Alaska News

Fire idles BP refinery in Washington processing Alaska crude

Fire has idled a BP oil refinery in Washington state that processes Alaska crude, according to an Associated Press report in the Seattle Times.

The Cherry Point refinery's lone crude vacuum distillation unit caught fire on Friday and burned for about an hour, a BP spokesperson told the Bellingham Herald, sending "plumes of black smoke visible for miles" into the air.

Cherry Point can process up to 230,000 barrels of Alaska crude per day. A BP spokesperson told the Herald that "finished fuel products" like gasoline and diesel, will continue to produce. It would be some time before the plant would be able to resume processing crude, though, according to the story.

No pollution or fire burn-off had reached Washington waters but federal regulators were monitoring the situation.

The plant employs 800 people, the Herald reported. Read the full Bellingham Herald story here or the abbreviated Seattle Times story here.

Craig Medred

Craig Medred is a former writer for the Anchorage Daily News, Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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