A release of fluid set off an explosion and ensuing fire that forced the temporary shutdown of Valero Energy Corp’s 380,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) oil refinery in Port Arthur, Texas, according to a notice the company filed with state pollution regulators on Tuesday (March 24, 2026).
No injuries were reported from the explosion in the 47,000-bpd unit 243 diesel hydrotreater, the people said. No date has been set for restarting the refinery.
“An unforeseeable release of process fluid in Complex 2 resulted in an ignition event and multiple process unit upsets,” Valero said in the notice filed with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on Tuesday (March 24, 2026) evening.
The refinery outage comes as U.S. consumers contend with rising gasoline and diesel prices because of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil and refined product waterway for Middle East producers, in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli air attacks.
Donta Miller, the chief deputy for the Jefferson County Sheriff, said on Tuesday (March 24, 2026), there was no evidence that the Monday (March 23, 2026) night explosion felt as far as 11 miles (18 km) away was the result of a deliberate act by someone intending to damage the refinery.
