Philadelphia refinery partially shut by fire: source

Philadelphia

THE largest refinery on the US East Coast was operating at less than half its capacity late on Saturday because of a fire, a source familiar with the operations said, while plant officials reported the incident as "flaring".

A source familiar with operations at Philadelphia Energy Solutions' (PES) 335,000-barrels-per-day (bpd) refinery said a fire had hit the 200,000-bpd crude distillation unit in the larger Girard Point section of the plant, forcing it to shut. A company spokesman did not confirm a fire, but said the plant had "experienced cascading operational issues that resulted in flaring with heavy smoke".