Ho, Boy – Massive Fire Erupts at Chevron’s El Segundo, CA, Refinery Last Night UPDATE

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Ho, Boy - Massive Fire Erupts at Chevron's El Segundo, CA, Refinery Last Night UPDATE 1

In the Los Angeles sprawl just south of the airport, about 9:30 last night, the normal city sounds were suddenly interrupted by a tremendous, explosive noise, followed by a massive column of flames that roared skyward into the normal nighttime building and traffic twinkles.

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There had been an explosion at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo, which, according to the company, is the largest ‘producing oil refinery’ on the West Coast.

…According to Chevron’s website, the El Segundo refinery was constructed in 1911. The facility produces 276,000 barrels of crude oil every day and “is the largest producing oil refinery on the west coast,” Chevron officials wrote on its website.

And the initial explosion was so large, it was caught on wildlife cameras (a statewide system run by the University of San Diego) miles away.

The video is breathtaking.

The blast was SO loud, the fireball rolling skyward so mushroomy-looking… 

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…and the concussive wave so intense that folks for miles around the area thought they’d been nuked.

…Julian Reese, 13, said he and his dad felt a major blast and then ran outside, seeing flames fill the sky.

At Aviation Park, just a few miles from the Chevron plant, Mark Rogers was playing in his weekly adult soccer league when the apparent explosion took place.

“I thought we got nuked or something,” said Rogers, 34. The referee ended up canceling their game minutes after it started due to the heavy smoke.

Keith Mohr, 53, lives just south of the refinery in Manhattan Beach. After he felt the blast, he told his wife to grab their dogs and head to the car. They returned home once officials said there was no public safety threat.

“This was 300-foot flames,” said Mohr, noting that he’s lived by the refinery for more than two decades and had never seen anything like the inferno. “I didn’t know if a plane crashed or there was an earthquake or both.”

The local KABC7 news chopper had been in the air covering a pretty dramatic police pursuit when the sky lit up around them. They whipped their camera over to the other side to catch the inferno erupting on the horizon.

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The Chevron refinery has its own fire department, which swung into action immediately. El Segundo and neighboring LA units were on scene within minutes of the blast to assist in battling the inferno. Terrifying as it looked, the response crews managed to keep the conflagration contained to one section of the refinery.

Miraculously, there were no reports of any injuries.

Officers and firefighters responded to the refinery in El Segundo after receiving multiple reports of an explosion, according to the El Segundo Police Department. A witness said the explosion felt like a small earthquake. 

Crews from the LA County Fire Department also responded to the area to help. The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services said it would coordinate with state and local officials.

The refinery has its own fire department. El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel said authorities have not received any reports of injuries. 

“We were able to respond with Chevron fire immediately, our station is about a .25 mile away from the gates of Chevron,” Pimentel said. “Obviously, we are very concerned, and there is a lot of investigative work to be done to see what has happened.”

There wasn’t any time to call for evacuations, either, and residents were told to close up their homes and stay indoors to avoid the billowing clouds of black smoke and particulate falling from the air. County officials also closed area roads and diverted traffic away from the scene.

After an hour, firefighters had the size of the fire brought under control, but it was still burning this morning. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) hadn’t noted any dangerous levels of particulate matter as of last night, but warned that this could change as the smoke from the previous evening settles.

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The KABC7 chopper was over the refinery early this morning to cover the ongoing operations to put the fire out and update the public on which surface streets are beginning to reopen.

Another safety issue, which will take time, as the pilot notes, is being able to get crews into the refinery and to the scene of the fire in order to isolate and shut down all the valves and pipes running through that section. All those combustibles have to be cut off and drained out before repair work can begin.

The refinery is closed until further notice.

This is California – think what that means.

Well, wait – let me first tell you what the El Segundo refinery does:

…Chevron’s second biggest refinery in the United States, the El Segundo facility supplies a fifth of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in southern California.

It’s now shut down.

Here’s some Greasy Gavin Newsom Climate Cult #mathz

Here’s a Californian living in Greasy Gavin Newsom’s Climate Cult hellhole #mathz

…If El Segundo is down, Bencia is out and Wilmington is to follow, p66 is out by year end that’s 40% of the states throughput.

$10 GALLON GASOLINE HERE WE COME

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Forty percent of the state’s oil refining capacity gone.

BUT WAIT – THERE’S MORE!

You see, the oleaginous King of California has driven refiners out of the state, and, yup – another one leaves…*checks notes*…next month.

What happens if Chevron can’t get El Segundo back into operation as Philipps pulls chocks and exits the pattern?

Will California even have enough gasoline to worry about the cost?

As of that moment, the answer is HARD NO.

…With Chevrons El Segundo out there will be a deficit of roughly 11% between the states needs daily and what the state can refine.

From a tiny 6% breathing room margin to an 11% hole, overnight. Only if nothing else happens.

HOLY CRAP

Oh, I can’t wait to see how Greasy Gavin’s clever little Millennial social media crew Xweets – in all caps – explains the massive suckage coming the state’s way.

Best of luck blaming it on Trump. 

Or something.

Beege ADDS: There wasn’t a lot of additional information available when I started on this this morning, but thanks to Jeff in the comments. He found a new piece in Forbes that is reflectively grim.

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Chevron Refinery Fire Threatens California’s Fragile Fuel Supply

California’s gasoline market is unique in several respects that magnify the impact of such accidents. The state is effectively an island when it comes to refined products, with only limited pipeline connections to the broader U.S. refining system. On top of that, California requires its own specialized blend of gasoline to meet stringent environmental standards. CARB-compliant fuel cannot be easily substituted with supply from other states, and imports from Asia or the Gulf Coast typically require weeks to arrive. This leaves the state unusually exposed when local refineries experience disruptions.

The timing of this fire could hardly be worse for consumers. Inventories of gasoline in California were already running about 10% below their five-year average in late September, according to federal data. Seasonal maintenance at refineries is also underway, which typically reduces output heading into the fall. Add in steady demand from motorists and elevated jet fuel consumption at Los Angeles International Airport, and the system has very little cushion. Even if Chevron brings the damaged unit back online quickly, the short-term effect is likely to be tighter supply and higher prices.

Market watchers expect the most immediate impact in wholesale prices. Spot gasoline prices in Los Angeles and San Francisco are likely to spike, with retail prices potentially climbing 10 to 25 cents per gallon in the short term. If the outage drags on, refiners may need to import additional supply from Asia or the Gulf Coast, but those barrels would not land for several weeks. In the meantime, competing refiners such as Valero and PBF Energy could see margins widen as price spreads favor available local supply.

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Besides clarifying the weird verbiage quoted from the Chevron website (‘Contrary to multiple news reports, the facility does not produce oil–it processes oil‘), the chemical engineer who authored the piece warns, ‘the effects of this outage could ripple across the state in a matter of days.’

YIKES

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