Chevron refinery El Segundo fire: Mayor gives update on blaze and explosion

The Chevron El Segundo Refinery, near Los Angeles in California, saw a huge fire this morning.

El Segundo Mayor Chris Pimentel said the authorities have not been told about any casualties and, speaking to CBS News, added: "We were able to respond with Chevron fire immediately, our station is about a .25 mile away from the gates of Chevron," Pimentel said. "Obviously, we are very concerned, and there is a lot of investigative work to be done to see what has happened."

The refinery has been operating for more than 100 years.

It is in El Segundo in Los Angeles County and was built in 1911 by the Standard Oil Company of California. The name El Segundo ("The Second" in Spanish) comes from the fact that this was the company’s second refinery in California.

Originally, its capacity was about 5,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, mostly used to produce kerosene, which was an important fuel for lamps at the time. Over time, through expansions and upgrades, it became one of the largest refineries on the US West Coast. Its current capacity is around 290,000 barrels per day of crude oil. Today its main products are transport fuels, specifically gasoline, jet fuel, and diesel.

In the 1980s, there was a significant contamination case discovered. Leaks from old tanks, pipes, and ponds had led to an estimated large volume of oil and petroleum products under the ground. In response, Chevron started a clean-up operation, including installing hundreds of wells to monitor and recover leaked materials, upgrades to storage tanks, and efforts to make leaks easier to detect.

The City of El Segundo was incorporated on January 18, 1927 and has a population of 17,272, according to a 2020 census. About three-quarters of the city's land is dedicated to industrial and commercial uses - and the Chevron oil refinery takes up more than a quarter of the entire city by itself.