Oil Refinery Reopened After Transformer Failure

Workers spent Wednesday getting the Chevron oil refinery in El Segundo back on line after it was shut down for more than 24 hours in the wake of a transformer failure the day before.

The loss of power that occurred from 2 to 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday set off a chain of events that required the refinery to be shut down until late Wednesday afternoon because of a loss of steam in the refinery yard. Steam is used to power the pumps and the turbines heating and cooling the refinery.

Because of the power failure, excess fuel from the processing units was burned off Tuesday afternoon through the refinery’s burn-off towers, creating large clouds of black smoke.

“It was an internal failure, and we don’t know what broke yet,” Chevron spokesman Rod Spackman said. “We are making every effort to clarify the cause.”

No one near the refinery had to be evacuated.