One person was killed and two injured in a Friday night explosion at Valero Energy Corp's refinery in Texas City, Texas, according to a city official. Valero spokesman Bill Day confirmed the casualties and said in a statement the 245,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery continued to operate on Friday night.
The company is calling the incident a boiler failure and is unsure if there was an explosion, Day said. The extent of the damage to refining units and the cause of the failure are under investigation. The explosion took place at about 9:30 pm CST (0330 Saturday GMT), said Bruce Clawson, emergency manager for Texas City.
The Houston Chronicle newspaper reported on its website that there was a fire in the boiler before the explosion. "Our sympathies are with the families of those who were injured, especially the worker who was fatally injured," Day said. "Anytime you lose someone in the Valero family, it's tough." Day said there was no environmental impact to the Texas City area from the boiler failure. Texas City is located along the Gulf Coast about 50 miles (80 km) south of Houston. The entire region was hit by a winter storm that dumped rare heavy snow and sent temperatures plummeting on Friday.
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