PARIS – A fire at ExxonMobil’s Port Jerome-Gravenchon refinery in northern France, which broke out on March 11, has been brought under control, the local authorities said.

The Seine-Maritime prefecture said in a statement that the fire had started at a gasoline distillation unit at around 3.30pm (10.30pm Singapore time) and had generated thick plumes of smoke.

It added that it had not been necessary to send external fire brigade services to the site, as the company’s own firefighters had brought the blaze under control.

The refinery, located in Normandy on the banks of the Seine river, has two distillery towers and a capacity of 240,000 barrels per day, making it among the biggest in France. It supplies the Ile-de-France region around Paris.

An ExxonMobil spokeswoman said three people had been treated by medical teams on site and two had been taken to a local hospital.

She added that it was too early to estimate the fire’s impact on the refinery’s production.

Air quality in the local area had not been affected, the company said. The prefecture said air samples have been taken.

Video footage on social media showed a tower of black smoke rising above the site. REUTERS