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DEFIANCE, Ohio (WANE) — An area of southeast Defiance has been shut down due to an explosion at an oil refinery Wednesday afternoon. The explosion happened at the Glycerin Traders oil refinery plant in southeast Defiance. Around 4:15 p.m., the Defiance Police Department posted on Facebook warning residents to avoid the area of Columbia Street near Ottawa Avenue, Greenler Street and Sauers Avenue due to an “emergency situation.” An employee at Clifford R. Hunt Inc., a business located across the street from the explosion, told WANE 15 he could feel the explosion from his office and could see flames at...

A massive fire broke out at the Petroleum refinery in Louisiana on Friday, forcing the plant, which is one of the largest oil refineries in the US, to shut down The fire broke out at the Marathon Petroleum’s Garyville refinery Friday morning, WDSU-TV in New Orleans reported. While the fire was extinguished on Monday, it still remains shut down, according to NOLA.com, the website of the New Orleans Times-Picayune. The WSJ reported that the fire also led to a two-mile radius evacuation order. “Out of an abundance of caution, the facility began a shutdown process of units closest to the...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday announced that a large idled refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands will remain shut down until it acquires a new Clean Air Act permit amid a national diesel shortage. The St. Croix refinery, owned by West Indies Petroleum Limited and Port Hamilton Refining and Transportation, LLLC, has been shut down since June 2021 and will have to obtain a Prevention of Significant Deterioration permit which would require the operators to provide detailed air quality analyses and use sophisticated air pollution control technology, according to the EPA press release. At the same time, the...

The night of the midterm election, another oil refinery, this one owned by Chevron and located in El Segundo, Calif., caught fire under mysterious circumstances. Firefighters were called to the scene, which was described as a “massive fire” – see the video below. Officials say they have no idea how the fire started. The next day, Reuters reported that the “isolated fire” occurred inside Chevron’s 269,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery and is now extinguished. None of the facility’s “major processes units” were affected, the same report claimed. (Related: In September, numerous oil refineries in Ohio mysteriously caught fire and had to be...

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he has not implemented policies to halt domestic oil production; however, the Biden administration has enacted policies that are hampering the nation’s energy output. “Biden’s green policies have created a hostile environment for investment in oil and gas, which has hurt production,” Phil Flynn, an energy market analyst with the PRICE Futures Group, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “If the president wants to debunk some myths, let’s start with the fact that he’s leased fewer acres of federal and offshore land than any other president since the end of WWII,” Republican Rep. Bruce...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has temporarily suspended a federal rule for fuel sales in four states, including Indiana, in response to a fire that occurred at an oil refinery in Indiana last week. It is feared that the incident may cause disruptions in both gas pricing and supply, AP reported. “As part of the Federal Government’s response to a fire and shutdown at the BP Whiting Refinery in Whiting, Indiana, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan today issued an emergency fuel waiver to help alleviate fuel shortages in four states whose supply of gasoline has been impacted...

The Department of Transportation declared a regional emergency Saturday affecting four Midwest states after a fire earlier this week caused an “unanticipated shutdown” of a BP oil refinery in Indiana. BP Whiting, the sixth largest refinery in the U.S. refining over 400,000 barrels of oil per day, shut down to undergo damage assessment after a fire knocked out the plant’s electrical power and cooling water systems on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The shutdown caused the federal government to take action and address the looming shortage of fuel output that will affect Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, states that collectively receive up...

Mexican state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos will take control of the Deer Park refinery in Houston, Texas on Jan. 20, three sources with knowledge of the matter said on Thursday. Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L) in May agreed to sell its majority stake in the Deer Park refinery, which can process up to 340,000 barrels per day (bpd), to Pemex (PEMX.UL), its long-time partner in the plant, for about $596 million.

Is a new shadow war returning? It sure looks like something is happening, based on these two events:TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The largest warship in the Iranian navy caught fire and later sank Wednesday in the Gulf of Oman under unclear circumstances, the latest calamity to strike one of the country’s vessels in recent years amid tensions with the West.The blaze began around 2:25 a.m. and firefighters tried to contain it, the Fars news agency reported, but their efforts failed to save the 207-meter (679-foot) Kharg, which was used to resupply other ships in the fleet at sea and conduct...

The raids on the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, targeted military camps, as well as Houthi rebel facilities near the city’s airport and in its suburbs, residents and rebel-run Al-Masirah TV said. A separate strike hit a rebel target in the port province of Hodeidah. The Iran-backed Houthis attacked a Saudi Aramco oil refinery in Riyadh on Friday with six bomb-laden drones. The assault caused a fire that was later controlled with no impact on oil supplies or derivatives, state-run media said. No casualties were reported.

ATLANTA - Two U.S. citizens accused of plotting to attack civilian and government targets shot "casing videos" of Washington landmarks that were found on a terrorism suspect's computer in Britain and met with suspects in a Canadian terrorism case, an FBI agent testified Monday. Agent Mark Richards testified that the videos of the U.S. Capitol and other Washington landmarks taken by Syed Ahmed and Ehsanul Sadequee were found on a computer belonging to Younis Tsouli, a Moroccan-born man who pleaded guilty in Britain in July to inciting others to commit acts of terrorism. Richards also said Ahmed and Sadequee, during...

The man who fatally shot two people at a White Settlement Church on Sunday before being killed by church security has been identified as a 43-year-old Keith Thomas Kinnunen, a River Oaks man with a criminal record, according to two law enforcement sources. Kinnunen is believed to have been wearing a disguise, including a fake beard, when he stood up, pulled a shotgun from his clothing and opened fire inside the church, killing 64-year-old Anton Wallace, a church deacon from Fort Worth, and 67-year-old Richard White, of River Oaks.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) will seek to permanently shut its oil refinery in the city after a massive fire caused substantial damage to the complex, the company confirmed on Wednesday, a day after sources told Reuters about the plans. “The recent fire at the refinery complex has made it impossible for us to continue operations. We are grateful that the fire resulted in only a few minor injuries,” PES CEO Mark Smith said in a statement. “We are committed to an orderly process to safely wind down our operations.” Shutting the refinery, the largest and oldest on...

The first oil refinery to open in the U.S. in 40 years breaks ground in west Texas. The MMEX Resources Corporation’s $50 million project is set to be built in Pecos County. The area holds a significant crude oil supply, and is also railroad accessible. It will be developed in two phases, and is expected to create hundreds of jobs. Once it is completed, the 126 acre refinery will be able to process 10,000 barrels of crude oil each day. Meanwhile, officials plan to file permits for a second unit that would be able to produce 100,000 barrels. The first...

Here are two videos of Russian airstrikes on the bad guys. I figured some Freepers would enjoy seeing this.

Senior Republican Sen. John McCain blasted Pentagon officials on Friday for dramatically downplaying the role of Ramadi as the key Iraqi city stood on the brink of being taken over by ISIS. "Disregarding the strategic importance of Ramadi is a denial of reality and an insult to the families of hundreds of brave young Americans who were killed and wounded during the Surge fighting to free Ramadi from the grip of Al-Qaeda," McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a written statement released by his office, which was later joined onto by Repbulican Sen. Lindsey Graham. McCain,...

Well, here’s some lovely news emerging from the new Iraq. 17.09 Chemical weapons produced at the Al Muthanna facility, which Isis today seized, are believed to have included mustard gas, Sarin, Tabun, and VX. Here is the CIA’s file on the complex. QuoteStockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there. The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers. Although declared, the bunkers contents have yet to be confirmed. These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential blackmarketers. Numerous bunkers, including eleven cruciform shaped bunkers were exploited. Some of the...

If you could pick the worst set of circumstances in which to start up a giant, export-oriented oil refinery, you might well have them right now. Saudi Aramco and joint venture partner Sinopec have started test runs at their 400,000 barrel per day (bpd) Yanbu refinery, located in the oil-rich Middle Eastern kingdom. This puts the new plant on schedule to begin commercial exports in November, possibly even by the second half of October, according to trade sources. Yanbu will be the second major refinery to come online in Saudi Arabia in little more than a year, following the September...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Hundreds of Iraqi troops battling for control of the vital Baiji oil refinery are outnumbered, surrounded and remain trapped inside the facility, a U.S. official told ABC News. The battle for the refinery was in its fifth day today, although fighters for the radical Islamic militia ISIS have apparently taken control of much of the facility and are willing to keep the government forces isolated until they run out of food and ammunition, sources said. "There is very little the Iraqi government can do to save or liberate those guys," a U.S. official told ABC News. There...

Iraqi forces have regained full control of the country's biggest oil refinery after heavy fighting with Sunni militants attempting to seize it, the authorities claim. A refinery employee and witnesses said the insurgents led by the jihadist Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) had withdrawn from the sprawling Baiji complex after losing 100 fighters as troops and helicopter gunships repelled repeated attacks, according to the Iraqi military. The retaking of the plant, north of Baghdad, comes amid calls for the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al Maliki to quit as a condition of US help in driving back insurgents...