An explosion at this 70,000 bbl-per-day oil refinery caused damage to the FCC, utilities, storage tanks, and asphalt unit. One employee was hospitalized for burns. Another person was injured when her car was struck by debris from the explosion on the nearby highway. There was a total of four injuries. A skeleton crew of just 40 people were on site because the blast occurred on a public holiday. There would typically have been about four times as many people on duty at the time of the explosion. The fire was brought under control the same day by the site’s fire brigade, supported by local fire departments. The release is believed to have occurred during a start-up on the propylene splitter unit, as a result of the catastrophic failure of a pump. Some processing resumed about two months later, and the FCC was re-commissioned eight months after the incident.

[ Property Damage $380 Million. Estimated Current Value $454 Million ]

Image credit: Delek