On March 23, 2005, an explosion and fires occurred at the BP refinery in Texas City, Texas, 30 miles southeast of Houston. The refinery, the company’s largest worldwide, can produce about 10 million gallons of gasoline per day (about 2.5 percent of the gasoline sold in the United States) for markets primarily in the Southeast, Midwest, and along the East Coast. It also produces jet fuels, diesel fuels, and chemical feed stocks; 29 oil refining units and four chemical units cover its 1,200 acre site. The refinery employs approximately 1,800 BP workers, and at the time of the incident, approximately 800 contractor workers were onsite supporting turnaround13 work. The site has also had numerous changes in management at both the refinery and corporate levels. (Appendix D provides details on how the site changed from its commissioning to the date of the explosion.)
The Texas City facility is one of five U.S. refineries owned by BP; its others are in Whiting, Indiana; Carson, California; Cherry Point, Washington; and Toledo, Ohio.