It's not been a good week for oil safety in America. Following the derailment earlier in the week, CBS now reports an explosion at Exxon Mobil's Torrance, California refinery occured at 850amPT...
- *TORRANCE FIRE DEPT RESPONDING TO EXXON MOBIL REFINERY: CB
- *EXXON SAYS EMERGENCY PROCEDURES ACTIVATED AT TORRANCE REFINERY
- *EXXON TORRANCE SAID TO HAVE EXPLOSION IN FCC
While dismissed as 'normal flaring' to begin with, Exxon has confirmed it is not and evacuations have been ordered as ash is falling up to 3 miles away.
The Torrance Refinery covers 750 acres, employs approximately 650 employees and 550 contractors, processes an average of 155,000 barrels of crude oil per day and produces 1.8 billion gallons of gasoline per year.
As Reuters reports,
Students in about 30 schools were told to shelter in place after a possible incident at Exxon Mobil Corp's (XOM.N) Torrance, California, refinery on Wednesday, a report on the CBC Los Angeles news website said.
A separate report with ktla.com said residents reported hearing an explosion from the direction of the refinery and that the refinery was working to control a petroleum leak.
In a filing with state pollution regulator, the 149,500 barrel-per-day Torrance refinery reported "an incident" that caused flaring at the refinery.
The company was not immediately available for comment.
Furthermore, the refinery suffered structural damage as can be seen in the photos below.
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RT @ABC7 [11] TORRANCE UPDATE: Exxon Mobil Refinery suffered some structural damage following blast http://t.co/TEB5qBhfYt [12] pic.twitter.com/neD3hQ43jP [13]
— MsMNaomi (@MissMNaomi) February 18, 2015 [14]
UPDATE:Petroleum leak prompted activation of #Exxon [15]'s flare system. 'That's normal'-Capt Deuel pic.twitter.com/4dxsdSFkCi [16] http://t.co/CZSszHQBNt [17]
— CBS Los Angeles (@CBSLA) February 18, 2015 [18]
@PVReiki [19] explosion reported at #Exxon [15] plant in Torrance. Im near beach 3+ miles away. Ash covering vehicles now. pic.twitter.com/ylI3ZEff36 [20]
— William C Albert (@WilliamC_Albert) February 18, 2015 [21]
ExxonMobil Torrance, CA refinery has direct pipeline link to LAX International Airport, so it supplies fuel there $XOM [22] (via @NickDunnCNBC [23])
— Dominic Chu (@TheDomino) February 18, 2015 [24]
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This is not the first incident at The Torrance refinery... [25]
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