BP updates March 23 Texas City incident

Texas City, TX —Details of the March 23 refinery explosion and fire at BP’s Texas City Refinery continue to unfold. At least 14 people died and more than 70 received medical treatment in the blast, according to a BP report.

Don Parus, BP’s Texas City refinery manager, expressed deep regret over Wednesday’s incident and mentioned that some employees are still missing. “The fire at the company’s isomerization unit occurred at about 1:20 this afternoon [March 23] and was extinguished at 3:22 pm,” said Parus. “The cause of the explosion and fire is not known.”

The site contains 30 refinery units on 1,200 acres just south of Houston. The Texas City refinery receives 460 thousand barrels of oil per day through pipelines and ships, and produces 30% of BP’s North American supply and 3% of U.S petroleum products, the company says.

For more information, check out the following BP links:

About BP’s Texas City, including updates on the March 23 loss-of-life incident :

BP Safe Plant Processes

BP’s Golden Rules of Safety

Personal Safety at BP

For Control Engineering articles on topics related to process safety, intrinsic safety, and security, visit the Control Engineering Website and search on those terms at the top of the page.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskMark T. Hoske, Control Engineering editor in chief MHoske@cfemedia.com

Do you have experience and expertise with the topics mentioned in this content? You should consider contributing to our WTWH Media editorial team and getting the recognition you and your company deserve. Click here to start this process.