Home / Disasters and Accidents / Explosion Rocks Chalmette Refinery, Fire Contained
Explosion Rocks Chalmette Refinery, Fire Contained
9 May
Summary
- A refinery heater exploded on Friday, causing a large fire.
- No injuries were reported from the incident at the refinery.
- The fire was successfully contained by refinery personnel.
A significant explosion, followed by a fire, occurred on Friday at PBF Energy's Chalmette, Louisiana refinery. The incident involved a heater located at the top of a reformer unit. The blast happened at approximately 12:51 p.m. CDT, sending a large plume of smoke high into the air.
Refinery personnel responded immediately to combat the fire, which was contained by around 2:30 p.m. CDT on the same day. Importantly, no injuries were reported among plant workers. Monitoring systems confirmed that there were no off-site environmental impacts from the explosion or subsequent fire.
Reformers play a crucial role in refining by converting by-products into octane-boosting components for gasoline. The affected unit had a capacity of 17,500 barrels per day within the larger 190,000 barrel-per-day refinery.
