Devastating Fire Forces U.S. Oil Refinery to Shut Down

On a Friday morning, a towering inferno erupted at a south Louisiana oil refinery near Garyville. Plumes of black smoke spewed from the Marathon Petroleum facility, prompting an emergency evacuation of residents within two miles of the plant. Fortunately, no injuries were reported but it is cause for alarm as this is already the third fire to occur at the refinery in less than a year.

The incident began around 8:30 am and involved a naphtha release and a fire at one of the refinery’s storage tanks.

Naphtha is a highly flammable and toxic raw petrochemically derived from crude oil that is used in soaps and varnishes.

St John Parish President Jaclyn Hotard declared an emergency soon after which led to local residents being evacuated for safety until 2:20 pm when emergency crews managed to bring the fire under control and limit it to two damaged storage tanks.

In response to shutting down its third largest US oil refinery due to the blaze, diesel futures surged to their seven-month high in New York while gasoline futures jumped by about 4%.

This threatens depleting distillates stockpiles during peak season when American demand for fuel rises as they prepare for harvest and winter heating purposes.

The plant produces 265,000 barrels per day of gasoline or about 3% total US consumption along with 230,000 barrels per day of diesel fuel (according to Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates).

With its 596,000 barrel capacity daily processing power this holds great implications in terms of economic supply and demand dynamics across markets such as gas prices etc.

The Louisiana Department Of Environmental Quality conducted monitoring throughout adjacent communities post incident with all readings being found non-detectable thus far.

Moreover, The Environmental Protection Agency has deployed a federal coordinator on site overseeing response efforts while providing technical support including air monitoring measures in downwind areas nearby.

A firefighter was evaluated for heat stress due to their presence at the scene however only two storage tanks were found damaged during the incident making it relatively mild given the circumstances compared with what could have happened otherwise if not contained properly and promptly.

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