Petrol prices stable after refinery blast
Fears that US petrol prices would soar after an explosion at a massive British owned refinery in Texas faded today.
The blast at the BP refinery in Texas City, south of Houston, killed 14 workers and injured 100 others.
The company said the fire took place in the “isomerisation” unit and that production was steady.
The news of the blast initially helped lift US petrol futures to a new record high as the refinery provides the US with 3% of its petrol.
But while the incident highlighted just how jittery the market has grown about any hint of a disruption to refinery operations, traders noted that the production impact of the fire pales by comparison to other, recent refinery snags in the country.
BP had accounted for all but one of its hundreds of workers today after the thunderous blast
“We think we found all the people,” said Don Parus, manager of the plant which employs 1,800 people.
The fiery blast on Wednesday shot flames high into the sky, forced schoolchildren to cower under their desks and showered plant grounds with ash and chunks of charred metal.
Windows rattled more than five miles from the 1,200 acre site
The cause of the explosion was not immediately known.
Parus confirmed the death toll was 14. Company records indicate the one unaccounted-for worker left the plant before the blast, but no one has heard from him.
About 433,000 barrels of crude oil are processed a day at the plant. Other than the unit affected by the blast, the rest of the refinery was running normally, said Hugh Depland, spokesman for BP,
The explosion happened in a part of the plant used to boost the octane level of petrol.
The plant and town, population 40,000, have dealt with two other refinery accidents within the last year.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the refinery nearly £55,000 after two employees were burned to death by superheated water in September.
Another explosion forced the evacuation of the plant for several hours last March. Afterward, OSHA fined the refinery 330,000 for 14 safety violations, including problems with its emergency shutdown system and employee training.
Texas City is the site of the worst industrial accident in US history. In 1947, a fire aboard a ship at the Texas City docks triggered a huge explosion that killed 576 people and left fires burning in the city for days.
