canada Ltd. closed near a 52-week low Wednesday as the stock dropped after a toxic hydrogen sulphide leak shut down the company’s heavy oil upgrader near Edmonton the previous day.

Shell shares dropped 45 cents to close at $32.83 in trading of nearly 885,000 shares. The stock approached its 52-wek low of $32.45 as investors worried about the impact of a shutdown of the company’s refinery in Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.

The company continues to investigate the second leak at its Scotford plant in five days.

Hydrogen sulphide, or sour gas, started leaking from a valve in a hydrogen cracking unit at the plant in mid morning Tuesday, forcing the evacuation of about 1,400 workers from the refinery and surrounding chemical plants. There were no injuries.

CBC