BP Refinery Explosion In Indiana Shook Houses, Fire Broke Out And One Worker Was Injured

A BP refinery explosion in Whiting, Indiana was so powerful that houses in nearby neighborhoods felt the blast literally. The explosion also triggered a fire and one worker was sent to the hospital.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, it’s claimed that oil fracking could induce earthquakes and Oklahoma has seen a veritable spike in seismicity in recent times. So we asked several scientists whether or not it’s possible that earthquakes induced by U.S. oil fracking could affect the Yellowstone supervolcano.

Local neighbor Bernie Niceswander lives across the street from BP’s new expansion site and he compared the BP refinery explosion to fireworks.

“I felt what sounded like a big boom, kind of like roman candles exploding,” he said late Wednesday. “My window screens were shaking. But I didn’t see anything, except a lot of chaos, with police cars and sirens.”

Jorge Torres, who also lives near the refinery, compared the BP refinery explosion to an earthquake.

“I was here at home around 9 p.m. when we heard a big explosion and the house vibrated,” he said. “When we came out, we couldn’t see anything, but then we looked toward the refinery and we saw white smoke.”

BP America spokesman Scott Dean confirmed in a news release early Thursday confirmed that the BP refinery explosion occurred in a process unit on the refinery’s north end at about 9 PM. The in-house BP fire department responded to the explosion to fight the fires caused by the blast. Although additional firefighters from Whiting were on standby in order to assist in putting out the blaze, the in-house fire department managed to contain the fire and extinguish it within two hours. The injured worker was sent to an area hospital for treatment but has already been released.

Fortunately, the damage from the BP refinery explosion was not as bad as it sounds.

“Refinery operations were minimally impacted as a result of the incident, and the refinery continues to produce products for customers,” Dean said. The refinery is expected to resume production of 41,500 barrels per day.

The day of the BP refinery explosion also happened to be the anniversary of a similar disastrous explosion in Whiting that killed two people and caused a fire that is considered one of the worst industrial disasters in the area’s history. Although we are fortunate that this new incident did not cause any deaths, it’s expected that wholesale gas prices may rise in the Chicago area due to the incident.