Marathon Confirms OSHA Is Investigating Fatal Galveston Bay Refinery Fire — OPIS

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating last week's fire at Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s 625,000 b/d Galveston Bay, Texas, refinery that left one worker dead, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

"A full investigation is being conducted to determine the root cause, and OSHA is performing their own investigation," spokesman Jamal Kheiry said in an email to OPIS. "The safety of our workers and the community remains paramount and fundamental in everything we do."

Kheiry, however, did not respond to a question about market speculation that a gasoline production unit was damaged by the May 15 fire and could be offline for an extended period. "We don't have additional information to provide on our operations," he said.

A Marathon filing last week with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality said the facility's "Ultraformer Unit No. 3," the larger of the refinery's two reformers, was involved in the fire that left one worker dead and two more injured.

A reformer upgrades heavy naphtha into gasoline blendstock by raising its octane.

Any possible gasoline supply outages would draw attention as refiners typically maximize their gasoline production ahead of the U.S. Memorial Day weekend, which is traditionally considered the start of the high-demand summer driving season.

This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

--Reporting by Frank Tang, ftang@opisnet.com; Editing by Jeff Barber, jbarber@opisnet.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 23, 2023 14:20 ET (18:20 GMT)

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