Adds details on refinery repair started yesterday.
Emergency crews were still working to extinguish a fire this morning at ExxonMobil's 557,000 b/d refinery in Baytown, Texas, following a "major industrial accident" that injured four.
The fire broke out around 2am ET today on a unit that processes gasoline components, according to the company. Hours earlier refinery workers found a leak in a bypass line involving a desulfurization unit, according to a report to state regulators, which led to flaring. Refinery crews decreased operating pressure on the leak location and put a repair plan into action to isolate the leak, according to the filing.
Desulfurization units remove sulfur and other contaminants from a refinery's process stream.
The Harris County Sheriff's Office described the event as "some type of explosion". ExxonMobil said emergency services continue to work on extinguishing the fire this morning. The company is conducting air quality monitoring at the site and fence line, which so far shows no threat to the surrounding community.
The Baytown complex also houses petrochemicals operations — it has 1.13mn t/yr of propylene capacity spread across an olefins cracker and the refinery and 3.82mn t/yr of ethylene capacity at the olefins unit, along with associated downstream elements.
Earlier this week, a loading valve fault within a coker unit led to increased emissions at Baytown.
