Fire at Irving Oil refinery: Update

Adds detail from local officials, EIA.

Irving Oil confirmed a "major incident" today at its 300,000 b/d refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.

Local residents posted pictures of flames and thick black smoke from the facility at about 9:20am ET. "Several contractors" were treated for non-life-threatening injuries from the explosion, according to Irving and local health authorities.

Irving supplies fuels to the US northeast as well as to eastern Canada. The company's US terminals in Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, and Rhode Island received an average of 111,000 b/d of gasoline blends in the first half of the year, and 51,000 b/d of distillates, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA) data.

But the northeast, and particularly the northernmost states dependent upon Irving, have reported well above-average products inventories this season. Gasoline stockpiles north of New York ended September at 4.6mn bl, higher by 33pc from last year and by 16pc compared with the five-year average for the week. Total distillate inventories were 12pc lower than average, but stockpiles of ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) increasingly used as heating oil as well as on-highway fuel were 46pc higher than average and 62pc higher than the same week last year, according to EIA.