Four Injuries Reported in West Texas Refinery Explosion
An explosion damaged Alon USA Energy, Inc.'s refinery in Big Spring, Texas, causing a fire and injuring four people, according to press reports Monday afternoon. A spokesman for the company was quoted on CNN's Web site as saying four injured people were being treated and efforts to quench the fire were ongoing about 2 p.m. Central time.
Alon USA has its headquarters in Dallas. An independent refiner and marketer of petroleum products, it owns additional refineries in California and Oregon and has an aggregate crude oil throughput capacity of about 170,000 barrels per day including the Big Spring refinery, which is listed on the company's Web site as having a daily throughput capacity of 70,000 barrels. The copmany sells gasoline and diesel products under the FINA brand name and produces asphalt. The Big Spring refinery supplies motor fuels to more than 300 convenience stores in West Texas and New Mexico, most of them operating under the 7-Eleven and FINA brand names.
Alon USA's majority owner is ALON Israel Oil Co. Ltd; the U.S. company was formed when ALON Israel bought the downstream operations of Atofina Petrochemical, Inc. (FINA) in August 2000. A map of the Alon USA's operations and other information are available at www.alonusa.com.