{"id":173038,"date":"2026-03-24T07:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T07:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/173038\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T07:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T07:13:09","slug":"massive-explosion-at-crude-oil-refinery-rocks-texas-city-as-residents-told-to-shelter-in-place","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/173038\/","title":{"rendered":"Massive explosion at crude oil refinery rocks Texas city as residents told to shelter in place"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A massive explosion at a Texas crude oil refinery shot up towering plumes of dark smoke and physically shook locals\u2019 homes before they were ordered to shelter in place Monday. <\/p>\n<p>A loud boom resounded throughout the western part of Port Arthur, Texas on Monday afternoon when part of a Valero refinery exploded, local outlets reported.<\/p>\n<p>Clouds of black smoke spilled out of the refinery, sparking health concerns among residents and forcing city officials to put out a shelter-in-place order for the west end.<\/p>\n<p>One resident at the scene <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kare11.com\/article\/news\/nation-world\/refinery-explosion-texas-valero-port-arthur\/507-417d74d6-a657-4bea-9d6f-9d5a081397a6\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">told 12News<\/a> that the entire area reeked of rotten eggs \u2014 a smell commonly associated with sulfur.<\/p>\n<p>An explosion at a Valero oil refinery in Texas on Monday led to a shelter-in-place order.  KFDM<\/p>\n<p>Flames and black smoke spewed out of the site. kplctv<\/p>\n<p>Others told the outlet that the explosion rattled their homes and vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>Jefferson County Sheriff Zena Stephens suggested that the explosion may be linked to a mishap with a heating unit at the refinery, the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>Officials monitored the air quality in the area throughout the day as the smoke from the refinery blanketed the sky.<\/p>\n<p>No injuries were reported as of Monday evening. A representative for the Valero Energy Corporation told The Post that all personnel at the refinery were accounted for.<\/p>\n<p>No injuries have been reported so far. kplctv<\/p>\n<p>The Valero Port Arthur Refinery sits near the Texas Gulf coast and along the Texas-Louisiana border. The facility employs roughly 770 workers and is responsible for producing upwards of 435,000 barrels of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel daily.<\/p>\n<p>Locals who felt the tremors caused by the explosion were shocked that officials didn\u2019t move to evacuate the city.<\/p>\n<p>The refinery produces gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. kplctv<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUntil it\u2019s quiet, we have to evacuate,\u201d one woman <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PortArthurPoliceDepartment\/posts\/pfbid0aMdZZazVQ2hh5ebvRuYaZToZZGg3ziSEBofYWXdwzqhsQeLf1MnLXAaCtzuL9rJHl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">wrote on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m thinking those chemicals can reach more then just that area,\u201d another woman from Groves, Texas, just six miles outside of Port Arthur, added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s still in the air all over not just the west,\u201d one man noted.<\/p>\n<p>An estimated 55,000 people live in Port Arthur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A massive explosion at a Texas crude oil refinery shot up towering plumes of dark smoke and physically&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3531,70535,9,11,10,21760,38914,1777,58],"class_list":["post-173038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-explosions","tag-factories","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-oil","tag-oil-prices","tag-texas","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}