Officials say a large explosion at an oil refinery near the Texas coast has shot plumes of smoke into the air and forced nearby residents to shelter in place.

A large explosion at an oil refinery near the Texas coast on Monday shot plumes of smoke into the air and forced nearby residents to shelter in place, according to officials.

No one was injured in the explosion at the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) east of Houston, Mayor Charlotte M. Moses said. She urged residents in parts of the west side of the city to stay put, saying fire fighters had arrived.

The explosion comes amid a spike in gas prices driven by uncertainty over the global oil supply because of the Iran war.

  • Hazmatastic
    163·
    2 days ago

    So this comes shortly after a couple of fireballs mysteriously appear twice over the country. I don’t mean to shove a tinfoil hat on, but energy infrastructure does seem like a popular target these days…

    • KingOfSleep@lemmy.ca
      7·
      2 days ago

      Are you suggesting that someone is attacking the US with meteorites? And how do they “mysteriously appear twice”? How tight is your tinfoil hat?

      • Fredselfish
        61·
        2 days ago

        You watch the final season of The Expanse? Be the perfect weapon.

        • KingOfSleep@lemmy.ca
          2·
          2 days ago

          Yes. But I have no reason to believe that space terrorists are attacking Texas. Even if they should be…

      • Hazmatastic
        51·
        2 days ago

        More like they weren’t meteors as the news stations claimed, but failed/intercepted strikes. Not saying that’s the case, I won’t pretend to be knowledgeable enough about weapons to say anything. Just seems odd we’re seeing a spike in rare events like that when there’s also a huge spike in drone/missile strikes worldwide. It just wouldn’t surprise me at all to learn some of this astronomical/meteorological stuff was more man-made than originally claimed is all.

    • Zron
      5·
      2 days ago

      If someone were launching ICBMs, the only missile to re enter the earths atmosphere, the war would be a lot spicier.

      And I’m pretty sure the only one stupid enough to launch ICBMs would be the idiot in the Oval Office. He’s already dropped the biggest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, I’m sure he’s got a lil hard-on for dropping the biggest bomb we have.

      • Hazmatastic
        2·
        2 days ago

        Not necessarily ICBMs or anything. We’ve been seeing tons of evidence about how effective drone and missile strikes are nowadays. I’m just saying it wouldn’t surprise me if some of these things were actually small attack attempts. The US has certainly pissed off enough of the world to incite some, even more so than usual at this point.