Fires Break Out at Texas City Refinery

From KPRC News, Houston
Two small fires broke out at a Valero Energy Corp. refinery in Texas City Thursday.

“It’s a small, but very smoky fire,” said Bruce Clawson with the Texas City Office of Emergency Management.

Bill Day with San Antonio-based Valero told The Associated Press that nobody was hurt in either blaze Thursday.

Day said the initial fire was reported around 5 a.m. Thursday at a crude unit and was quickly put out. Day said a small secondary fire in a gas line was contained several hours after the initial fire. Day said there was no environmental impact to the community and the impact to refinery production “is unknown at this time.”

“We are monitoring the area to ensure there is no off-sight impact to the community,” said Fred Newhouse, a Valero spokesman.

A cause for the fires is not yet known, but Newhouse said weather may have been a factor.

“Occasionally, when you have thunder and lightning, it impacts some of the instrumentation and things like that. Potentially, that could be a source,” Newhouse said.

No evacuations or shelter-in-place orders were issued.

A Dec. 4 boiler failure at the refinery left one man dead from blunt force trauma and two other workers hurt.

The Valero refinery processes about 243,000 barrels of crude oil a day, officials said. The crude oil unit where the fire occurred has been shut down. The refinery’s other two crude units continue operating.

“Workers are at work. It’s business as usual except for this area where the fire occurred and it has been isolated and is in total control,” Newhouse said.
Photos from KPRC News, Houston