Fire broke out in small CDU at Pemex Deer Park, Texas refinery -sources

Worker walks near tanker truck at a Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) fuel storage and distribution center in Ciudad Juarez
A worker walks near a tanker truck at a Petroleos Mexicanos (PEMEX) fuel storage and distribution center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico June 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez/File Photo

March 14 (Reuters) - A fire broke out on Tuesday in the small crude distillation unit (CDU) at Pemex’s (PEMX.UL) 312,500 barrel-per-day (bpd) Deer Park, Texas refinery, people familiar with the matter said.

The blaze was the second time a fire erupted on the 70,000 bpd DU-1 CDU in the past three weeks, the sources said.

No injuries were reported from Tuesday’s fire, the sources said.

Pemex said in a statement that all workers at the refinery on the Houston Ship Channel were accounted for.

It was unclear how long DU-1 would be shut following Tuesday’s fire. The previous fire on Feb. 23 caused a shutdown of the unit for about two weeks.

The 270,000-bpd DU-2 CDU remained in operation at the Deer Park refinery.

Pemex said damage assessments were underway. This was the fourth fire at a Pemex facility in Texas or Mexico since Feb. 23, when three fires broke out on the same day.

CDUs break down crude oil into feedstocks for all other production units at a refinery.

Reporting by Erwin Seba; additional reporting by Brijesh Patel in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam

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