Dark smoke rises from Husky Energy oil refinery following an explosion in Superior, Wisconsin.ROBERT KING/Reuters
An explosion at Husky Energy’s refinery in Superior, Wisconsin, injured at least 10 people, sent smoke billowing into the sky and shook a building a mile away, officials at the local hospitals and the fire department said on Thursday.
At least 10 people were taken to local hospitals, one of whom was seriously injured, said a spokeswoman for Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center, which operates hospitals in Superior and nearby Duluth, Minnesota. The other nine injuries are not life-threatening, she said.
It was unclear what caused the explosion, Husky Energy spokesman Mel Duvall said.
There were no immediate reports of fatalities, and Duvall said all of the refinery’s workers had been accounted for. The facility can process up to 38,000 barrels of oil a day.
“The whole building shook. The lights flickered three times and the whole building shook,” Jim Ronning, owner of Hudy’s Tavern in Superior, located about a 1.6 kilometres from the facility.
A spokeswoman for St. Luke’s, which operates two hospitals in the area, said it was treating one injured patient, but did not provide details on that person’s condition.
The local Fox affiliate said more smoke appeared after 1 p.m. EST, after receding from the initial explosion.
Roads around the refinery were blocked and employees evacuated, with several ambulances seen leaving the site, local media reported.
“You can still smell a real caustic smell in the air,” said Sara Haugen, owner of Pudge’s in Superior, located about 217 km from Minneapolis, Minnesota. “There’s a big black plume of smoke coming out.”
Husky purchased the refinery from Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP last year. It produces asphalt, gasoline, diesel and heavy fuel oils, largely using heavy crude oil imported from Canada.
The company cut its 2018 production forecast later on Thursday, saying it would temporarily cut heavy oil output due to low prices and a slow ramp up at its offshore Indonesia project.
Transport bottlenecks in Canada have widened Canadian oil’s discount compared to U.S. light crude. Husky said its differentials averaged $30.69 per barrel in the first quarter, a 59 percent jump compared with last year.
Western Canadian Select (WCS) – the benchmark for heavy crude – has historically traded at a discount of $15 to West Texas Intermediate (WTI).
Husky, whose first-quarter profit beat analysts’ estimates, lowered its annual production forecast to 310,000 to 320,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 320,000 to 335,000 boepd.
Husky’s profit beat market expectations by 2 cents despite first-quarter production falling more than 10 percent. The widening gap between the price of WTI and WCS caused Husky’s income from its infrastructure and marketing segment to nearly double to $138 million in the quarter.
Husky, which runs drilling and refining businesses in Canada, the United States and Asia, said its average U.S. refining margin rose to $8.51 per barrel from $7.08 per barrel a year ago.
“Husky remains the only heavy oil producer that we believe could be a (modest) net beneficiary from our expectation of persistently wide heavy oil differentials,” Raymond James analysts said.
The company’s net earnings rose to $248 million, or 89 cents per share, in the three months ended March 31, from $71 million, or 66 cents per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, Husky earned 24 cents per share, beating analysts’ estimate of 22 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company’s average quarterly production fell to 300,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 334,000 boepd a year earlier as it sold some of its assets in Western Canada in 2017.