Fire breaks out Valero's Corpus Christi West refinery

Quantum Commodity Intelligence – A fire has broken out in Valero's 370,000 bpd Corpus Christi complex in Texas, according to local media reports referencing a reverse alert from City officials.

Social media footage showed thick plumes of black smoke billowing from the West Plant, approximately 1 mile away from the neighbouring East Plant, which was said to be unaffected.

The Corpus Christi blast is the latest in a series of mishaps at US refineries, which analysts said is likely a consequence of overworking plants amid record margins last year.  

In early November, the 115,000 bpd Valero East Plant was also hit by a fire, taking the plant offline until late January, but the western complex was not impacted.   

The Valero refinery is split between the East Plant and West Plant along the Corpus Christi ship canal. The East refinery processes sour crude oil, while the larger West refinery processes sweet crude oil, sour crude oil and residual fuel oil, and produces most of the complex's gasoline.

NYMEX June RBOB was trading at $2.5707/gal in early afternoon US trade, up around 3.7%, while Jun23 ULSD was up 2.8% at $ 2.4296/gal.

At the same time, Jun23 WTI was trading at $ 77.19/b, up 3% from Monday's close.