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TEXAS CITY, Texas (Reuters) - An explosion rocked BP's massive refining complex in Texas City, Texas, on Wednesday, causing multiple deaths and extensive damage, the company said.
BP confirmed that the blast had caused deaths at the nation's third largest refinery but could not say how many had been killed. News reports said at least four people died.
"It's a sad day for BP," Don Parus, site director at the refinery, told a press conference. "I have to report to you, regretfully and with shock, that there have been fatalities."
The blast shook buildings and broke windows miles away and sent a huge plume of black smoke billowing into the sky near the city of Galveston. About 90 workers and local residents had been admitted to nearby hospitals, several in critical condition.
The company said it did not suspect a terrorist attack was behind the blast, which caused several scattered fires at the plant that took firefighters about two hours to extinguish.
An FBI spokesman said the agency would investigate the incident as a matter of course, but had no reason to suspect any suspicious activity.
The explosion took place on the western side of the sprawling 1,200-acre complex at about 1:20 p.m local time (1920 GMT) in one of the units used to make high-grade fuels. Company officials said the cause was not immediately known.
Television reports showed workers carrying out the injured on stretchers amid piles of twisted metal and rubble. Extreme heat from the fire caused several cars and trucks parked on the site to explode.
"It shook everything," Rose Martin, who works near the refinery, told a local television station. "As soon as I walked out the door (to see it), it was nothing but fire and black smoke."
The BP refinery has a throughput of 470,000 barrels per day. The company said damage had been limited to an isomerization unit, and that other parts of the refinery remained in operation.
News of the refinery explosion sent gasoline futures prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange to all-time peaks over $1.60 a gallon in electronic trade and boosted cash prices in the Gulf Coast region.
The explosion comes almost one year to the day after another blast and fire rocked the refinery and chemical complex. On March 30, 2004, a large explosion and fire occurred in a gasoline-making unit but there were no injuries.
That 2004 accident resulted in citations for 14 alleged violations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
BP took over the plant, which first began operations in 1934, when it bought U.S. company Amoco in 1999.
Texas City Mayor Pro-tem Mike Land said a "shelter in place" advisory had been issued, then withdrawn for nearby residents of the plant.
"This is the lifeblood of our community and this is a horrible disaster," Land said.
BP's U.S.-listed shares closed down 2.4 percent, or $1.51, at $62.01 per share on the New York Stock Exchange.
In April 1947, Texas City was the site of one of the worst-ever industrial accidents in the United States when a ship full of fertilizer component ammonium nitrate blew up, killing as many as 800 and injuring an estimated 5,000.
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