Fire Breaks Out at Chevron’s El Segundo Refinery

Chevron said fire crews responded to an isolated fire inside its 269,000-barrel-per-day El Segundo refinery in California on Tuesday, with no injuries due to the incident.

The time of dispatch was 6:13 p.m. (0213 GMT) with a response at the two-alarm level from El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Los Angeles County fire departments, El Segundo fire chief Deena Lee said.

It was unclear whether the material involved was jet fuel or diesel, Lee said.

Local media reports said the fire had occurred in a particular section of the refinery. The Los Angeles Times reported on its website that the blaze had been extinguished around 8:35 p.m. (0435 GMT).

A company spokesperson declined comment on which refinery units were involved.

The El Segundo refinery supplies 20% of all motor vehicle fuels and 40% of the jet fuel consumed in southern California, according to Chevron's website.

The incident comes at a time when California gasoline prices are approaching $1 a gallon on top of December NYMEX RBOB futures amid planned work at Marathon's 363,000-bpd Los Angeles Refinery and a power blip at Valero's 145,000-bpd San Francisco plant.

California gasoline was valued at 38.50 cents over December NYMEX in Los Angeles on Nov. 1 and at 36.50 cents over in San Francisco.

Californian fuel markets, which rely on production from West Coast refineries and imports from Asia, are known for rapid price increases.

(Reporting by Arpan Varghese and Ashitha Shivaprasad; Additional reporting by Harshit Verma; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Tom Hogue)