Two Killed in Fire at Toledo, Ohio Refinery

BP said on Wednesday two of its staff were killed after sustaining injuries in a fire at its 150,800 barrel-per-day Toledo, Ohio, refinery.

"The fire was extinguished last night and refinery was safely shut down and remains offline," a company spokesperson said.

"All other staff is accounted for and our employee assistance team is on site."

The cause of the fire is not known, but leaking fumes from a crude unit may have caused the ignition in another unit at the facility, a source told Reuters.

Workers finished a maintenance turnaround at the facility in recent weeks and the plant had resumed operating, according to the source.

In August, Cenovus said it would buy the remaining 50% stake it does not already own in the BP-Husky Toledo Refinery. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2022.

In 2008, Husky Energy Inc. formed a joint venture with BP by acquiring a 50% stake in the Toledo refinery. The stake then moved to Calgary-based Cenovus when it combined with Husky in 2021. 

(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad, Arpan Varghese, Brijesh Patel, and Laura Sanicola; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Louise Heavens and Jonathan Oatis)