Last night at 6:30 PM, the Valero refinery in Port Arthur, Texas went up.
Not a small leak. Not a flare. An explosion loud enough to be heard 11 miles away and burn for 5 straight hours.
The diesel hydrotreater unit...47,000 barrels a day of diesel production...is severely damaged. The refinery is at least partially shut down. This is Valero's single largest refinery. Heavy crude in, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel out. Or at least it was.
Diesel was already getting squeezed before this. The Middle East situation has markets on edge and prices climbing. Now you've got a major production unit offline with no timeline for restart.
If you run diesel...trucks, equipment, company vehicles...you're going to feel this. Fuel surcharges aren't going down anytime soon.
No serious injuries reported. Small mercy.
But the damage is done, and somebody's paying for it. Spoiler: it's us.
Port Arthur, TX | March 23, 2026