Five significant fires or explosions struck US oil refineries between mid February and late April of this year, part of a wider pattern of 11 refinery and fuel facility incidents recorded across four continents in roughly 60 days. The US incidents included an explosion at Chevron's El Segundo, California refinery on February 19, a fire at the Petromax Refining facility in Channelview, Texas on March 5, a major explosion and fire at Valero's Port Arthur, Texas refinery on March 23, an explosion that injured three workers at BP's Cherry Point, Washington refinery on April 18, and a hydrogen and gas leak that triggered an explosion at Shell's Norco, Louisiana facility on April 27 that took roughly 10 hours to extinguish.

Port Arthur is one of the largest refineries in the country, processing roughly 435,000 barrels of crude per day, and a separate explosion at PBF Energy's Chalmette, Louisiana refinery followed on May 8. Process safety analysts point to narrowing refining margins and deferred maintenance as contributing factors, noting that when input costs rise faster than what refiners can recover on the output side, some facilities push back scheduled maintenance to preserve output.

The cluster of incidents arrives as US fuel inventories are already forecast to tighten. The Energy Information Administration has projected gasoline, distillate and jet fuel inventories will fall to their lowest levels since 2000 by the end of 2026, a combination that leaves less room to absorb unplanned refinery downtime without affecting regional fuel supply and pricing.

Source: Chemical Processing - https://www.chemicalprocessing.com/safety-security/fire-explosion-protection/podcast/55376737/11-fires-60-days-whats-really-behind-the-2026-refinery-crisis