Crown Central investigating cause of fire at Houston refinery

Crown Central Petroleum Corp. Monday was investigating the cause of a fire at its 100,000 b/d refinery at Pasadena, Tex., on the Houston Ship Channel.

Nov. 26, 2001

By the OGJ Online Staff

HOUSTON, Nov. 26 -- Crown Central Petroleum Corp. Monday was investigating the cause of a fire at its 100,000 b/d refinery at Pasadena, Tex., on the Houston Ship Channel.

One employee was treated for second-degree burns at a local hospital and released. There were no other serious injuries. The company said no hazardous levels of any substance were detected outside the refinery.

Crown said the fire occurred while liquefied petroleum gas was being transferred from a pressurized vessel.

It said, "In what appears to be an equipment failure, the LPG was released to the atmosphere. The LPG ignited, and the resulting fire damaged a second vessel, which ruptured. The second vessel also contained LPG. The incident happened while the plant was being shut down for routine maintenance and upgrades."

The company said the entire refinery was shut down. A restart date was uncertain. The refinery mostly makes gasoline, diesel fuel, and No. 2 heating oil.