Four injured in fire at Exxon's Baytown, Texas plant By Reuters

2/2© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: A view of the Exxon Mobil refinery in Baytown, Texas September 15, 2008. REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi/File Photo2/2

By Arpan Varghese

(Reuters) - Four people were injured when a fire erupted on Thursday at Exxon (NYSE:XOM)'s complex in Baytown, Texas, one of the largest refining and petrochemical facilities in the United States.

All other personnel were accounted for, Exxon said, adding that its emergency response crews were still working to extinguish the blaze.

The Baytown plant houses a chemical plant, an olefins plant and the country's fourth biggest oil refinery, with capacity to process 560,500 barrels per day of crude.

Sources familiar with operations at the facility said the fire was in the olefins plant but said no more details were immediately available. It was not immediately clear what impact the incident had on production from the facility.

Three people were evacuated by Lifeflight rescue helicopter and a fourth person was taken by ambulance, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR).

Initial reports indicated there had been some type of explosion at the plant, but there were no reports to evacuate or shelter-in-place at the moment, the sheriff added.

Social media users said on Twitter that a blast shook buildings in the area.

The Baytown olefins facility, which began operations in 1979, is one of the largest ethylene plants in the world, according to the company's website.

Production was reduced across the Baytown refining and petrochemical complex in August 2019 because of a fire in a propylene recovery unit at the olefins plant.

As many as 37 workers were injured in another fire at the olefins facility in July 2019.

(Graphic: Four injured in fire at Exxon's Baytown, Texas plant, https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/mkt/lgvdwodrkpo/MicrosoftTeams-image.png)

(This story corrects day in first paragraph)

Statement: The content of this article does not represent the views of FTI website. The content is for reference only and does not constitute investment suggestions. Investment is risky, so you should be careful in your choice! If it involves content, copyright and other issues, please contact us and we will make adjustments at the first time!