Explosion reported at Valero refinery at Texas' Port Arthur; Shelter-in-place alert issued for residents

The Valero refinery at Port Arthur in Texas was hit by a fire late on Monday (local time), news agency Reuters reported, citing local media.

The explosion at the 380,000 barrel-per-day refinery is likely to have been caused by an industrial heater, Sheriff Zena Stephens said, the news agency reported citing CBS affiliate KFDM.

As per multiple local media reports, a shelter-in-place order has been issued for residents while authorities stay on ground assessing the situation.
There is no official comment from Valero yet.

On another note, last month, Reuters had reported, citing sources that the US refiner was set to import up to 6.5 million barrels of Venezuelan crude this month.

Valero was among the first US refiners to resume imports of Venezuelan crude after the United States struck a flagship $2 billion oil supply deal with the country’s interim government and began to ease sanctions.

With inputs from Reuters