Fire under control at Exxon petrochemical plant; some workers suffer minor burns

By Erwin Seba

BAYTOWN, Texas (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp brought under control a fire that erupted on Wednesday at its Baytown, Texas, refining and chemical plant complex, injuring 37 workers, though none seriously, and sending nearby residents indoors.

The injured workers were treated for minor burns, none requiring hospitalization, plant manager Jason Duncan told a news briefing. The company worked to shut down the olefins unit that processes propane and propylene - a plastics building block - and to isolate the fuel that fed the fire, he said.

Duncan declined to comment on the fire’s impact on production at Exxon’s adjacent 560,500 barrels-per-day oil refinery. Two people familiar with its operations said Exxon reduced some production at the refinery, which provides feedstocks to the unit that caught fire.

More from Business

Hyundai India’s Rs 27,870 crore IPO oversubscribed by 2.28X, largely driven by institutional investors How Indian fintech startups are driving Malaysia’s UPI-like digital payments revolution

The fire, which was put down by the company’s employees, sent black smoke into the air over the complex in Baytown, a city of 75,000 which is located about 30 miles (48 km) east of Houston. Firefighters and equipment from the city entered the plant at midday to assist, an official said.

Firefighters continued to spray water on the site of the fire late Wednesday. Residents around the plant were told to close windows and doors, turn off air conditioning and remain in their homes or offices. Schools in several communities in the area kept summer students indoors.

Impact Shorts

More Shorts

Tata Harrier EV vs Mahindra XEV 9e: Design and road presence compared

As Trump weaponises tariff, Fed sees a bigger worry: Not jobs, but rising prices in America

“We are cooperating with regulatory agencies. We deeply regret any disruption or inconvenience that this incident may have caused the community,” Exxon spokeswoman Sarah Nordin said in a statement.

Available air monitoring information from the inside the Baytown Olefins Plant’s grounds and outside monitoring sources recorded no adverse impacts, Duncan said. The fire burned residual fuel contained in a large column on Wednesday.

The Baytown complex that includes the olefins plant where the fire occurred employs about 7,000 people among four manufacturing sites that cover 3,400 acres (13.8 square kilometers). It sits along the Houston Ship Channel, the nation’s largest and busiest energy port.

Aerial footage during the blaze showed flames and heavy smoke emanating from a large column at the facility, which Exxon identified as part of its production of olefins, a component of plastic. Emergency vehicles and people were massing around the edge of the complex.

Exxon last year completed the construction of a multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker at the Baytown Olefins Plant. The cracker can produce 1.5 million tons per year, and provides feedstock to two other production lines at its Mont Belvieu, Texas, plastics plant.

(Reporting by Erwin Seba in Baytown and Collin Eaton in Houston; Editing by Marguerita Choy and Leslie Adler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.